Issuing authority and document: In Norway the laissez-passer for taking a coffin out of the country is issued by the police. The Polish certificate is issued by the Polish consulate in Oslo.
Transport: By a specialised vehicle for carrying bodies, or by plane. We agree the route and the handover place in Poland with the family.
Timing: We confirm the timing once we have the documents. The Polish Act provides that the starosta (district head) and the consul issue their documents at the latest within 3 days of the application (Article 14(5) of the Act on Cemeteries and Burial of the Dead); in practice time is also needed for the sanepid's opinion and delivering the originals, and the time needed to deal with matters in the country of death depends on the authorities there.
Price: We will quote the price once we know the details.

The procedure in Norway

Norway is a party to the Strasbourg Agreement on the Transfer of Corpses and has named the police as the authority issuing the laissez-passer. Poland is not a party to the agreement, so a certificate from the Polish consul is also needed.

The Polish version of the Polish consulate's page lists the police laissez-passer for ashes too, while the English version says it may not be needed for an urn; we confirm this with the Norwegian police. If a funeral home handles the matter, a power of attorney from the family is needed.

One consulate for the whole of Norway

The Consular and Polonia Department of the Polish Embassy in Oslo is responsible for consular matters across the whole of Norway. A family from the north of the country therefore files documents in the same place as people living in the capital. Scans, appointments and payment are arranged by email with the consulate in Oslo, and when a funeral home handles the case, the family's power of attorney is needed.

According to the Norwegian Tax Administration, deaths in Norway are reported to the population register by doctors, so the family usually does not register the death itself. That is why we ask straight away which documents the funeral home already holds and which must be collected in person, and we make sure none is missed. The department is in Oslo at Drammensveien 171, near Skoeyen station, and the postal address is Konsulatavdelingen, PO Box 4091 AMB, 0244 Oslo. We give the family this address when documents have to be posted.

Documents for the Polish consulate

The Polish consulate in Oslo requires: the notification of death (Melding om dødsfall) with an apostille, the medical certificate of death (Legeerklæring om dødsfall), for a coffin a certificate that the death was not caused by an infectious disease (Smitteattest), the police laissez-passer for the coffin, a certificate from the funeral home about the coffin or urn, and the starosta's permit. Printouts from Altinn without a signature and stamp are not sufficient.

On the Polish side two documents are always needed: a permit from the starosta (district head) responsible for the place of burial, and then a certificate from the Polish consul, issued on the basis of that permit and the death certificate (Article 14(4) of the Act on Cemeteries and Burial of the Dead). The same documents are needed for an urn with ashes.

Frequently asked questions

Do documents from Norway need an apostille?

The Polish consulate in Oslo requires an apostille on the notification of death (Melding om dødsfall).

Is a laissez-passer needed for an urn?

The Polish version of the consulate's page lists it for ashes too, the English version says it may not be needed. We confirm this with the Norwegian police. The starosta's permit and the consul's certificate are also needed for an urn.

How long does it take to bring a body home from Norway?

We confirm the timing once we have the documents. The Act provides that the starosta and the consul issue their documents at the latest within 3 days of the application (Article 14(5) of the Act on Cemeteries and Burial of the Dead); in practice time is also needed for the sanepid's opinion, delivering the originals, formalities in the country of death and the transport itself.

Other countries

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Repatriation of a Body from Norway to Poland