Cartagena’s walled city, the coffee region around Salento, the Lost City trek: Colombia has become one of the fastest-growing destinations for British travellers in the past decade. The documentation process that follows a death there, though, is unlike almost anything else in South America.
A permit families rarely see coming
Most countries route the export permit for human remains through a health ministry. Colombia doesn’t. It goes through INVIMA, the Instituto Nacional de Vigilancia de Medicamentos y Alimentos, an agency families and even some funeral directors associate with food and medicine regulation rather than repatriation. It’s a genuine step, not a technicality, and it typically takes 3 to 7 days once everything else, including the death registration and any forensic clearance, is already in hand.
Two agencies, two different jobs
For a death that isn’t straightforwardly natural, the Instituto de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses, known as the IML, carries out the forensic post-mortem. Where the case has a criminal element, the Fiscalia General de la Nacion has to sign off separately before release. These are distinct steps handled by distinct bodies, and both need to close out before INVIMA will even consider the export permit.
Location matters here. Bogota and Medellin have the country’s deepest forensic capacity, and IML results there usually land within 7 to 14 days. Cartagena, Cali, and Barranquilla carry longer waits, simply because there’s less capacity to draw on.
Registering the death itself
The medical certificate a hospital issues isn’t the document that counts internationally. That’s the Registro Civil de Defuncion, obtained through a Notaria, a notary office, under Colombia’s Civil Registry Code. It’s a separate step from the medical paperwork, and it needs to be right before anything downstream can proceed.
Contacting the Embassy
The British Embassy in Bogota, at Carrera 9 No. 76-49, should be notified as early as possible. It can be reached on +57 1 326 8300. For urgent consular assistance at any hour, call the FCDO Emergency Travel Line on 020 7008 5000.
Getting home
No direct flights connect Colombia and the UK. Bodies typically route from Bogota’s El Dorado Airport via Miami to Heathrow, or via Panama City, with Avianca or Copa Airlines handling the first leg. Multi-leg cargo bookings on this scale take time to arrange properly, and that lead time should be factored into any estimate given to a family early on.
Read what affects a repatriation timeline for how INVIMA-style permits compare to other countries’ processes, or see repatriation from Colombia to the UK for the full document list.
Contact Repatriate Service on +44 7703 577246 at any hour, or use the enquiry form below.