How much it costs to bring a body home to Ukraine from abroad

In brief

The price of bringing a body home depends on the country: the route, the documents required there, and the rules for preparing the body and for the coffin. Some examples of “from” prices:

• Poland: from €800;
• Czechia: from €1,000;
• Germany: from €2,100;
• Italy: from €3,000.

All countries are in the table below. Bringing home an urn with ashes is a separate service: from €100, depending on the country. If your country is not listed, we will bring the deceased home from there too. We will give you the price by phone.

A “from” price is for the simplest case: the body is in a city that is easy to reach, the documents are issued without delay and the route is standard. If anything is more complicated, the price will be higher, and we will tell you so before you agree.

What the price is made of

We give one amount for the whole journey, but it is made up of several parts. It helps to know what they are. It makes offers easier to compare, and it explains why two funeral homes may quote different figures.

1. Documents in the country of death

Each country has its own procedure: who certifies the death, who issues the certificate and who gives permission to take the body out of the country. Some documents are free, and for others the country charges a fee. For example, both Austria and Germany issue their own accompanying document for the body, the “body passport” (Leichenpass), and the fee for it differs from one federal state to another. The amounts are small, but each country sets its own. Translations and an apostille are added where they are needed.

2. Preparing the body

Whether embalming is compulsory depends on the country. In Romania it is compulsory if the body is taken outside the town or village where the death occurred. In Denmark it is required if the body travels by air. In Czechia embalming as such is not required, but if an unembalmed body is carried for more than 8 hours or more than 500 km, it needs a hermetically sealed coffin or refrigeration equipment. So the same journey from different countries can cost different amounts. More in the article “Coffin and embalming for bringing a body to Ukraine”.

3. Coffin requirements for crossing the border

For international transport an ordinary coffin will not do. It must be hermetic: wooden on the outside, with a soldered zinc liner inside (the law calls this a hermetic metal coffin). The coffin is put under official seal. The countries that are parties to the Strasbourg Agreement also require a hermetic coffin with metal inside:

• a wooden coffin with a soldered zinc liner;
• or a wooden coffin lined with zinc on the inside.

For a flight the coffin must either have a valve that equalises the pressure or be strong enough. A coffin with a zinc liner is included in the “from” price. If the country or the airline requires more, or the family would like a different coffin, we will tell you during the call whether it changes the amount. More on the page “Coffins and sealed metal liners”.

4. The route and the transport

From nearby countries the body is usually taken by road, in a specialist vehicle. From further away, part of the journey is by plane to an airport near Ukraine, and then by road again. The air leg takes from 2.5 hours. The body's journey home to Ukraine takes from 24 hours after collection. A flight is charged at a separate airline rate, with its own requirements for packing and documents. More on the pages “Air transport” and “Road transport”.

5. The city abroad and the city in Ukraine

A large city next to a motorway is one thing. A small town in the mountains or on an island is another. The same applies in Ukraine: taking the deceased to a city close to the border is not the same distance as taking them to a city in the east. That is why we always ask which town you need.

6. The border and the escort

At the Ukrainian border the customs officer is shown the death certificate and a certificate that the body and the coffin contain no prohibited items. The second certificate is issued by an authority of the country of death, and the Ukrainian consulate or embassy legalises it. A short written declaration for customs is added. We prepare these documents and accompany the deceased across the border. This, too, is part of the price.

What the price includes, and what it does not

The price includes:

• contact with the hospital and the morgue
• local, consular and border documents
• preparing the body for the journey
• hermetic coffin, soldered zinc liner
• sealing as the border requires
• transport by road, or part of the way by air, whichever is faster and better value for you
• handover to the family in your town

Farewell coffin: quoted separately.

Not included: a funeral in Ukraine. A place at the cemetery, the farewell ceremony, a priest and the memorial meal are a separate service and a separate bill. We can arrange that too anywhere in Ukraine, but we always quote the amount separately, so that you can see what the transport alone costs. More on the page “Funerals across Ukraine”.

Why the price is “from”

The final amount depends on things that only become clear in a conversation: where the deceased is now, which documents you already have, whether embalming is needed and which route to take. That is why the site shows a “from” price. We will give you the price for your case once we know the city and the documents.

We fix the price of our service in the contract before the transport begins, and it does not change: in 2 years of repatriations we have never raised it. Other people’s services that arise in the country of death, such as storage in a mortuary, a post mortem or local fees, are paid by the family separately from our price. That is a separate bill for a service that is not ours, even when we arrange it, and we tell you about such costs as soon as we learn of them.

What can change the sum after the contract, and why it does not with us

The sum in a contract is what the funeral home knew when it was signed. Anything that comes up later can end up on the bill. In public Google Maps reviews of large funeral homes, read on 15.10.2026, families write about extra charges added “as things went along”. These are the things that can be added to a bill:

• a change of route, for example part of the way by plane instead of by road;
• extra days of storage in a mortuary when documents are delayed;
• extra documents or translations that were not in the first estimate;
• a different coffin, if the country or the airline requires it or the family wants one;
• a funeral in Ukraine, if it was not included in the original sum.

We give these as examples of cost items, not as a list of what happens with us.

At XREQUIEM the price of our service written in the contract does not change: in 2 years of repatriations we have never raised it. Anything that is not our service (storage in a mortuary or a post mortem in the country of death, a funeral in Ukraine if you order one) goes on a separate bill, and we name that sum before work begins. The family receives the contract and the receipt straight away.

How to get the exact price in 5 minutes

Call +380 77 882 77 77, or write to the same number on Viber, WhatsApp or Telegram. So that we can give you the price straight away, have the answers to a few questions ready. If you do not know one of them, that is all right: we will work it out together.

• The country and the city where the death occurred.
• Where the body is now: a hospital, a morgue, a private home or a local funeral home.
• Which documents you already have: the medical certificate of death, the death certificate, the deceased's passport.
• The town or city in Ukraine the deceased should be taken to.
• Whether the person had insurance that may cover the transport.

How not to overpay

A few simple tips that work with any funeral home, not only with us.

• Ask what the price includes. Ask for a list: what the funeral home does for the amount it names, and what it charges separately. Our list is in the “What the price includes” section above.
• Check how far the price goes. To the border, to a regional centre or to your town: these are different amounts.
• Compare like with like. A low price that leaves out the documents or part of the journey is not cheaper, only incomplete.
• Check the insurance before you pay. If the policy covers repatriation, the insurer may require you to agree the funeral home with it in advance. Otherwise you can lose the compensation. More in the article “Insurance and bringing a body home”.
• Keep all bills and receipts. You will need them for the insurer, for the employer or to claim the funeral allowance.

Who besides the family can pay for the transport is explained in the article “Who pays for bringing a body home from abroad”.

An urn with ashes

If cremation has already taken place abroad, bringing home an urn is simpler than bringing a body. The same rules apply at the Ukrainian border as for a coffin: a death certificate and a certificate of no prohibited items. The Strasbourg Agreement does not cover ashes. We bring urns with ashes to Ukraine from any country. The price is from €100, depending on the country. More on the page “Transport of an urn with ashes to Ukraine”.