South Africa - How to handle if a South African dies abroad

Advertisement

Procedure

Apply Online

1. To obtain information on how to handle if a South African dies Abroad, the applicant has to visit the office of Department of International Relations and Cooperation in his/her country.
2. The South African Representation Abroad in various nationalities are listed in the following link: Link
3. Find the address and contact details as applicable for your nationality and make a visit to the appropriate address.
4. Look for the South African representative abroad in the office, who will assist in making decisions about the deceased and deploy them appropriately.
5. You will be informed about the options for the handling of the mortal remains and explained about the required processes to be done.
6. Choose an option as applicable to you and proceed to satisfy the requirements. You will have to provide all the documents listed in the “Required documents” section of this page.
7. The South African representative will take care of the remaining processes as per the requirement of the applicant or next of kin.
8. You will have to pay the necessary costs wherever necessary for obtaining import permits and paying the funeral undertakers.

Advertisement

Required Documents

• Letter describing the details of death
• Death certificate
• ID document / Passport
• Embalming certificate
• Non-infectious disease certificate
• Request letter from family member
• Cover letter from SA representative
• Sworn translation for documents in other languages
• Import permit
• Certificate of compliance

For more information, please refer: Link

Office Locations & Contacts

Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) - Head Office
Physical Address: O R Tambo Building,
460 Soutpansberg Road,
Rietondale,
0084,Pretoria,
South Africa,
Postal Address : Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001,
South Africa
Tel No: + 27 12 351 1000
Fax: +27 12 329 1000
Website: Link

South African Representation Abroad

Eligibility

• Any person, who gets the knowledge about the death primarily, can seek the assistance of South African Representation Abroad.
• The applicant can be a South African national or next-of-kin.

Fees

Please enquire the SA representative for the charges that will be required to pay.

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

Death abroad form: Link
Approach the representative for any other required forms to be completed.

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

Processing time varies according to the case.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• There are four options to be chosen by the next-of-kin about the mortal remains including return of mortal remains to South Africa, Cremation and return of the ashes to South Africa, Local Burial or Pauper’s burial (free of any charges).
• If the deceased had travel insurance, contact the insurer first to establish whether the deceased is covered in case of death. The South African government does not render any financial assistance on the death of South African nationals abroad.
• The financial transaction for the importation of mortal remains, local burial or cremation and return of the ashes may only be done via a commercial institution such as a bank. The money must be transferred directly to the undertaker in the country concerned.

Required Information

• Name of family member
• ID number
• Relationship to the deceased
• Physical address
• Copy of ID/passport of family member
• Contact details of family member
• Details of the death
• Insurance details
• Medical information

Need for the Document

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in collaboration with its diplomatic or consular missions abroad, provide logistical assistance and advice to the next-of-kin in the event of the death of a South African national abroad. This procedure has to be followed when one wants to handle the death of a South African abroad.

Information which might help

For more information, visit: Link

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Place some external links which might help.

Others

More information which might help people.