Your person died in India and you are in the US, or a death here means last rites, family, or property in India. The timeline is shorter than most American families expect: Indian rules require cremation, burial, or embalming within 72 hours. Here is the sequence in both directions, and what the NRI paperwork actually involves.
If they died in India
Deaths register with the local registrar where the death happened, normally the municipal health officer, within 21 days at no fee. Late registration has escalating tiers under the registration law: within 30 days with a late fee, within a year with the district authority’s written permission and an affidavit, and after a year only on a magistrate’s order. The informant gets one free copy of the death certificate, and anyone can buy additional certified copies. Indian death certificates never state the cause of death; the medical cause certificate is a separate document, which matters later for insurance.
Move fast on disposition: cremation, burial, or embalming must happen within 72 hours of death. Embalmed remains can then wait in cold storage for the family’s instructions.
If the person was a US citizen, report the death to the US embassy or consulate covering that Indian state. It issues the Consular Report of Death Abroad electronically after receiving the original local death certificate, the doctor’s cause-of-death report if available, any cremation certificate, and the person’s original US passport, which a consular officer cancels and returns. The embassy’s own words on local conditions: mortuary and embalming services in India are limited and not always up to US standards. Its emergency line is +91-11-2419-8000.
There is no national online counter for ordering an Indian death certificate from abroad, and we would rather say so than imply one exists. The law allows any person to obtain certified copies from the local registrar for a fee, and many city registrars now run online portals, Delhi’s municipal corporation among them, so the practical route is the portal of the city where the death happened, or a relative or lawyer there. For a death that happened in the US, register it with the Indian consulate for your region on the government’s eSEWA portal; the consular death registration is what later Indian paperwork builds on.
Taking remains or ashes out of India needs two written permissions before anything flies: the destination country’s authority and the district magistrate, deputy commissioner, or coroner for the place of death. The US side is the standard federal rule: a leak-proof container consigned to a licensed funeral home, with a cause-of-death certificate unless the remains are embalmed, and no federal paperwork at all for fully cremated ashes. The consulate in India helps assemble the shipping documents, and its undertaker lists per consular district are the practical starting point.
Two clearances, one on each side. First, the Indian consulate for your region issues the No Objection Certificate. If the person held an Indian passport, register the death with the consulate first and the NOC is free; for US citizens, including OCI holders, the embassy fee schedule lists $40 for ashes and $60 for mortal remains plus a small welfare-fund charge, paid by money order or cashier’s check. The document list is consistent across consulates: the death certificate clearly stating cause of death, the embalming certificate, a certificate that the body is free from infection, and the burial or transit permit for remains; the death certificate and cremation certificate for ashes. The deceased’s Indian passport gets cancelled as part of registration, and an OCI card should be cancelled too.
Second, India’s arrival clearance runs through the government’s eCARe portal before the flight lands: upload the embalming certificate, death certificate, the consulate’s NOC, and the cancelled passport, and clearance is stated to process within 48 hours, free. Anyone can file it, including a relative in India. Remains of deaths from a short list of dangerous diseases, yellow fever, plague, anthrax among them, cannot enter without central government approval; cremated ashes are exempt from that bar.
The estate: religion-dependent law and the NRI rules
Which succession law applies depends on the person’s religion. The Hindu Succession Act of 1956 governs intestate succession for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs; the Indian Succession Act of 1925 covers most others and expressly excludes those communities from its intestacy rules, with Muslim personal law running separately. Two documents get confused constantly: the legal heir certificate, issued by a local revenue officer and used for pensions, insurance, and government dues, and the succession certificate, issued by the district court and required to collect debts and securities. Banks and registrars will tell you which one they want; expect the court one to take longer.
For heirs in the US, the Reserve Bank’s rules are workable: NRIs and OCI holders can inherit any immovable property in India, including agricultural land they could not have bought, and can remit up to one million US dollars per financial year out of India from inherited assets through the banking channels, with declarations rather than case-by-case approval in the normal course.
Indian rules require cremation, burial, or embalming within 72 hours of death, and religious practice often moves faster than that. If you are in the US and cannot arrive in time, embalmed remains can be held in cold storage while the family decides, so the first call to the hospital or funeral provider should say plainly whether you want them to wait.
What do I need to carry my parent’s ashes to India?
The consulate’s No Objection Certificate, issued against the death certificate and cremation certificate, free if the person held an Indian passport and about $42 total otherwise, plus India’s eCARe arrival clearance filed online with the same documents and the cancelled passport. File eCARe before the flight; it processes within 48 hours and costs nothing.
What is the difference between a legal heir certificate and a succession certificate?
The legal heir certificate comes from a local revenue office and establishes the family relationship for pensions, insurance, and government claims. The succession certificate comes from the district court and is what banks and companies require before releasing debts, deposits, and securities. Many estates need both, and the court one takes longer, so start it early.
Can we inherit property in India while living in the US?
Yes. RBI rules let NRIs and OCI holders inherit any immovable property in India, including agricultural land they could not have purchased, and remit up to one million US dollars per financial year from inherited assets through normal banking channels with the required declarations.
Why does the death certificate not show the cause of death?
Indian law separates the two: the registrar’s death certificate proves the fact and date of death, and by statute its certified extracts omit cause of death. The medical cause of death certificate is a separate document from the attending doctor or hospital. Insurers and the US consulate often want both, so collect the medical certificate while you are still dealing with the hospital.
Consulate requirements and foreign fees change, and individual consulates within one country can differ. Confirm the current document list with the consulate you'll actually use before booking anything. This page is general information, not legal advice. Reviewed August 18, 2026; every fact links to the official page it came from.