Documents for bringing the deceased home to Ukraine from abroad

Below is who prepares what, and what is checked at the Ukrainian border. We put the whole set together before departure.

In short: who prepares what

What the country of death issues

Every country has its own names and its own offices, but the set of documents is similar. Even where the country requires a licensed funeral home, we run the case ourselves.

1. The medical certificate of death

A doctor writes it after examining the deceased. In Poland it is the karta zgonu, in Czechia the list o prohlídce zemřelého, in Austria the Todesbescheinigung, in Romania the certificatul medical constatator al decesului, and in Lithuania the medicininis mirties liudijimas. The death is registered on the basis of this document.

2. The death certificate

It is issued by the local civil registry office, the town hall or the municipality. This is the document that is later certified with an apostille and translated into Ukrainian.

3. The permit to take the body out of the country

It goes by different names: the “body passport”, the Leichenpass, the laissez-passer, or a permit from a sanitary inspector or a coroner. It is issued by the health authorities, the local authority or the coroner, depending on the country.

4. The certificate of no prohibited items

This is a requirement of Ukrainian law. When a body is brought into Ukraine, the competent authority of the country of death issues this certificate, and the Ukrainian consulate or embassy legalises it.

5. Other certificates, depending on the country and the carrier

• an embalming certificate: it is mentioned, for example, in the requirements for air transport;
• a certificate that the deceased has been placed in the coffin and the coffin has been soldered shut: for example, in Belgium and Denmark;
• a certificate that the deceased had no infectious disease: the Ukrainian embassy in Germany, for example, asks for it;
• a permit from a court or the prosecutor's office, if the death was violent or unexplained.

6. Apostille and translation

Ukraine has joined the Hague Apostille Convention. Between countries that are parties to it, the apostille replaces consular legalisation of documents. A foreign death certificate is recognised in Ukraine only if it carries an apostille or has been legalised, unless an international treaty exempts it. The apostille is affixed by an authority of the country that issued the document: in Germany, the regional government (Bezirksregierung or Regierungspräsidium); in the Netherlands, the local court.

The translation into Ukrainian must be certified. In France, the Ukrainian embassy can translate the French death certificate itself when the certificate is needed to transport a body or ashes.

What the Ukrainian consulate does

The death of a Ukrainian citizen abroad is registered by the consul responsible for the place of last residence, the place of death, the place where the body was found, or the place of burial. This is based on the medical certificate of death and the death certificate from the authorities of the country.

• It registers the death and issues a Ukrainian death certificate. The registration and the first certificate carry no consular fee.
• It hands the certificate to close relatives, or sends it together with the deceased's passport via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
• It issues a certificate for the social protection authorities, so that the family can receive the funeral allowance.
• It legalises the certificate of no prohibited items in the body and the coffin.
• It issues a letter or certificate for bringing the coffin or the urn to Ukraine: the embassies in Germany, Austria, France and Spain, among others, do this.
• In Italy, the Ukrainian consulate gives its consent to bring the body in (nulla osta) for the Italian authorities. In Spain, the consulate issues an entry permit; without it the local service will not release the body.

What the consulate asks for in the country of death is described on the country pages and in What to do if a loved one dies abroad.

Laissez-passer: why it is not enough for Ukraine

The Strasbourg Agreement on the transfer of corpses introduced a special document: the laissez-passer, or “body passport”. It is issued by an authority of the country of departure. Countries that have joined the Agreement do not require any other documents for transit or entry.

But Ukraine is not on the list of parties to the Agreement. So the laissez-passer alone is not enough to bring the deceased into Ukraine: the documents required by Ukrainian law are also needed. In such cases the Netherlands, for example, additionally requires a certificate from the competent authorities with the name of the deceased and the destination. In Lithuania, a separate notification about the transport to Ukraine is sent to the Lithuanian public health service.

Some countries we bring the deceased home from have not joined the Agreement either: Poland, Germany and Italy. There, the permit to take the body out is issued under their own rules.

The Agreement does not cover ashes. An urn with ashes travels under the rules of the countries involved and of the carrier.

After the return to Ukraine

A foreign death certificate is recognised in Ukraine if it has an apostille or legalisation, unless an international treaty provides otherwise. Foreign documents are submitted to the civil registry offices in Ukraine together with a certified translation into Ukrainian.

For the funeral allowance you need the certificate that the consul issues when registering the death. Keep it with the other documents, which we will hand over to you together with the deceased. For what else to arrange at home, see the article Documents after a death abroad: what to arrange in Ukraine.