Repatriation from Belgrade, Serbia

Belgrade is one of Europe’s fastest-growing city break destinations, with British visitors arriving for stag and hen weekends, nightlife tourism, and increasingly for cultural and culinary tourism. It’s also a city with a significant British business community and a small but established long-stay British resident group. Deaths in Belgrade involve a mix of categories: alcohol and recreational drug-related incidents during nightlife tourism, road traffic accidents, and in the long-stay community, the full range of medical and accidental causes that occur wherever British nationals live.

Serbia is not an EU member state and is not in the Schengen area, which affects the documentation process. The British Embassy in Belgrade handles a Serbian bureaucracy that operates under civil law principles with a distinct institutional structure unfamiliar to most families in the UK.

Consular coverage

The British Embassy Belgrade (Resavska 46, Belgrade 11000) is the UK diplomatic mission for Serbia. Emergency consular assistance for deaths anywhere in Serbia goes through the Embassy.

British Embassy Belgrade: +381 11 306 0900. FCDO 24-hour emergency line: +44 (0)20 7008 5000.

What Serbian law requires

Law on Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Zakon o matičnim knjigama, Official Gazette RS 20/2009 and amendments): Deaths must be registered with the local Registrar of Civil Status (matičar) within 24 hours by the hospital or attending physician. The death is entered in the Death Register (Knjiga umrlih).

Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP Serbia) — Police: Sudden, violent, or unexplained deaths are reported to the MUP Serbia. For Belgrade, the Belgrade Police Directorate handles investigations. The Criminal Investigation Police (Kriminalistička policija) attends sudden death scenes.

Institute of Forensic Medicine (Institut za sudsku medicinu, Delijska 6, Belgrade): The main forensic pathology facility in Serbia. Post-mortems for deaths in Belgrade are typically conducted here, under the authority of the relevant Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office (Osnovno javno tužilaštvo).

Permit to transport the body internationally: Issued by the City of Belgrade Secretariat for Health (Sekretarijat za zdravstvo) or the Ministry of Health of Serbia for international cases, under the Law on Protection of Population from Infectious Diseases and associated regulations.

Source: Zakon o matičnim knjigama, Official Gazette RS 20/2009 (Serbia); 2024.

Medical coverage

The University Clinical Centre of Serbia (Klinički centar Srbije, Pasterova 2, Belgrade) is the main public hospital and referral centre. Emergency cases go to the Emergency Centre (Urgentni centar, Pasterova 2). Private hospitals in Belgrade used by insured foreigners include Bel Medic (Koste Jovanovića 11) and Euromedic. The Belgrade Emergency Medical Service (Hitna pomoć) operates 24 hours.

The documentation chain

1. Death certificate from the local matičar (Civil Registrar) office. 2. Police report from Belgrade Police Directorate (in sudden deaths). 3. Post-mortem report from Institut za sudsku medicinu (if forensic examination required). 4. Public Prosecutor’s release of the body. 5. Ministry of Health / City Secretariat for Health permit. 6. Embalming certificate. 7. IATA cargo documentation — BEG (Nikola Tesla Airport, Belgrade) to LHR.

Nikola Tesla Airport (BEG) operates direct services to London Gatwick (LGW) via Air Serbia and easyJet. Flight time approximately 2.5 hours. Air Serbia also operates BEG-LHR routes.

Timeline from Belgrade

Natural death, expected, hospital: 7 to 14 days
Police investigation, uncomplicated: 14 to 28 days
Complex criminal case: 6 to 12 weeks

For repatriation guidance, contact our team via our enquiry form or WhatsApp.