Emergency passports are only issued at the U.S. Embassy in Bern during office hours and are generally available within 24 hours.

Emergency passports are issued in the following circumstances:

• Replacement of a lost or stolen passport of a U.S. citizen travelling abroad

Applicants seeking to replace a lost or stolen passport must provide a police report.

•  In Life-or-death emergencies: serious illnesses, injuries, or deaths in your immediate family that require you to travel within 72 hours

An imminent life or death emergency means an immediate emergency that severely endangers the health or safety of the applicant or another individual (such as a medical procedure to sustain life that can only be performed in another country) or impairs the ability of the applicant to attend to a dying relative whose death is impending or to attend a funeral of a relative.

Applicants seeking a life or death exception must provide documentary evidence sufficient to validate the situation

 Emergency passports need to be picked-up in person.

Please note: Some Foreign Governments might not recognize the 12-page U.S. emergency passport, issued by U.S. embassies and consulates overseas, as a valid travel document for visa-free travel, and, if traveling on this emergency passport, you may be refused boarding and/or entry by immigration officials