Reviewed by Carlos Vargas, Texas Licensed Funeral Director (TFSC #119648) ·
Why this page exists
Rules for moving a person who has died from Texas to another country are written by offices that revise their own pages without telling anyone. A guide that was right in spring can be wrong by autumn. This page records what we changed on the repatriation guides and tools, when, and why, so a family or a professional can judge how fresh a page is.
It also lists the official sources we go back to, with the revision date each one showed the last time we read it. It is a record, not a promise that every page is current on the day you read it. If something here conflicts with what an office tells you, the office is right.
The official sources we go back to
The Texas duties described across these guides come from the Texas DSHS Death Registration Handbook. The edition we use carries a January 2026 revision date. When the state publishes a new edition we read the chapters on the report of death, the Burial-Transit Permit and medical certification again, and change any page that relied on the older wording.
Questions about apostilles and authentication point to the Texas Secretary of State authentication FAQ. Pages about bringing a person into the United States for burial point to the CDC page on importing human remains, which showed an update date of December 4, 2025 when we read it on September 21, 2026.
The insurance guide relies on Texas Department of Insurance travel-insurance tips, last updated May 28, 2026. The time-zone tools follow the IANA Time Zone Database; its latest release on September 21, 2026 was 2026d, published September 11, 2026. The business-day calculator takes federal holidays from the Office of Personnel Management holiday schedule.
What a date on a source tells you
A revision date on an agency page tells you when that agency last touched the page. It does not tell you that nothing changed in practice since then, and it says nothing about how a consulate or an airline will treat one family’s case. That is why the country guides ask you to confirm requirements with the consulate for your destination before paying for anything.
Some sources cannot be read by automated tools, because the site blocks them. When that happens we open the page in an ordinary browser and read it by hand, and we do not get around a security check. If a page still cannot be read, the guide says less rather than guessing. For example, the insurance guide describes only what the Mexican Consulate in Dallas lists on its protection page, because its detail page would not load for us on September 21, 2026.
When a link stops working, we remove the link and keep the name of the document, so a reader can still ask the office for it. One country guide lost a link this way in September 2026 when a government file was taken offline.
What changed, and when
Entries are listed newest first. Small wording fixes that do not change meaning are not listed.
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| September 24, 2026 | Carlos Vargas re-read the forty-four guide and service pages whose wording had changed since his previous review - trims made to bring pages inside the length band, shortened related-link labels, and newly linked destinations - and their review date now reads 24 September 2026. Thirty-six had changed wording; eight had gained only links. |
| September 24, 2026 | The East Africa and West Africa comparison guides now link the eleven country guides they compare: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Each was named in the comparison table but could not be opened from it. Every row of the East and Southeast Asia and Europe and Central Asia tables now links to its guide as well. |
| September 23, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed the nine African country guides and the two African regional comparison guides: Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Algeria and Tunisia, together with the East Africa and West Africa guides. |
| September 23, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed the nine European and Caucasus country guides: Italy, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Georgia. |
| September 23, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed the seven Middle Eastern and Asian country guides: Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Laos. |
| September 23, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed the Venezuela country guide. |
| September 23, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed the seven regional comparison guides after each was rewritten: the Americas, Africa, South Asia, East and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Europe and Central Asia, and Central America. |
| September 23, 2026 | The Middle East and North Africa comparison guide was extended from five destinations to eleven, adding Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria. Six of the eleven publish something about a death and five publish nothing at all. |
| September 23, 2026 | The Americas comparison guide was extended from twenty destinations to twenty-four, adding Belize, Guyana, Venezuela and Uruguay. All four accept a Texas apostille, so Haiti and Cuba remain the only two outside the Convention. |
| September 23, 2026 | The South Asia comparison guide was extended from five countries to six with Afghanistan, which has no consular office anywhere in the United States and no row on the Apostille Convention table. |
| September 23, 2026 | Correction: the East and Southeast Asia comparison guide said it compared eleven destinations while naming five. China, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia were collapsed into a single table row reading The rest. All eleven are now named and linked. |
