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Lost passport in China as a student: report, replace, then the visa or residence permit

Unofficial summary · Sources checked

Report the loss to the local Chinese public security authority, get a new passport or an international travel document from your own country's embassy or consulate in China, and only then apply to the exit and entry administration of the public security organ for reissuance of your visa (Regulations, Article 11) or of your residence permit (Law, Article 35). The lost document does not stay valid while you wait: a visa, stay permit or residence permit that is lost, damaged, destroyed, stolen or robbed is declared null and void by the issuing authority (Regulations, Article 34(1)).

That is the order given by the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom's visa FAQ page, and it is the order the document lists in the National Immigration Administration service guides assume — both ask for papers that only exist after you have reported the loss and obtained a replacement travel document.

Step 1: Report the loss to the local public security authority

The Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United Kingdom's FAQ page (Part Seven, Q16) answers the question directly: you should report to the local Chinese public security authority as soon as possible, and apply for a new passport or an international travel document from the embassy or consulate of your home country in China, before applying for reissuance of a visa from that public security authority. The page carries a time stamp of 1 July 2020. It is one mission's page; the guides below are national texts.

The reason this step comes first is documentary: the reissue applications ask for a certification of a passport loss report. The visa service guide calls it 本人护照报失证明 — a certification of your own passport loss report — and lists an alternative to it, discussed in Step 2.

Step 2: Get a new passport or international travel document

Apply to your own country's embassy or consulate in China for a new passport, or, if that is not available, another international travel document. This is what Q16 of the embassy FAQ page tells you to do, and it is what both service guides build on: each reissue list requires "a new passport or other international travel document" alongside the loss papers.

The guides accept one document in place of another in two places. For a lost or stolen visa, and for a lost, damaged or stolen residence permit, the guide accepts either the passport loss report certification or a note (照会) from your country's embassy or consulate in China. If your own mission cannot issue either quickly, the guides give no substitute and set no time limit for this step.

Step 3: Apply for reissuance, at the exit and entry administration

Both routes run through the exit and entry administration of the public security organ of the local people's government at or above county level.

  • For a visa: Regulations, Article 11 says a foreigner whose visa is lost, damaged, destroyed, stolen or robbed shall, in a timely manner, apply to that authority in the place of his or her stay for reissuance. The Law, Article 35, covers the same ground for ordinary visas, stay permits and residence permits, and names the places of stay or residence.
  • For a residence permit: the Law, Article 35, is the provision for reissue, and the National Immigration Administration's residence permit service guide sets out the papers.

"Timely manner" is the wording of Regulations, Article 11. Neither the Law nor the Regulations gives a number of days within which the application must be made, and the texts quoted here state no processing time for the reissue.

The papers the guides list

The two service guides below are published in Chinese; the English wording is this site's translation. The Administration's own English residence permit guide is quoted separately below it.

Document lost Papers listed Where
Visa lost or stolen Certification of passport loss report, or a note from your country's embassy or consulate in China, plus a new valid passport or other international travel document Visa service guide, reissue section, item 1
Visa damaged Present the damaged passport, or a note from the embassy or consulate, plus a new valid passport or other international travel document Visa service guide, reissue section, item 2
Group visa lost, stolen or damaged A letter from the local receiving travel agency and a copy of the group visa Visa service guide, reissue section, item 3
Residence permit lost, damaged or stolen Certification of passport loss report or a note from your country's embassy or consulate in China, or the damaged document, plus a new passport or other international travel document Residence permit service guide, section on reissue

The Administration's English page for residence permits puts the same requirement as: "a certification for passport loss report or a note from the embassy or consulate of the country of residence in China, or the damaged passport and the new passport or other international travel documents, and a residence permit may be re-issued." Where the English page says "the damaged passport", the Chinese guide says "the damaged document" (被损毁证件).

On what you get back, the texts differ in how far they go. The visa service guide says the reissued visa can match the original in kind: the same visa type, entry validity, duration of stay and remaining number of entries. The residence permit guides say only that a residence permit "may be re-issued" — they say nothing about how the new period of validity is set.

What happens to the document you lost

Reissuance does not leave the original alive. Under Regulations, Article 34(1), a visa, stay permit or residence permit that is lost, damaged, destroyed, stolen or robbed shall be declared null and void by the issuing authority, and that declaration may be made on the spot or through a public notice (Regulations, Article 34, final paragraph). Regulations, Article 35(1), then provides that a document the issuing authority has declared null and void shall be cancelled or confiscated by a public security organ.

Neither text treats reissuance as automatic. The guides use "may be re-issued" (可以补发), and the Law, Article 36, provides that a decision rejecting an application for reissuance is final.

If you cannot get a replacement passport at all

Regulations, Article 23, covers the case where a foreigner does not hold a valid passport or other international travel document because of loss, damage, destruction, theft, robbery or other reasons, and cannot get that passport or document reissued by the relevant institution of his own country stationed in China. In that case, he or she may apply for exit formalities to the exit and entry administration of the public security organ at or above county level in the place of stay or residence.

The article sets out the route and nothing more: it does not describe the papers for that application or its outcome.

What these texts do not say

The Law and the Regulations speak of "foreigners", not of students, and the two service guides are written the same way; X1 and X2 are not named in the passages quoted here. The visa guide deals with visas and not with residence permits, and the residence permit guide deals with the reverse, so which set of papers you need depends on which document you were holding when the passport went missing. None of the texts quoted here gives a fee, a processing time, or a deadline counted in days for the steps above, and none describes what a particular local office will ask for on top of the listed papers.

Questions people ask

Do I have to go to the police, or is my own embassy enough?

The Q16 answer on the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom's FAQ page says report to the local Chinese public security authority as soon as possible and apply for a new passport from your own embassy or consulate in China. On the papers, the guides accept either a certification of passport loss report or a note from your country's embassy or consulate in China, so the two are alternatives in the document list — but that is the list for the reissue application, not a statement that the report itself can be skipped.

If I find my old visa or residence permit later, is it valid again?

No. Regulations, Article 34(1), declares a lost, damaged, destroyed, stolen or robbed visa, stay permit or residence permit null and void, and Regulations, Article 35(1), provides for it to be cancelled or confiscated by a public security organ once the issuing authority has declared it void.

What if my embassy cannot issue me a new passport?

Regulations, Article 23, addresses exactly that: a foreigner who cannot get the passport or travel document reissued by the relevant institution of his own country stationed in China may apply for exit formalities to the exit and entry administration of the public security organ at or above county level in the place of stay or residence. The article gives no papers and no outcome for that application.

Will the reissued visa be the same as the one I lost?

The visa service guide says the reissued visa can be issued with the same visa type, entry validity, duration of stay and remaining number of entries as the original. The residence permit guides say only that a residence permit may be re-issued, and say nothing about its new period of validity.

Sources

Checked 11 October 2026

This page is an unofficial summary of the official texts named above; it is not legal or immigration advice, it is not published by the National Immigration Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or any embassy, and where the official text and the instructions of the visa office or exit-entry office handling your case differ, theirs prevail.

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