Returning a loved one within the Americas: how the countries compare

One region, very different rules

Families often assume that a return to any country in the Americas works the way a return to Mexico does. It does not. Among the twenty-four destinations in our guides, some countries ask for a consular stamp on every document and some ask for none. Some approve the entry in their capital before a flight may be booked. Two are outside the apostille system altogether. This page compares them, so that you know which questions matter before you open the guide for your own country.

Where the consulates are

Only a few countries in the region serve North Texas from Dallas: our guides identify a Dallas office for Mexico, Honduras, Peru and Canada. Belize adds an honorary consulate there, one of three its ministry lists in Texas. Most serve Texas from Houston: Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, with Ecuador and Bolivia shown in Houston on the Texas Secretary of State’s list of foreign consulates. Four place Texas under a consulate in Miami: Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and Uruguay, whose embassy names Texas inside the Miami consulate's jurisdiction. Cuba and Guyana work from their embassies in Washington.

For three countries our guides could not name the office from an official source: Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, where the Houston consulate is reported closed and the Texas list has no entry. Venezuela is not a fourth of those: its guide does not report a failure to find an office, it reports that there is no consular section anywhere in the United States. Guyana is a third kind again, where two official lists disagree — the Texas list shows an honorary consul in Houston, while Guyana's own list of honorary consuls names only California and Miami. The consular directory gives the source behind each of these.

Apostille, or the longer chain

The HCCH status table shows twenty-two of these twenty-four countries as parties to the Apostille Convention, which means a single certificate from the Texas Secretary of State is what makes a Texas death certificate usable there. Three joined recently: Guyana in 2019, Jamaica in 2021 and Canada in 2024, so older advice about those countries may be out of date. Whether a particular consulate also wants a translation or its own stamp is a separate question, answered in each guide.

Haiti and Cuba are not in the table. For them a Texas document follows a chain: the state’s certificate, then, as the Texas Secretary of State’s authentication page explains for countries outside the Convention, the Office of Authentications at the U.S. State Department, and finally the consulate. Allow extra days for that chain before promising a date to relatives.

Countries that approve before the flight

In several countries someone must approve the entry before the body travels, and the published rules say so. Trinidad and Tobago’s repatriation handbook requires the approval of two ministries, obtained through the consulate, and tells families not to confirm flights without it. Jamaica’s health ministry guideline has the receiving funeral director obtain a permit from the health officer for the parish of entry before the journey. An Argentine consular page says funeral homes request the entry permit for Argentina. Ecuador, Chile and Brazil each involve a health authority at the destination, described in their guides.

Nicaragua shows what is at stake. Its health ministry protocol says a body that arrives without its legal documents is taken into police custody while the matter is investigated. Wherever approval is needed, the receiving funeral home usually requests it, which is why that funeral home should be chosen in the first days. The guide to how funeral homes coordinate explains the two ends.

What governments say about paying

Most governments in the region say plainly that they do not pay. Global Affairs Canada states that all costs of a death abroad and of the repatriation are the family’s responsibility. Jamaica’s foreign ministry and Trinidad and Tobago’s both list paying for repatriation among the things consular officers cannot do. An Argentine consular page says the consulate neither grants permits nor meets costs. Brazil’s foreign ministry says there is no legal provision for the state to pay, although a 2025 decree allows a narrow exception described in the Brazil guide. Chile’s service directory offers free guidance while the family pays the funeral homes.

Ecuador publishes a state programme for families without means, described in its guide. For the other countries, ask the consulate, and read the insurance and assistance guide.

When a country publishes little

Some countries publish almost nothing about returning a body. Bolivia and Cuba publish how to record the death but no list of documents for the journey. Haiti publishes a list and a fee, but flight access is the real obstacle today. Venezuela is the opposite shape: the apostille road is open and Texas names the mortuary form, but there is no consular section here to ask anything of. In these cases the absence of a published rule is not an exemption. The safe sequence is the same everywhere: a written answer from the consulate, a written answer from the receiving funeral home about health and customs on arrival, and only then the documents and the flight.

Questions families ask about returns within the Americas

Do all Latin American and Caribbean countries accept a Texas apostille?

Twenty-two of the twenty-four destinations in our guides are parties to the Apostille Convention. Haiti and Cuba are not, and documents for them follow a longer chain through the U.S. State Department and the consulate.

Is the consulate for my country in Dallas?

Usually not. Our guides identify a Dallas office for only four of the twenty-four countries, among them Honduras, Peru and Canada, with an honorary consulate for Belize as well. Most other countries serve Texas from Houston, and several Caribbean countries from Miami.

Which countries must approve before the flight is booked?

Trinidad and Tobago’s handbook says so explicitly, and Jamaica, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile and Brazil each involve a permit or health authority at the destination. Each country guide gives the detail.

Sources checked and case confirmation

Sources checked September 21, 2026. This page compares what our country guides report; each guide carries its own sources and check date, and rules change. Confirm documents, fees, route and receiving arrangements for the individual case. Contact Vargas–London with the origin and destination to discuss the next step without sending medical or identity documents through the inquiry form.