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My passport is being held

Withholding a seafarer's passport, CDC, or other identity documents by an employer, manning agent, or anyone other than immigration officials and the Master is a serious red flag and is unlawful in most jurisdictions. MLC 2006 Standard A1.4 paragraph 5(a) — together with ILO Convention 181 — prohibits private employment agencies from holding seafarer documents. If your passport is being held against your wishes you are entitled to demand its immediate return and to escalate to port-state-control, the ITF, ISWAN, and your home country's embassy.

Step-by-step

  1. Ask for the passport back in writing (WhatsApp, email, or paper) — keep a copy of the request. The request itself becomes evidence if it is refused.
  2. If you are still in the joining country and have not signed on, return to your home country and report the agency to its licensing authority.
  3. If you are onboard, ask the Master to return the passport — under SOLAS Chapter V Reg 28 + MLC A5.1.5 the Master is required to address an onboard complaint of this kind.
  4. If the Master refuses, escalate to the Port State Control inspector at the next port — bring it as a complaint under MLC Standard A5.2.2 onshore-complaint procedure.
  5. Contact the ITF inspector in the same port and ISWAN SeafarerHelp (+44 800 012 1004) in parallel — the ITF inspector can intervene directly with the owner; ISWAN can mediate and help recover the document.
  6. Contact your home country's nearest embassy or consulate. They can issue an emergency travel document and write to the foreign authority on your behalf.
  7. If documents are seized as part of trafficking, debt-bondage, or coerced labour, report to the ILO Forced Labour helpline and to the national anti-trafficking authority — many port states treat passport confiscation as a trafficking indicator under the Palermo Protocol.

Evidence to save

What NOT to sign

Legal basis

MLC 2006 Standard A1.4(5)(a) (recruitment-and-placement services must not hold seafarer documents). ILO Convention 181, Article 9. UN Palermo Protocol (Trafficking in Persons). National anti-trafficking statutes. Master's duty under MLC A5.1.5 to receive and address onboard complaints.

Primary sources

Related terms

Organisations that can help

Disclaimer. General information only — not legal advice. Jurisdictions differ on enforcement. If you suspect trafficking, do not confront the holder of the document — contact ISWAN, the ITF, or the local anti-trafficking authority through a safe channel.