Repatriation from Samoa to Poland
We organise bringing the deceased from Samoa to Poland: documents from the country of death, Polish permits and transport of the body or urn.
- Issuing authority and document
- Certificate: the Polish Embassy in Wellington. The export permit comes from the authorities of the country of death.
- Transport
- The body is carried by air as air cargo. We agree the arrival airport and the handover point in Poland with the family.
- Timing
- The starosta and the consul have up to 3 days for their documents (Article 14(5) of the Act on Cemeteries). We give the full timing once the documents from Samoa are collected.
- Price
- We will quote the price once we know the details.
Procedure: Samoa
Poland is not a party to the 1973 Strasbourg Agreement on the Conveyance of Corpses, so bringing a body from Samoa always requires the Polish consul's certificate.
Documents from Samoa are authenticated with an apostille if a Polish office asks for it (the country is a party to the Hague Convention, HCCH, as of 13 October 2026).
Samoa: the BDM office in Apia and the Wellington district
Samoa falls under the Polish Embassy in Wellington, which also covers New Zealand, Kiribati, Tonga and Tuvalu, and its consular district also includes the Cook Islands and Niue. A visit is booked through the e-Konsulat system. Before documents are submitted we check that copies and stamps are complete, and we inform the family of every step.
Deaths in Samoa are registered by the Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) Division of the Samoa Bureau of Statistics, with offices in Apia and Salelologa. A death must be registered within 14 days. After a death in hospital a hospital certificate of the cause of death is needed, and after a death outside hospital written confirmation from a church minister or funeral parlour. The death certificate is collected in person at the BDM office. We watch that deadline, because the Polish starosta's permit, the consul's certificate and air transport all depend on that certificate.
The Polish consul's certificate
The certificate is issued by the consul of the mission named on gov.pl: the Polish Embassy in Wellington.
How to get them: the starosta's permit and the consul's certificate.
Frequently asked questions
Who issues the Polish consul's certificate when a body is brought from Samoa?
The consul of the mission named by gov.pl: the Polish Embassy in Wellington. It is based on the starosta's permit and the death certificate.