Repatriation of remains: when a foreigner dies in Georgia or a Georgian citizen dies abroad

What should the family do in the first days?

Losing someone close in another country is doubly hard: grief is compounded by a foreign language, unfamiliar rules and distance. The steps below concern a foreigner who has died in Georgia; the opposite case, when a Georgian dies abroad, is covered in a separate section.

1. Inform the embassy or consulate

   Contact the embassy of the country of which the deceased was a national. Consular staff will explain the local rules to the family and tell you which documents you will need in your own country.

2. Check the insurance policy

   If the deceased had travel or health insurance, notify the insurer immediately: some policies cover repatriation costs, and the insurer often chooses the funeral director itself.

3. Registration of the death

   The hospital or other medical facility notifies the Agency itself, and the family collects the certificate at a Public Service Hall.

4. Decide on burial

   The family decides whether to bury their loved one in Georgia or to repatriate the remains home. Every document that follows depends on this choice.

5. Prepare documents for use abroad

   The apostille or legalisation and translation of the certificate, which you will need for registration at home, for inheritance and for the insurer.

How is a foreigner's death registered in Georgia?

Under the Law of Georgia on Civil Acts, the death of anyone who dies in Georgia must be registered, regardless of citizenship. Registration is carried out by the Public Service Development Agency, the Ministry of Justice body that keeps civil status records. The law extends this rule to foreigners who were in the country illegally: for them, it is precisely births and deaths that are registered.

A medical, pathology or forensic medical institution must notify the Agency within five working days of the death. Registration is normally based on the medical certificate of death, which the doctor completes electronically and sends to the Agency. The family does not have to bring this certificate on paper, although you may need a copy of it for the insurer.

According to the Agency's page, the death is registered no later than the next working day after the documents are submitted, and the death certificate is issued free of charge. It can be collected at a regional office of the Agency or at a Public Service Hall, the one-stop centre for public services. The Tbilisi Public Service Hall is at 2 Sanapiro Street, telephone +995 32 2 405 405.

What you should know about the certificate

According to the UK Government's guidance, a close relative or authorised person can usually collect the certificate within a day of the death. The certificate is in Georgian and does not state the cause of death, while a detailed report with the cause may take several months to prepare. You will need an official translation of a Georgian certificate for use abroad. If the family cannot travel, they can entrust collecting, translating and certifying the certificate to someone else under a power of attorney; this route is described on our remote power of attorney page.

When is a forensic examination carried out?

If the death was not from natural causes or its cause is unclear, a post-mortem examination is carried out. According to the UK Government, this is most often done by the National Forensics Bureau in Tbilisi, on Chavchavadze Avenue. If the police are investigating and consider an examination necessary, the consent of the next of kin is not required.

For the family, this means the timing of repatriation may depend on the needs of the investigation. In such cases your country's embassy and, if necessary, a local lawyer can help you find out when the deceased will be released to the family and who issues the documents needed for this. The forensic report is a medico-legal document, and if the insurer or an authority in your country needs it, it will also need translating.

Burial in Georgia or repatriation home?

The first thing the family should know is that cremation is not carried out in Georgia. So there are two options: burial in Georgia or repatriation of the remains to the home country. For this reason, bringing a loved one home as ashes, which is common practice in some countries, is not possible from Georgia.

Repatriation is usually arranged by an international funeral director who works with a local funeral service in Georgia. This is how the process is described, for example, in the UK Government's guidance. The funeral director takes charge of the deceased, prepares them for transport, arranges the airline and the permits needed at the border, and asks the family for the documents the destination country requires.

You may need the deceased's passport during repatriation, so only ask your country's authorities to cancel it once repatriation is complete. When agreeing the costs, ask the funeral director for a detailed invoice: you will need it for the insurer and, in some countries, for state reimbursement as well.

Which documents need an apostille, legalisation and translation?

A Georgian death certificate is not automatically valid in another country. If your country is a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention, the certificate needs an apostille, an official stamp that confirms the authenticity of the signature and seal. In Georgia, the apostille is affixed by the Public Service Development Agency, at its regional offices and Public Service Halls. According to the Agency's page, the standard time is eight working days, and for an additional fee it can be done faster, even on the same day.

If your country is not a party to the Convention, you need legalisation, which has two stages: first the Agency certifies the document, then the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms it. The Agency also offers practical help with obtaining the second-stage stamp, on a one-stop basis. Some countries then also require confirmation by their own embassy; this route is described on our consular legalisation service page, and you can check which route you need with our Apostille or legalisation? tool.

This list is general. Your country's consulate and the funeral director will give you the exact list.

Through our civil certificate translation service we prepare the translation of the certificate, with names transliterated to match the passport, together with notarisation and the apostille. If documents need to be sent quickly from Georgia to the family, our international courier service can help.

What happens when a Georgian citizen dies abroad?

Georgian embassies and consulates also act as civil registration authorities. The death of a citizen who died abroad is registered in Georgia on the basis of a document issued by that country, which must be legalised or apostilled unless the law provides otherwise. The practical first step for the family is to contact the Georgian embassy or consulate in that country: they will tell you how to obtain the local certificate, which certification it needs and how local funeral services arrange repatriation.

State reimbursement of repatriation costs

Georgia has a state scheme for reimbursing the cost of repatriating a citizen who died abroad: Government Resolution No. 330 of 18 July 2016. Resolution No. 158 of 26 March 2019 made several amendments to these rules. Reimbursement is refused if a family member files a property tax return and their family's annual income exceeds GEL 100,000. The rules cover citizens who took part in defending the country's territorial integrity, regardless of the date of death, and a stillborn child if both parents are Georgian citizens or stateless persons with status in Georgia. If a family member's details cannot be obtained within five working days of the application, the right to reimbursement passes to the family member in the next category.

The page of the Georgian Embassy in France, which is undated, links reimbursement to registration in the unified database of socially vulnerable families with a rating score of 100,000 or less, for either the deceased or a member of their family. According to the same page, applications are submitted abroad to the consular section of the embassy and in Georgia to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the documents required include the death certificate, a copy of the applicant's identity document, a detailed statement from the funeral service showing the exact cost of repatriation, that service's bank details and proof of kinship. This page uses the ministry's former name, so be sure to confirm the current conditions, deadlines and list of documents with the embassy or the ministry.

For registration, inheritance or reimbursement, a foreign certificate must be translated into Georgian and certified. We do this translation as part of our civil certificate translation service, and the procedure for opening an inheritance case is described on our inheritance page.

What can we help with, and what not?

Solidaroba.ge is not a funeral service and does not arrange the transport of remains. Nor do we represent the state Solidarity Fund or any ministry, and we do not pay any reimbursement. Our role is the paperwork, which is often the most exhausting part for a family in another country:

• translation of the death certificate, medical report and other documents into your language or into Georgian;
• notarisation, apostille or legalisation under a power of attorney, without the family having to travel;
• obtaining copies of documents from the authorities where needed, through our certificate retrieval service;
• sending the finished documents to the family or the funeral director;
• legal advice from Advocat.Ge lawyers if a dispute arises with an insurer or over an inheritance.

An overview of how we work with international patients and their families is on our international patients page. We speak with families in English or Russian, and if another language is needed, an interpreter joins the conversation.

Frequently asked questions about repatriation of remains