Quote Originally Posted by hackwriter View Post
Another post in my seemingly endless saga of doing a sea burial of my late husband's cremated remains in Jamaica. We have our hotel booked (SATP) and the hotel will arrange for a boat to take us out to do the burial. My understanding is that I need the death certificate and certification of cremation (both of which I have) and a transit permit. I cannot find any information on obtaining this transit permit for a case where a family member is bring the cremains rather than them going from a funeral home in the US to a funeral home in Jamaica. I currently have the remains in an urn in my home and they will be transported and buried in a TSA-approved biodegradable urn.

The Jamaican Consulate in Washington DC has an endless voice mail system that keeps taking me back to the same recording. The one in New York has no operator pickup. The instructions available for a transit permit assume a funeral home-to-funeral home transport. I have contacted the consulate in Jamaica via e-mail and have received no answer.

I don't want to end up with my husbands remains sitting somewhere in Kingston or Montego Bay and have to spend five days trying to straighten it out. Does anyone have any information on how I can do this? Thank you in advance if you do.
I am very sorry for you loss. I had to get a travel permit for a relative's cremated remains in December. It was a process. You need a death certificate and a proof of cremation.

Fax the documents to these folks:

St. James Health Department
Ph: 1-876-979-7820-4
Fax: 1-876-979-7802

Email: saintjames@wrha.gov.jm
St. James Montego Bay PO St. James, Jamaica WI

There is a cost of around US$60. The hard part is you must have the original documents issued by the health department with you when you arrive in Jamaica. A cab driver friend paid the fees and picked up the documents.

When we arrived in Jamaica I ran outside and got the documents. Then the hard part - swimming upstream against airport security while a family member was discussing the matter with security. They will not let you take the remains out of the airport without the permit. Airport security took the documents back to my family member and all was good. Had a beautiful sunset boat ride and we placed his remains in the sea. PM me if you have any questions.