| September 23, 2026 | Correction: the Algeria country guide said the Texas Secretary of State consular directory lists Morocco. It does not. The directory carries a hundred and one country entries and Morocco is not among them; the guide now names only entries that are there. |
| September 23, 2026 | The Europe and Central Asia comparison guide now links the guides for Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey, which were named in its table but not reachable from it. |
| September 22, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed the country guides for the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, Malaysia, Italy, Portugal and Poland, and the Europe and Central Asia comparison guide. |
| September 22, 2026 | A country guide for Malaysia was added. The Texas Secretary of State lists Malaysia with the single word Vacant, and because Malaysia is not a party to the Apostille Convention a Texas death certificate needs a further authentication from the United States State Department before a Malaysian mission will legalise it. |
| September 22, 2026 | A country guide for Italy was added. The consulate states that the flight is booked only after it issues the mortuary passport, and before it can issue that it must obtain authorisation from the comune of final destination in Italy. |
| September 22, 2026 | A country guide for Portugal was added. Texas belongs to the consular section in Washington, the transfer permit is fifty euro converted to 58.25 dollars, registering the death is free, and the transit authorisation must travel with the remains for the whole journey. |
| September 22, 2026 | A country guide for Poland was added. A permission from the starosta of the Polish county of burial must be obtained before the Houston consulate will issue its own certificate, for which the published fee is seventy-one dollars. |
| September 22, 2026 | The Europe and Central Asia comparison guide was extended from five destinations to eight, adding Italy, Portugal and Poland, and a new section setting out which destinations need an authorisation issued in Europe before anything can start in Texas. |
| September 22, 2026 | Correction: the Europe and Central Asia comparison guide previously stated that the 1937 Berlin agreement status list carries twenty parties. Counted row by row it carries nineteen, and the page now says so. The statement that the United States does not appear on the list is unchanged and correct. |
| September 21, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed the country guides for Myanmar and Thailand and the East and Southeast Asia comparison guide. |
| September 21, 2026 | A country guide for Myanmar was added. The office that covers Texas is the embassy in Washington rather than a consulate, its death certificate form is published only in Burmese, and Myanmar is not a party to the Apostille Convention. |
| September 21, 2026 | A country guide for Thailand was added. Thai customs will not release remains without a death certificate issued by the Thai embassy, which takes about 15 business days, and Thailand's accession to the Apostille Convention does not enter into force until February 28, 2027. |
| September 21, 2026 | A comparison guide for East and Southeast Asia was added, setting out where each of seven destinations stands on the Apostille Convention and what each still requires from its own side afterwards. |
| September 21, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed the country guide for Indonesia. |
| September 21, 2026 | A country guide for Indonesia was added. The Consulate General in Houston covers Texas and legalizes the documents, but states that it does not ship remains: that must be done by a funeral home holding TSA Known Shipper status. |
| September 21, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed the country guides for Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and the comparison page for South Asia. |
| September 21, 2026 | Country guides for Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were added. Nepal is the only country in these guides with a consulate in Dallas itself, and it issues its No Objection Letter free of charge. |
| September 21, 2026 | A comparison page for South Asia was added. It shows how far the responsible office moves between these five countries, from Dallas to Houston to Washington. |
| September 21, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed the four new country guides for Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, and the comparison page for the Middle East and North Africa. |
| September 21, 2026 | Country guides for Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan were added. Jordan's foreign ministry publishes a service to prepare and transport the bodies of citizens who die abroad at government expense, and Lebanon exempted the transfer of remains from consular fees on March 1, 2026. |
| September 21, 2026 | A comparison page for the Middle East and North Africa was added. It sets out how far the consular cost varies across five destinations, and which of them accepts a Texas apostille. |
| September 21, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed the five pages published later that day: the comparison pages for Central America and Africa, the guide to airlines and cargo agents, the guide to government schemes that help with cost, and the faith communities page. |
| September 21, 2026 | A page on government schemes that may help with the cost was added, covering what the Philippine, Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan authorities publish and the conditions each one sets. |
