Repatriation of Remains from Ukraine to China

China's Entry Requirements

Below are the separate requirements for entry approval, sanitary control, and documents, with links to official sources.

Entry Approval

• An application to bring a body or ashes into China for burial is submitted by relatives, the consulate, or the receiving organization. It is approved by the civil affairs, overseas Chinese affairs, and foreign affairs authorities of the province where the person was born or will be buried. Transport within China is managed by the International Corpse Transport Network Service Center of the China Funeral Association (中国殡葬协会国际运尸网络服务中心) or local organizations designated by it. Provisions on the Management of Corpse Transport (关于尸体运输管理的若干规定), Art. 1, 5, on the Shenzhen Government website

Customs Declaration and Quarantine Inspection

• A body brought into China must be declared to customs; it may enter only after a quarantine inspection. A separate entry permit from the quarantine service is no longer required. Frontier Health and Quarantine Law of the PRC, 2024 revision, Art. 21

Documents from Ukraine and Embalming

• For entry, death documents, an embalming certificate, and a coffin sealing certificate must be submitted. The body must be embalmed, and the coffin must be hermetically sealed, with no leakage or odor. After inspection, a sanitary and quarantine clearance certificate is issued. Measures for the Administration of Entry-Exit Health Quarantine of Corpses and Skeletal Remains (出入境尸体骸骨卫生检疫管理办法), AQSIQ Order No. 189, 2017; now applied by the General Administration of Customs (GACC), Art. 5, 15, 18, 20

Apostille and Translation

• Ukraine and China are both parties to the Apostille Convention (for China, since 7.11.2023), so Ukrainian documents are certified with an apostille rather than legalized at the embassy. We translate the documents into Chinese (Simplified characters). HCCH, 2026

Burial or Cremation After Arrival

• The law does not require cremation of an imported body unless the person died of a quarantinable infectious disease. However, in densely populated areas of China, mandatory cremation zones apply as determined by provincial governments. Therefore, the family should confirm in advance with the funeral home in China where a coffin burial is permitted. Frontier Health and Quarantine Law, Art. 21 · Regulations on Funeral and Interment Control (殡葬管理条例), Art. 4, on the Shenzhen Government website

Ukrainian Side

• We arrange everything required to transport the body out of Ukraine; we will only need the documents from you that only the family can provide. The certificate confirming the absence of extraneous items inside the body and coffin for export is issued by a forensic medical examiner in the presence of a customs officer, and the body is placed in a hermetically sealed metal-lined coffin. Customs Code of Ukraine, Art. 365

The Ukrainian documents are the same for all destination countries; see the page "Repatriation of Remains from Ukraine Abroad".

How We Transport

By hearse to an airport in a country neighboring Ukraine, then by air to China, often with a layover. Transit time: from 72 hours.

Submit a request for repatriation to China