Can You Take Filled Burial Urns To A Different Country?
People often wish their cremains to be taken to a different country or their homeland for the last rites. You may even wish to scatter the ashes of your loved ones in a foreign land or travel to the sea for water burial. But can you? Are there any specific rules and regulations for travelling abroad with filled up burial urns? Read on to know more…
There are laws!
Yes, every country has some specific rules and regulations for transporting cremains and, in order to avoid difficulties in fulfilling the last wish of your loved ones, you should follow those rules. In fact, there are separate rules for transporting cremains by a ship and by an airplane. To know clearly about transporting urn boxes for ashes to a particular country you must contact the embassy of that country near you. Don’t be amazed if you find out that there are countries that do not allow cremains to be brought in for last rites or preservation. And, then, there are countries that are specific regarding who can send or receive cremains of a person.
It may take several weeks to obtain approval from the embassy or the respective authorities to approve the transfer of filled keepsakes for ashes. Thus, you should have plenty of time in hand before you actually decide to transfer the cremains. You may have to visit the offices of the respective authorities several times and may also have to prepare applications and fill forms. Only after all the formalities are completed, you should be able to transfer the cremains from one country to another.
Transporting cremation burial vaults via air
If you are planning to take the cremains yourself to a different country, you may be willing to take a flight. For traveling with cremains, you may choose temporary and affordable urns for ashes. There are laws at the airports regarding traveling with cremains and you should abide by those. If you are not aware of those laws, you must speak to the specific airlines authorities regarding requirements for transportation. You may have to use scannable containers for transporting the cremains. Moreover, you might be told to carry the urns in your checked baggage rather than in your carry-on luggage or vice versa. If you are carrying a temporary wooden cremation box, make sure that the lid is tightly closed so to avoid a spill.
Shipping the urns
If you are not willing to travel with the urn yourself and would like to ship the marble urns you have filled up with the cremains, you should follow the norms of the postal service in your country. Every country’s postal service has some rules and regulations regarding packaging of the urns and putting the ashes inside. For international shipments you may want to choose engraved urns from a store like Memorials4U, but those have to be put inside a sift proof, tightly closed container to avoid a spill or damage to the cremains. For additional protection you may even put the shipment into a sealed plastic bag for extra protection. On top of everything, the postal service will have their own packaging to ensure that your shipment reaches in good shape to the recipients.
Choose urns carefully for shipping
You must be tempted to buy angel cremation urns for shipping the cremains of your loved ones to relatives in a different country. But before doing that check with the authorities if these kind of urns are allowed for shipping. You may have to choose simple wooden boxes for the transportation. If you purchase urns without confirming in advance, you may get into trouble at the airports or at the office of the postal service. So, be careful in advance.
Have you ever thought of gifting a biodegradable urn tree to your relatives? You can transport such an urn without hassle. Check out the online store of Memorials4U to see how such an urn looks. Remember to share this post so that others might get acquainted with the rules and regulations as well.
