smartraveller.gov.au - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
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It's a must see destination.
Each year almost 700 Australian travellers die overseas, usually through illness or accident. The death of a loved one is always distressing for family and friends. When a death occurs in a foreign country, a sense of isolation and confusion may intensify such feelings.
The Consular staff of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Canberra understand the need for a swift and compassionate response. We have prepared this brochure to help those who need information and support at a time when they may feel isolated and vulnerable.
We will do everything in our power to assist Australians who have lost a relative or friend overseas. We can often help with our knowledge and understanding of the local environment, but we must also work within the legal and administrative processes that apply in the host country.
These processes may often appear unfamiliar, and even unnecessarily demanding for a family whose main priority is to bring the remains of their loved one back home. So one of our most important responsibilities is to keep family and friends informed and to provide advice as required.
In a practical sense we can:
If there is evidence of suspicious circumstances, we can press for an investigation by local authorities and pass on the results.
These are the things we can't do:
We strongly recommend that all Australians travelling overseas take out travel insurance to cover the costs of hospitalisation and medical treatment while overseas. The policy should also cover the costs incurred as a result of death. It is also a good idea to check if the travel insurance covers a pre-existing condition.
Your insurance company can reduce significantly the stress on relatives by providing advice and taking care of most of the arrangements and costs associated with a local funeral or the return of the remains to Australia.
Unfortunately, many Australians are still travelling overseas without adequate insurance cover. If they should die, it falls to the family to make the funeral arrangements and meet the costs involved, just as they would in Australia. Such costs can exceed $20,000 to bring the remains back home to Australia.
If you're overseas when your partner, relative or friend dies, you'll need to have the following information to hand when making the necessary arrangements:
If the death is unexpected and did not occur in a hospital, the local police will be involved and should notify the nearest Australian mission. Both your insurance company, or your nearest Australian mission can help to notify next-of-kin in Australia.
Your call to an Australian overseas post will be answered either by a duty officer at the post, or it will be transferred automatically to our 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre in Canberra. If your call is answered by an answering machine listen carefully to all the options.
Contact details for Australian overseas posts (this may be an Australian embassy, high commission or consulate) are listed in the booklet Hints for Australian Travellers which is issued with your passport. This free booklet, which is updated every six months, can also be obtained by email brochures@dfat.gov.au, telephone on (02) 6261 2803, or can be ordered online.
Through provisions in international law, the nearest Australian mission should always be notified of the death of an Australian citizen. If a tour company or a friend notifies us, we always double-check the information with the local police overseas. We will then contact the State or Federal police in Australia who will visit the next-of-kin in Australia and then provide contact details to us. We will be able to give them further details about the death and the steps that need to be taken overseas.
We can provide support and advice including the costings for a local funeral or cremation overseas or for the return of the remains or ashes to Australia. We can also assist, where necessary, with the transfer of funds.
While our consular staff will make every effort to ensure that relatives do not first learn of a death via the media, we cannot always prevent it from happening. If you hear of the death from the media, a tour operator or any other third party, you should contact our 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305 (from outside Australia) or 1300 555 135 (inside Australia). At the request of the recognised immediate family, we can assist in managing queries from the media on the family's behalf.
For privacy reasons, we do not normally discuss matters regarding the death with anybody except the designated next-of-kin.
The next-of-kin will be consulted about the deceased's wishes and every effort will be made to meet these.
However, in some countries and in certain circumstances, local regulations and conditions may result in the need to make a decision on these matters quickly.
This depends on local regulations and circumstances. In some cases it can take a number of weeks.
Depending on the circumstances, our staff overseas will pass the information on to our staff in Canberra who will ask the local police to inform the next-of-kin.
No. This is a matter for the next-of-kin and the deceased's insurance company. But we can help with any necessary arrangements.
This is not necessary unless they wish to. The Australian consulate can normally arrange for a competent local undertaker to arrange everything and help the next-of-kin with the transfer of funds.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade provides consular services to Australians through our headquarters in Canberra and through Australian embassies, high commissions and consulates established in many (though not all) countries. We help Australians in trouble and provide travel advice to help Australians avoid difficulties overseas. We also provide notarial services.
Consular officers are to be found in Australian diplomatic and consular posts abroad. DFAT's consular network extends to some 160 points of service around the world. These overseas posts are usually located in capital cities but there are also some in regional centers. Sometimes the head of an Australia consulate will be an Honorary Consul. Not all countries have an Australian diplomatic or consular post but there is usually an Australian post in the region. Under a consular agreement with Canada there are a number of locations where Australians have access to consular services through embassies and high commissions managed by the Canadian Government. Informal arrangements also exist with other consular services including those of the United Kingdom and the United States to lend assistance to Australians in need.
Addresses and telephone numbers of Australian embassies, high commissions and consulates can be found in local telephone directories, hotels, tourist office or police stations in the country concerned.
A directory of Australia overseas posts appears in the "Your Information Base" section of each edition of Hints for Australian Travellers. This booklet is issued with your passport. Canadian posts that help Australians are also listed in the Hints booklet.
The 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre (CEC) in Canberra can also be contacted for assistance from anywhere in the world on 61 2 6261 3305 or 61 1300 555 135.