How repatriation from Belgium works
It all starts with a phone call. We take over coordination with our partner in Belgium, who collects the deceased, carries out the embalming required for international transport, and prepares the coffin.
The Belgian death certificate (acte de décès in Wallonia and Brussels, overlijdensakte in Flanders) is obtained from the municipal administration (commune / gemeente) of the locality where the death occurred. The authorization to transport the coffin across the border (laissez-passer mortuaire / lijkenpas) is also issued by the municipal authority, based on the death certificate and the embalming certificate.
Belgium is a party to the 1937 Berlin Arrangement on the international transport of the deceased, like Romania. Under this convention, the Belgian transport authorization is sufficient to cross the borders of member states, with no separate consular clearance needed in ordinary cases.
Belgian documents, in French or Dutch
Belgium has three regions and two main administrative languages. In Brussels and Wallonia (south), documents are in French; in Flanders (north), in Dutch. This means the death certificate may be an acte de décès or an overlijdensakte, and the transport authorization a laissez-passer mortuaire or a lijkenpas — the same document, in different languages.
For transcription in Romania, the Belgian documents are translated and legalized into Romanian. Our Belgian partner knows exactly which municipal office issues each document, in any region, so the family does not have to search through the local administrations alone.
How long it takes and what it costs
For most cases from Belgium, repatriation takes 3–5 days from the first call to arrival in Romania. The total cost, between €2,500 and €4,500, covers embalming, the transport-compliant coffin, the Belgian documents, the transport authorization, and door-to-door transport.
The price difference comes from the departure region and from any storage fees at a funeral facility (funérarium), if document preparation takes longer. The road journey through central Europe takes around a day and a half to Romania's western border. We give you a firm estimate from the very first call.
Cities and regional specifics
We repatriate from anywhere in Belgium. Most cases come from Brussels and its metropolitan area, but we also cover Antwerp, Ghent, Liège, Charleroi, and Bruges.
Because Belgium is a small country, internal distances are short, and our local partner can collect the deceased within a few hours, in any city. Transport to Romania is almost always by road; the air option, from Brussels, is used rarely, when time is very short.
The Romanian consulate in Belgium
Romania has an embassy in Brussels, with a consular section serving Romanian citizens in Belgium (Avenue de Cortenbergh 71, 1000 Brussels). Appointments for consular services are made through the econsulat.ro portal. For serious emergencies — deaths, accidents — the embassy has a dedicated emergency line.
In most cases, the Belgian documents and the transport authorization are sufficient, and our local partner handles the formalities without the family needing to travel to the consulate.
The documents required
- The acte de décès / overlijdensakte (Belgian death certificate), issued by the municipal administration, with a legalized translation into Romanian
- The laissez-passer mortuaire / lijkenpas (cross-border transport authorization), issued by the municipal authority
- The embalming certificate, required for international transport
- Clearance from the forensic doctor or prosecutor, when the death was sudden, violent, or unexplained
- The deceased's ID or passport
- Transcription of the death certificate into the Romanian civil registry, on arrival
What we do for the family
Belgian documents appear in two languages and pass through the municipal administration — hard to follow from a distance. We coordinate the Belgian side through our partners and the Romanian side directly, so the family has a single point of contact: collection, embalming, transport authorization, then transcription of documents, the ceremony, and the burial plot in Romania.
We answer day and night. Many families call us from Belgium, by phone or WhatsApp, while they're still there. Read the full repatriation guide for an overview. If you're weighing several destinations, see also repatriation from the Netherlands or from France.
We don't run up unexplained costs. Before any procedure begins, we give you the full estimate in writing — what it includes and what it doesn't.