Repatriation Service

What is Repatriation Service about?

Repatriation is the process of returning an asset, an item of symbolic value or a person – voluntarily or forcibly – to their owner or their place of origin or nationality. … For refugees, asylum seekers and illegal migrants, repatriation may mean either voluntary repatriation or deportation.

In a funeral context, repatriation is the transportation of someone who died from one country to another. This could be either their body or their ashes after the cremation. There may be a personal desire to be buried in the native country that a person was born in. Alternatively, the family may feel that the person’s soul may not be at peace if the body was buried anywhere but their homeland.

The process of repatriating someone who has died is very complicated and usually requires professional assistance.

Malaysian Law on Repatriation

Malaysian law requires that foreigners who die in Malaysia without permanent residence status, who are not citizens or do not have an MM2H visa, must be repatriated.

Aviation rules discourage or prohibit repatriation on board aircraft of coffins, with very few exceptions. The body must, therefore, be cremated first and the health and transport certificates for ashes must be issued prior to repatriation.

It is advisable to appoint a funeral company to make the following arrangements:

1. Issue the Funeral Director’s Declaration – A document necessary for repatriation
2. Apply for and collect all other documents. For example, Death Certificate, Health Certificate, Customs Entry Permit, Customs Clearance Permit, X-rays of the Urn, and Embalming Certificate
3. Seal the Urn to conform with airline requirements for Repatriation
4. Arrange flight trays for the transportation of human remains
5. Arranges delivery of the ashes to the airport

The embassy of the deceased must be informed of the intention to repatriate as some documentation may be required. If no funeral company has been appointed, the embassy may be in a position to assist in the relocation of either a funeral company or repatriation professional to make arrangements.

Why Repatriate someone?

Families arrange the repatriation of the deceased’s body or cremated remains for a number of reasons. For instance, if someone dies while on vacation, or if they’re an expat whose family mostly lives in another country, repatriating them may be a good idea to give them a funeral service that the entire family may attend.

Some families like to scatter a loved one’s ashes in a meaningful place abroad, such as a favourite holiday spot. Others choose the international repatriation of remains for cultural or religious reasons.

Funeral companies offering Repatriation Service

In Malaysia, there are funeral companies that organize services for all denominations. The family can request a recommendation from the mortuary staff at the hospital. Most funeral companies have private cemeteries and cremation facilities, and the more established there is a place for funeral services.

Funeral Parlour offer the following services:

1. Collection of the body from the mortuary
2. Completion of paperwork for the release and collection of the body
3. Embalming process
4. Supplying coffins
5. Setting up the funeral service area for all denominations
6. Catering during the funeral service
7. Providing a hearse and transportation to the burial and cremation grounds
8. Arrangements for cremation
9. Sale of burial plots, cremation urns and mausoleum slots for ashes
10. Arrangements for scattering ashes
11. Application for and collection of death certificate from the National Registration -Department (Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara – NRD)
12. International repatriation