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We are non-EU citizens family, and we lost the Belgian residence permits of our children. We are currently in Czechia where we lodged a police report. Our next destination should be Finland in a few days from where we should departure to Australia with the purpose of long term residence (flights are booked; and they were booked separately).

We addressed to the Belgian Embassy in Czechia; however, as we were told, it is Brussels that can make such kind of decisions. It is the Christmas period, so it might take time that we unfortunately do not have.

We consider two variants. The first variant is to leave everything as it is and to try. Another option is to have a flight to Australia from Germany that we could reach by car. What disadvantages do you see in both variants and what would you suggest?

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  • Do you have photocopies of your lost documents, or their pictures taken using a phone or a camera? If not, in the future remember to always take digital pictures or scans of all important documents immediately when you receive them, and regularly backup all your important files, including those.
    – Vladimir Reshetnikov
    Commented Dec 21, 2021 at 20:28
  • @VladimirReshetnikov unfortunately not; but even if I had them, how it could help?
    – colombien
    Commented Dec 22, 2021 at 14:08
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    You likely need originals of documents to enter a country in most cases (although I've heard of a case when U.S. border control officers let a Canadian person into the U.S. by land with only a picture of his passport, because he had entered the U.S. before, and they already had his passport info and fingerprints in their system). But when you exit a country, border control officers only want to check that you haven't committed a violation (by overstaying your visa, for example), and they are much more likely to be satisfied by secondary evidence such as a photocopy of a residence permit.
    – Vladimir Reshetnikov
    Commented Dec 22, 2021 at 18:22

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Since this is only about exit control, showing the border control in Finland some form of plausible proof that a residence permit exists will probably be sufficient.

Since the police report issued in the Czech Republic may be unfamiliar to them, getting some form of verification in English or Finnish would make this easier. The Belgium or Finnish embassy should be able to do this.

Since the children will be accompanied by the parents (who have a residence permit) this should satisfy the border control on exit.

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