Helping You
Weldon Funeral Services work with leading repatriation experts in the event your loved one passes away abroad
Different countries have different guidelines on body repatriation, meaning that the advice below might be slightly depending on where you are.
If you’re travelling with a tour group or on a package holiday, the travel company’s representative can help you. If not, you can ask about how to go about this by;
Speaking to the British authorities about repatriation
Contact the British Embassy, High Commission or Consulate in the country the person has died in, we can guide you with this. They will be able to guide you through all the following steps, communicating with the local authorities and keeping you up to date with what is going on.
If you were in the UK when the death happened you were likely told about it by the police, who act on behalf of the British Consulate in these cases.
Register the Death
The death needs to be registered in the country the person died in. The British Consulate will be able to tell you how to go about this. When you register, you’ll need to provide some information about the person who died and about yourself:
- Full name
- Date of birth
- Passport number
- The country the passport was issued by
- The date the passport was issued
- If you aren’t the next of kin, the details of the person who is.
Local death certificates can be used in the UK, but you’ll need a certified translation if the details aren’t in English. The consulate can help you get one.
You don’t need to register the death in the UK, but you can if you’d like it to be recorded by the General Register Offices for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the National Records Office of Scotland. You’ll also be given a consular death registration certificate. There is a cost associated with this.
Check repatriation is covered by the travel insurance policy
It is important to check whether the travel insurance policy covers repatriation as repatriation can be expensive. However, the cost may be covered by a travel insurance policy taken out the person who has died. It’s a good idea to check the policy carefully to understand how the cover will work and how to claim it. If you’re part of a tour group or on a package holiday, the travel company representative may be able to tell you about their cover.
If the person died in a European country and you are on benefits, you may also be eligible for a funeral payment from the government. This won’t cover repatriation costs entirely but can help towards a funeral in the UK or in Europe. Weldon Funeral Services can offer further advice on this.
Our repatriation provider
We instruct our repatriation provider who will send a local funeral director to bring your loved one into their care.
Your loved one will have to be embalmed – this is a standard requirement for repatriation by plane.
Our repatriation provider will need to the following paperwork to begin the repatriation:
- The local death certificate with a certified English translation
- The passport of the person who died
- Permission to take the body out of the country
- A certificate of embalming
- A “Freedom from infection” certificate
- A permit for the country the deceased will be travelling to, if needed
Once they have the above, they will fly your loved one home in a special zinc-lined coffin.
Arranging the Funeral
Once the repatriation is complete, you will need to take the local death certificate and its certified English translation to the nearest registry office. They can then give you the paperwork you need to arrange the funeral in the UK.
Once arrived in the UK, our repatriation provider will bring your loved directly into our care.