From 9 December, all EU consulates—including Italy’s—will issue a redesigned EU Emergency Travel Document (ETD) to citizens who lose their passports while abroad. The document features stronger security elements, a sticker-plus-form format, and is valid for a single journey back to the traveller’s home member state or, exceptionally, to another destination.
The change implements Directive 2019/997, which Italy transposed in July 2024. Processing should take no more than seven working days once identity is verified between the issuing post and the citizen’s home authorities; fees will mirror those charged for national emergency documents.
![New EU Emergency Travel Document Goes Live—Relief for Italians Who Lose Passports Abroad]()
For global-mobility managers the upgrade simplifies duty-of-care planning: staff on assignment can now obtain a standardised document at any EU embassy, not just an Italian one, slashing downtime after a theft or loss. Companies should update travel-risk manuals and vendor briefings to reflect the new format and validity rules.
VisaHQ’s consular specialists can further ease the process: through our Italy portal (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) travellers or HR teams can schedule document collection, access the latest ETD requirements, and receive real-time guidance in case a passport replacement or other travel paperwork is needed.
Practical tip: remind travelling employees to keep digital copies of passports and Italian residence permits in secure cloud storage to speed up identity verification if an ETD is needed.
The change implements Directive 2019/997, which Italy transposed in July 2024. Processing should take no more than seven working days once identity is verified between the issuing post and the citizen’s home authorities; fees will mirror those charged for national emergency documents.
For global-mobility managers the upgrade simplifies duty-of-care planning: staff on assignment can now obtain a standardised document at any EU embassy, not just an Italian one, slashing downtime after a theft or loss. Companies should update travel-risk manuals and vendor briefings to reflect the new format and validity rules.
VisaHQ’s consular specialists can further ease the process: through our Italy portal (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) travellers or HR teams can schedule document collection, access the latest ETD requirements, and receive real-time guidance in case a passport replacement or other travel paperwork is needed.
Practical tip: remind travelling employees to keep digital copies of passports and Italian residence permits in secure cloud storage to speed up identity verification if an ETD is needed.
