I lost my passport in Japan and my flight is in a few days. Is a travel permit (from the embassy) enough to allow me exit from Narita?

Question

I'm a Bangladeshi citizen and have recently lost my passport in Japan. I tried to find it a lot but have had no luck till now. My flight is in a few days and I can't stay more than my flight date since the my (short-term) temporary visa expires on the same day as well. I'm travelling by Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragons to Bangladesh.

I have collected my travel permit for trip back to Bangladesh from the Bangladeshi embassy in Tokyo and would like to know if there's anything else necessary for my trip back. I need to know if the airlines or the immigration control at the airport will cause any trouble.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

So I have successfully managed to travel back to my home country from Bangladesh. I will list the steps I have taken from losing my passport to crossing immigration department in my home country.

Before the trip in Japan:

1. Notified the lost and found section of the rail lines, namely Odakyu and JR. The chances of losing anything and not finding it in Japan is "very very" rare so probably after my failure, a lot of people will get back their lost item (considering the probability is constant). :p I also notified the police (Koban) of my missing passport.
2. Checked with the above authorities regularly. After 2-3 days, I got a lost passport certificate from the police station.
3. Contacted my embassy with the lost passport certificate. Checked if they have received any lost passport but luck was not on my side. They suggested I do a reissue of my passport from there but since time was not in my hand, I had to request for a travel permit.
4. The travel permit, which takes 2-3 business days to get, only took one day.
5. I emailed Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon explaining my problem, attaching the travel permit. They responded shortly with the two information: Japan and Hong Kong immigration department will be accepting this document and so will Cathay. The political counselor of my embassy also sent a mail to the Bangladesh Immigration department mentioning my arrival times and permit specifications.
6. I went to the Immigration office in Shinagawa where they put visa stamps in reissued passports (after being lost) but they mentioned no further step is required.

Before the flight:

1. I was unable to self-checkin at the airport. I needed to do a manual check-in. The staff there already had my name noted beforehand and just matched my permit with their records.
2. I had to use a different line in immigration. There, he checked my records and travel permit and let me pass through after putting a departure stamp on my paper.
3. The airlines staff matched my details with their records and let me board.

On the transit:

1. Cathay Pacific/Dragon passengers need no transit for HK, and so the process was simple. The airlines staff again matched my records with theirs before letting me board.

After arriving to Bangladesh:

1. A separate line for immigration again, which in fact was shorter than the rest of the lines. They kept my travel permit and asked me to do a general diary for the reissue of my passport.

That is it.

TL; DR;

Yes, you can exit Narita and travel through HK with a travel pass. The process was smooth and easy for me. But it's always best to check with the airlines first.

Answer 2

It is fairly common practice to issue emergency travel documents to citizens who lose their passport abroad. A non-negligible proportion of people lose their passports while travelling abroad, so I doubt that a reasonably experienced check-in staff would have never seen one of them.

So, I think the answer is "do not worry, the airline check-in staff knows what it is". If you have a layover in Hong Kong, though, I am not sure of the situation. Bangladeshi citizens need a transit visa to stay in Hong Kong even if they stay airside, so I suppose you had one. Better contact the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, or perhaps the Hong Kong Immigration Department by phone, to make sure it would work out.