Saudi Arabia Death Certificate: How to Get One as an Expat

The official Saudi death certificate — called the Shahada Al-Wafa — is the document everything else depends on. Without it, you cannot settle bank accounts, file for inheritance, or repatriate remains. Here is exactly how the process works for expatriate families.

How the Death Certificate Is Generated

When someone dies in a Saudi hospital, the attending physician enters a medical death notification into the Ministry of Health's electronic portal. This electronic entry kicks off an automated chain — it notifies both SAMA (the Saudi Central Bank, which freezes bank accounts) and the Ministry of Interior's Civil Affairs division.

The formal civil death certificate is then generated through the Absher platform or Tawakkalna app under the "Death Certificate Services" managed by Civil Affairs. The applicant must be a first-degree relative, the sponsoring employer, or a court-appointed guardian, and they log in using their National Single Sign-On (Nafath) credentials.

The service is free of charge. If the death occurred in a hospital and the electronic notification is already in the system, the certificate can be issued within a day or two. If there was a police investigation (non-hospital death or suspicious circumstances), it takes longer because the public prosecution must first release the body.

Who Can Apply

Only three categories of people can apply for the Saudi death certificate:

1. First-degree relatives with valid Saudi identification
2. The sponsoring employer (the kafeel)
3. A court-appointed guardian or legal representative with a verified Power of Attorney registered on Najiz

If the next of kin is not physically present in Saudi Arabia, the Civil Affairs office routes the physical death certificate through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to the deceased's embassy. This regularly takes three to six months.

MOFA Attestation and Translation

Any Saudi death certificate that needs to be used outside the Kingdom must go through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for attestation. This stamps the document with official authentication that foreign courts and government agencies recognize.

All foreign-language documents must be translated into Arabic by an office licensed by the Ministry of Justice before they can be uploaded to any Saudi government platform. Going the other direction, if you need the Saudi death certificate translated into English for use in your home country, you will need an MOJ-certified translation.

Since Saudi Arabia joined the Hague Apostille Convention in December 2022, documents from Apostille member states (including the UK and US) need only an Apostille stamp plus verification through the Najiz portal. Documents from non-member countries (like Canada) still require the full consular legalization chain: notarization, state certification, federal authentication, Saudi Embassy legalization, then MOFA and MOJ registration.

Common Delays and How to Avoid Them

Name discrepancies are the most common bottleneck. If there is any spelling difference between the passport name and the death certificate, the file gets sent back to the Civil Affairs Head Office in Riyadh for correction. This can add weeks. Make sure the sponsor verifies the spelling before the certificate is finalized.

Non-hospital deaths involve a police investigation that can delay the medical death notification from entering the system. Until the public prosecution clears the case, Civil Affairs cannot generate the death certificate.

Weekend and holiday closures catch many families off guard. Government offices are closed Friday and Saturday with no emergency services. During Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, operations can halt for up to ten days.

What You Need the Death Certificate For

Once you have the Shahada Al-Wafa, it unlocks every other step in the settlement process:

• Banks require it to begin the account unfreezing process (alongside the Heirship Certificate)
• The Passport Office (Jawazat) needs it for the exit visa
• Your home country's registry needs it to register the death domestically
• Insurance companies require it for life insurance and repatriation claims
• The Sharia court needs it to initiate the Heirship Certificate (Sak Husr Waratha)

Get the Full Document Checklist

The Saudi Arabia Expat Death Guide includes a complete document legalization checklist covering every certificate, attestation, and translation you need — with the exact sequence to follow so nothing gets held up.

See more Saudi Arabia guides →