Body repatriation

Body repatriation is bringing a person who has died home to their own country, or taking them from the UK to the country where they will be buried or cremated. It happens when someone dies abroad on holiday or while working, and when a person who lived in the UK is taken home to be buried near their family.

What it involves

1. The first call: the family, or an insurer on their behalf, appoints a repatriation firm and says where the person is and where they are going home to.
2. The papers: the death certificate from the country where the death happened, the authorisation to move your loved one, the embalming and free from infection certificates, and, for many countries, a consular authorisation and a legalised translation. Out of England and Wales, notice to the coroner comes first.
3. Preparation: hygienic treatment, which most countries require before a coffin can travel, and a sealed coffin that meets the carrier's rules.
4. Transport: by road where the road is possible, which covers most of Europe, and by air where it is not.
5. Arrival: the coffin is met and handed over to the funeral director the family has chosen, who arranges the funeral.

What it costs and who pays

The cost depends on the country and on whether the transport is by road or by air; for the countries we cover, the estimates start at £2,800. Travel insurance often pays for a repatriation to the UK, and some life policies and employers' policies pay for one from it, so the policy is the first thing to check. Faith matters as well: some traditions ask for a burial within days, and the repatriation is planned around that where the country's paperwork allows.

We arrange repatriations to and from the UK and nothing else on the international side, so the country is one we have done before, and the figure we put in writing is the one the family pays.

Read next

The whole process, in both directions, is in repatriation, step by step. What it costs is in how much repatriation costs from the UK, and the road rather than the flight in by road or by air. Every country has our estimate, on the repatriation page.

Related terms: Death certificate legalisation and Coroner. Every term in the funeral glossary.