Documents
A single piece of paper decides whether a coffin may cross a border — and it rarely comes first.
The laissez-passer — Leichenpass in German, sometimes called a mortuary passport — is the official authorisation to move a deceased person across a border. No airline accepts a coffin without it.
It rests on the Berlin Arrangement of 1937 and the Strasbourg Agreement of 1973. In practice something simpler decides the matter: what the destination country's consulate asks for.
The document is issued by the authority at the place of death — depending on the canton, the civil registry office, the municipality's burial office or the cantonal medical officer. There is no single federal counter.
That is the first practical difficulty: responsibility differs from canton to canton, and sometimes from municipality to municipality. We know the contacts in the municipalities we work in regularly, which avoids being sent back and forth.
The exact list depends on the canton and the destination country. The common core is:
Depending on the destination country, consular legalisation, an apostille or certified translations follow. It is this second layer that stretches the timeline, rarely the first.
The most common mistake is to run the steps in parallel. The laissez-passer can only be issued after the body has been placed in the coffin and sealed; the consulate, for its part, legalises only the signed original.
If the flight is booked before the consulate has returned the file, the slot is lost and the freight has to be rebooked — often at a higher rate.
Before even looking for a date, we call the destination country's consulate and ask for the written list of documents required, in order. Some consulates work to fixed deadlines or accept submissions only on certain days. Planning around that constraint saves whole days.
The Swiss part is quick: one to two working days once the body has been placed in the coffin. The consular part ranges from twenty-four hours to a week, depending on the mission.
Where faith calls for a swift burial — in Islam and Judaism in particular — say so in the first conversation. Several consulates accept an expedited procedure when the request is explained.
An urn does not fall under the laissez-passer. You need the cremation certificate and the death certificate; some countries additionally require a consular confirmation, sometimes called an urn passport.
The procedure is markedly lighter and airlines generally accept it without freight formalities.
Questions & answers
Formally the family may file the application itself. In practice the authority requires the confirmation of proper placing in the coffin, which only a funeral firm can issue — so the file cannot be completed without one.
The municipal or cantonal fee is modest, in the order of a few tens of francs. It is the consular legalisations that weigh, and their tariff depends entirely on the country.
The coffin is not loaded. It then has to be stored, the freight rebooked and the file completed — several days lost and additional cost. That is precisely why we never book a flight before the file is complete.
Yes, generally after a few weeks, and some consulates set it shorter. That is one more reason to take the steps in the right order rather than trying to get ahead on one of them.