| September 21, 2026 | A faith communities page was added. It quotes the national bodies and the two Dallas-Fort Worth congregations that publish written guidance, and states plainly that no Hindu or Sikh source publishing such guidance could be found. |
| September 21, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed six further country guides published that day: South Africa, Cameroon, Rwanda, Uganda, Belize and Senegal. |
| September 21, 2026 | Country guides for South Africa, Cameroon, Rwanda, Uganda, Belize and Senegal were added. The South Africa guide explains that no body may enter without an import permit from the National Department of Health, which is never issued at the border. |
| September 21, 2026 | Comparison pages for Central America and for Africa were added, together with a guide to what airlines and cargo agents publish about carrying human remains. |
| September 21, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed seven further pages published that day: the country guides for Iraq, Nicaragua, Cuba, Guyana, Uruguay and Tanzania, and the comparison page for the Americas. |
| September 21, 2026 | Country guides for Guyana, Uruguay and Tanzania were added. The Guyana guide explains that the only document list Guyana publishes comes from its mission in London. |
| September 21, 2026 | A comparison page for the Americas was added, covering the twenty destinations in the region: where each consulate for Dallas is, apostille or authentication chain, approvals before the flight, and what governments say about paying. |
| September 21, 2026 | The Panama guide now names the Dallas County letter that may serve as the health certificate, and the Ecuador guide now describes how the customs petition is filed. |
| September 21, 2026 | Country guides for Iraq, Nicaragua and Cuba were added. The Nicaragua guide states that no consular office for Texas could be confirmed, and the Cuba guide states that Cuba publishes no document list for returning a body. |
| September 21, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed nine further pages published that day: the country guides for Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and Bolivia, the consular directory, and the guide to how funeral homes coordinate. |
| September 21, 2026 | The Chile guide was corrected. It had said no health-office document list was published; the health ministry does publish one, and the guide now describes it and links to it. |
| September 21, 2026 | Country guides for Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and Bolivia were added. The Haiti guide states current flight limits, and the Bolivia guide states that Bolivia publishes no procedure for returning a body. |
| September 21, 2026 | A consular directory and a guide to how funeral homes coordinate a repatriation were added. Carlos Vargas reviewed the Jamaica guide. |
| September 21, 2026 | Country guides for Jamaica, Argentina, Chile and Brazil were added, each built from the consulate, ministry and airline pages it links to. |
| September 21, 2026 | Carlos Vargas reviewed 16 further pages published that day: the insurance, faith and family preferences, shipping to another state and sources guides, and the country guides for Peru, Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador. |
| September 21, 2026 | Country guides for Peru, Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador were added, each built from the consulate and ministry pages it links to. A guide for Nicaragua was held back because its official sources could not be read. |
| September 21, 2026 | Carlos Vargas, Texas Licensed Funeral Director, reviewed the 92 guides and tools published to that date; each now carries a review line. Pages added later show no review line until he has read them. |
| September 21, 2026 | The Spanish insurance page was rewritten. Fixed prices and statements about insurance assignment that we could not support were removed and replaced with questions to ask the insurer, the consulate or the agency. |
| September 21, 2026 | Twenty planning tools and a tools index were added. They run in the browser and send nothing. |
| September 21, 2026 | The page footer and the Call, Text, Chat, Prices and Visit bar were repaired on every repatriation page. A Spanish link to the arrangements page was corrected on 30 pages. |
| September 21, 2026 | A link to a Ghana civil-registration document was removed because the government file was no longer available. The document is still named in the guide. |
| September 20, 2026 | The first country guides and family guides were published. Total prices and transport timelines that could not be supported were removed from older Spanish pages, and a garbled message on the Spanish callback form was fixed. |
If you find something out of date
Tell us. Call the number at the top of the page or use the callback form and say which page and which sentence. The site’s corrections policy explains how errors are handled, and the editorial policy explains how pages are written and reviewed. Please do not send identity documents or medical records through the form.
Questions about updates
- Does a recent date on this page mean every guide was checked that day?
- No. Each entry names what changed. A guide is re-read when its source changes, when someone reports a problem, or when we add to it.
- Why does a guide say “confirm with the consulate” instead of giving the rule?
- Because consulates change requirements and apply them case by case. A page can point to the office and the question; only the office can answer for your case.
- Who reviews the guides?
- Carlos Vargas, a Texas Licensed Funeral Director, reviewed the pages that carry his review line. New pages appear without that line until he has read them.
