Where have all the flowers gone: Garlands adorn the tombstones of this cemetery. Some foreigners chose to be laid to rest in China. (Photo : Getty Images)
Dying to go home?
Families of expats who passed away would most likely have the body be flown back to their native land.
For the close people left behind by an expat, mourning is done alongside a mountain of paperwork.
In the U.S., repatriation entails securing a communicable disease affidavit, embalmers affidavit and burial or transfer permit along with, of course, a copy of the death certificate, according to the National Funeral Directors Association.
NFDA added that “notarized versions of all original documents” is a must and the remains of the person should be placed in a “hermetically sealed casket.”
In some countries such as the Muslim-dominated Qatar, local laws require employers to handle repatriation of their foreign employee’s dead body.
There were 13 million British passport holders in 2007 and each year, “thousands” of them would die, reported The Guardian.
According to U.K.-based Rowland Brothers International, which has been giving international repatriation services since 1971, every year the company makes it possible for the families of nearly 2,000 British residents who died abroad to bury them back home, reported The Telegraph in 2014.
The report also said that repatriation claims in China, South America and Japan could fetch as high as 17,000 pounds, according to Saga, a British insurance company.
A heart attack almost killed a British guy in 2015. That incident made the 63-year-old senior marketing consultant in Beijing to consider resigning next year and go back home for good in England, according to the Global Times.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs promulgated a regulation in 2008 banning the dead bodies of expatriates to be buried in the country, reported China Daily.
The peaceful grounds of Shanghai Wanguo Cemetery serve as the final resting place for more than 600 Asians and Westerners.
Repatriation of a dead body commands a steep price. That makes some families to have the body cremated first to lighten financial obligation.
