How do you transport a dead body from Mexico to New York?

Answer 1

I've just had to deal with this issue, although the body will transport to Ohio. There are three parts of the process:

1) You must have an official death certificate from the municipality. The hospital or clinic will issue the initial certificate, but you will have to go to the city hall to have the official government certificate issued. This may take a day or two and is required before the body can be released from the funeral home.

2) The US State Dept. will need to certify next of kin and receive a power of attorney from them to approve moving the body. You should contact the local State Dept. representative (consular agency, consulate or embassy) as soon after the death as possible, to get this process moving.

3) You will need to work with a local funeral home to arrange body pickup (the hospital or clinic will usually do this immediately), preparation, storage and transport to states. This can get complicated and may delay return of the body. It will cost you money...

We were told by the funeral home that the law requires embalming, a casket, a wooden box around the casket, etc. That is the policy, but the family can demand less. This is where the State Dept. representative can be helpful in a) clarifying what is law and what is really a guideline, so as to prevent the funeral home from taking advantage, and b) ensuring the funeral home arranges proper transport.

Our funeral home was chosen by the hospital and was there within minutes of death. At the point where they have the body, you are at their mercy. They are often compassionate people, but this is an opportunity to profit from your misfortune. They took care of embalming and storing the body, but had difficulty understanding where we needed the body transported. They knew Chicago in the midwest, but had no idea of where Cincinnati was, or why we needed the body delivered there, rather than a big city they knew.

We were told later, that the State Dept. rep was supposed to take care of all these details - we report the death and all is arranged for our return. The consular agent we dealt with was new, ill-informed, and did little for us but translate at the funeral home. The local friends we had here were much more helpful and ended up representing us with the funeral home.

Another item - We had ordered a Med-Evac as things became dire, but the patient didn't last long enough for the plane to reach us. Nonetheless, we were responsible for the charges and then found that Med-Evac could not transport the body, only patients under care. That would have solved many of our problems quickly. We were told in confidence, even if he/she is on their last breath, try to get them in the air - don't let them die in Mexico.

And, since the death was on a Friday afternoon on a long weekend before Constitution Day on Monday, not much could get done until the following Tuesday, when government offices (customs, records, etc.) opened again. It was awful to think of our loved one in a cold room of a rustic, plain concrete building - most funeral homes here would hardly be considered appropriate for pets in the US, let alone humans.

These situations are always tragic. Like many other dire situations - sickness, encarceration, auto accidents, etc., this also is a chance for locals to take advantage of foreigners. Considering the average annual salary in Mexico is under $12K US, it may be understandable that they see every American as wealthy.

Where you do not have a capable, knowledgeable State Dept. rep, you should find someone locally to help. Many resort communities have ex-pat Americans working as attorneys, or in time-share sales, and may be able to help. Look on the internet, or in local papers, or ask the hotel concierge. In the long run, this can save you time, money and stress.