Taking ashes abroad

Taking ashes abroad means carrying or sending a person’s ashes to another country. The international rules for coffins do not apply to ashes, so no laissez passer is usually needed, but carry the death certificate and the certificate of cremation and tell the airline in advance. A non-metallic urn lets the ashes pass through airport X-ray.

What to carry

Three papers, in your hand luggage: the certificate of cremation from the crematorium, a certified copy of the death certificate, and a letter from the funeral director saying whose ashes they are and that the container holds nothing else. Airlines and border officers ask for the letter more often than for the other two. The UK asks for nothing to take ashes out, and a small portion, a keepsake urn or a pendant needs the same papers as the whole.

Countries that ask for more

Most of Europe, North America and Australia want those three papers and nothing more. Some countries want the death certificate legalised with an apostille, or translated; some want a permit from their consulate in London, with a fee; and a few do not allow ashes in at all. A call to the destination’s consulate before you travel settles it. Croatia, for example, accepts the crematorium’s confirmation with no fee and no laissez passer.

At the airport and after

Ashes travel in hand luggage, in an urn of wood, cardboard or plastic that security can X-ray. Tell the security officer quietly what you are carrying. Coming into the UK, fill in the standard customs form. For most destinations the papers cost well under a hundred pounds altogether. If you cannot travel, a specialist courier can take the ashes with the same documents, usually for a few hundred pounds; ordinary post will not. Rules on scattering differ from country to country; see scattering ashes.