Reviewed by Carlos Vargas, Texas Licensed Funeral Director (TFSC #119648) ·
An honorary consul in Texas, and an embassy that does the work
The Texas Secretary of State’s page for Jordan lists an Honorary Consul of Jordan with a Texas address, at 761 Justin Rd, Suite F, Rockwall. An honorary consulate is usually a point of contact rather than an office that issues documents, so call it, but do not expect it to run the case.
The work is done by the embassy in Washington. Its page on the foreign ministry’s site lists, among its consular services, a service for preparing and transporting the bodies of Jordanian citizens. That service is where a Dallas family should start, and what it publishes is unlike anything else in this region.
A service the ministry says is at government expense
The foreign ministry publishes a service card for the preparation and transport of the bodies of Jordanian citizens who die outside the country, and its own title says the service is at the government’s expense. The card states plainly that there are no fees, and gives a completion time of one to two business days.
Read that carefully rather than hopefully. The card is written for Jordanian citizens, the one-to-two days describes the ministry’s own step and not the whole journey, and approval is a decision rather than an entitlement. But it means that no family should arrange a private transfer from Texas before asking the embassy whether this applies, because doing so may put them on the wrong side of a decision that has not been made yet.
The documents the card asks for
The card lists five items: a copy of the passport of the person who died; a copy of that person’s residence permit, if there was one; a copy of the passport or identity card of whoever will receive the body in Jordan; a copy of the death certificate; and a copy of the authorization from the family naming who may receive the body.
One line further down the same card matters more than the list. It says that, to complete the transfer, the competent authorities require the original death certificate. So order several certified originals from Texas at the start, and do not assume a scan will finish the file. Settle early who in Jordan will be named as the receiving relative, because that name appears on two of the five documents.
How the request actually runs
The card describes two ways in: through the ministry’s electronic consular services portal, or by going to the embassy directly. In either case the applicant then attends the embassy in person, the itinerary for the body is set there, and the request is sent electronically to the competent Jordanian authorities. Progress is followed through a My Requests option on the portal.
What happens on approval is the part worth knowing in advance. The card says the embassy coordinates with the family over whether the transfer will be at government expense or at the family’s own expense with the money recovered later on return to Jordan. If the family pays, it must hand the original invoices and the air waybill to the ministry’s financial affairs directorate to begin the refund. If the government pays, the embassy instructs the shipping company it works with and that company bills the embassy. Keep every original invoice either way.
What the card leaves blank
This is a generic ministry service card, published for all Jordanian missions, and it shows. Where a hotline number should appear, the published file has a row of dots. Where a country name belongs in one paragraph, there is another row of dots. The document is in Arabic only, with no English version alongside it.
Two further gaps sit outside the card. The Civil Status and Passports Department publishes nothing we could find in English on registering a death that happened abroad, and the health ministry publishes nothing we could find on bringing a body into Jordan, on quarantine or on an embalming standard. Absence of a published rule is not an exemption, so ask the embassy what the receiving side will want.
Jordan is outside the apostille system
We read the HCCH status table on September 21, 2026 and Jordan has no row on it. An apostille is therefore not the route. As the Texas Secretary of State’s authentication page explains for countries outside the Apostille Convention, a Texas document runs from the state certificate to the Office of Authentications at the U.S. State Department and then to the country’s own mission, each step a separate mailing.
The service card says nothing about legalization or translation into Arabic. Ask the embassy which it wants, and ask it in the same conversation as the question about government expense, so that the answer arrives before any document is posted anywhere.
Routes and what the carriers publish
Royal Jordanian Cargo publishes a human remains service and speaks of the care and respect required when transporting loved ones, but no document list, packing standard or fee. Turkish Cargo publishes a fuller list for shipments through Istanbul, including a death certificate approved by the consulate and translated into Turkish, a consular letter and the air waybill. Lufthansa Cargo lists a death certificate, a mortuary passport or transfer certificate, an embalming or cremation certificate and any permits, and says private individuals generally cannot book directly.
Notice what those carrier lists assume: a consular document, which is exactly the step the embassy controls. If the ministry is arranging the transfer at government expense, the embassy also picks the shipping company, so ask early which route is being proposed and who will meet the flight at Amman.
| Step | Who to ask |
|---|---|
| Death certificate originals and preparation | The funeral director here |
| Whether the government will meet the cost | Embassy of Jordan in Washington |
| The receiving relative and the authorization | The family in Jordan |
| Legalization or an Arabic translation | The embassy, in writing |
| Carrier, routing and who meets the flight | The embassy or the cargo desk |
Who pays
Jordan is the rare case where the published answer may be the state. The ministry’s own service card describes preparation and transport at government expense, with no fee for the service itself, and a reimbursement route where the family has already paid. None of that is automatic, and it is written for Jordanian citizens. Ask before you commit to anything, and read the guide to government schemes for how similar programmes work elsewhere.
Questions families ask about a return to Jordan
- Does Jordan pay to bring a citizen home?
- Its foreign ministry publishes a service for preparing and transporting the bodies of Jordanian citizens who die abroad at government expense, with no fee for the service. It is not automatic and it is written for citizens, so ask the embassy before arranging anything privately.
- What if the family has already paid?
- The card describes a refund route: the family hands the original invoices and the air waybill to the ministry's financial affairs directorate after returning to Jordan. Keep every original document.
- Is an apostille accepted?
- Jordan has no row on the HCCH status table, so the apostille route does not apply. Expect the longer chain through the U.S. Office of Authentications, and ask the embassy what it actually requires.
Sources checked and case confirmation
Sources checked September 21, 2026. The ministry’s service card was read in Arabic rather than through a summary, and it is a generic template with blanks where a hotline number and a country name belong. No Jordanian health or civil-status page on bringing a body in or registering a death abroad could be found. Confirm the documents, whether the service applies, the route and the receiving arrangements for the individual case. Contact Vargas–London with the governorate in Jordan and where your relative is now, without sending medical or identity documents through the inquiry form.
