Lost passport in Spain, found it again - do I need to apply for new one anyway?

sadface

Hi folks,

Hope you can help me shed some light on this.

I'm just back from a weekend in Barcelona. I realised when I went to take my passport out of my bag at the airport that I didn't have it. Obviously major panic ensued and I thought it had either been a) stolen or b) left behind in the apartment (wouldn't have had enough time to go back and check).

I spoke to Aer Lingus staff and they told me to go to the Policia station at the airport, fill out a form, and they'd issue me with a temporary document to get me onto the flight, which I did.

The police officer had me fill out a form that says D07 (I have a copy here), which has all the usual info - name, D.O.B., parents' names, where I thought I lost the passport, etc. I got on the flight no problem, thankfully. Basically a lost property claim.

Now, here's the twist...

On the off-chance that I left it behind in the apartment, I emailed the company today to see if the cleaning staff had handed it in. Sure enough, it's been handed in. My own stupid fault for not double-checking I had it before I left, but lesson learned there. So they're going to post it out to me.

NOW my dilemma is whether this passport will be rendered null and void anyway, as I basically declared it lost at the Spanish police station. I didn't declare it lost to any Irish authority (Gardai/passport office), as I wanted to wait till today to see whether it was handed in at the apartment.

But I don't want to leave it as it is, and then find out at the airport the next time I go away that I'm trying to travel on an invalid passport if the Spanish police have filed it as so.

Anyone have any idea where I stand on this? Do I need to apply for a new passport anyway, or am I OK?

munchkin_utd

this happened the wife in Germany.
Passport lost and reported.

Passport turned up again and the wife attempted to travel on it.
When she arrived at the airport (in germany) there was tears as the police almost wanted to arrest her for travelling on a stolen/ lost/ invalid passport.

All was ok in the end as they were able to establish that the passport hadnt been tampered with, that the wife indeed was the real owner of the passport and they allowed it to be considered as "found" again

Anyhow, moral of the story is to make sure you tell the spanish authorities that you have found the passport . Their embassy in Dublin is probably a good starting point for official info, and they would speak english!

sadface

Thanks a million for the reply, munchkin_utd.

I think I will wait until I actually have it physically back in my hands again before getting in touch with the embassy. Cheers.