Death certificate and transfer of remains

• In order to have legal validity in Brazil, Death Certificates issued abroad must be registered by a Consular authority. The Consulate General will issue a Certificate of Registration of Decease (“Certidão de Registro de Óbito”) upon presentation of the official document.
• The department within the Brazilian Consulate responsible for registration of decease abroad is Notary Acts.
• The Registration is free.

The Consulate General does not have money available for the transfer, cremation, or burial of human remains. Such arrangements are the responsibility of the family of the deceased.

1. Requirements for the Transport of Human Remains:

• Original Death Certificate accompanied by the Brazilian Death Certificate issued by the Consulate;
• Notarized and apostille Certificate of Embalmment or Cremation;
• Notarized and apostille Health Department Certificate;
• Exhumation Certificate, when relevant;
• Wooden coffin, sealed with metal, when death was caused by contagious disease;
• Burial Transit Permit issued by funeral agency.
• All documents listed above must be apostille by the Secretariat of State, except the Original Death Certificate accompanied by the Brazilian Death Certificate;
• Brazilian authorities also require that the ashes be contained in a sealed and insulated urn. 

2. Additional Documents, to be presented to the customs authorities upon arrival at airport:

• Air waybill (AWB), and;
• Request to the customs authority of the destination airport for the coffin’s release (Funeral Agency in Brazil).

3.  Cost: Free 

        3.1. In case of a need of a duplicate (2 via) of the death certificate the cost is US$ 5.00 for each additional document.

4. Method of Payment: the Consulate General of Brazil in San Francisco only accepts payments in the form of a Money Order issued by the United States Postal Service (USPS), payable to the “Consulate General of Brazil.”