Texas Burial Transit Permit: Form VS-116, TxEVER, and Timing

A Texas burial transit permit is required any time human remains are shipped by a common carrier — an airline, a railroad, or a commercial freight company. The permit is filed on Form VS-116, and in most cases a licensed funeral director prints it through the state’s electronic vital records system once the death certificate is on file and the cause of death has been certified. If the body is moved by a funeral home’s own vehicle rather than a carrier, a full permit isn’t needed; a report of death form attached to the container is enough.

When You Need the Permit

The trigger is the method of transport, not the distance. Under 25 Texas Administrative Code Section 181.3, any body handed off to a common carrier must have a completed burial transit permit attached to the shipping case, and no carrier can accept the shipment without it.¹

Private transport is treated differently. When a body travels in a funeral home’s own vehicle, only a report of death form needs to be sealed in an envelope and attached to the container.¹ Licensed funeral directors using a vehicle designed for the purpose don’t have to use the leak-proof container that other private transporters do, but the report of death form still travels with the body.

Cremation often pulls families into the permit process without them expecting it. Many Texas counties have no local crematory, so remains have to be shipped to a facility elsewhere. If that shipment moves through a common carrier, the permit is mandatory. A permit from another state is also valid on arrival in Texas: under Health and Safety Code Section 193.008, a Texas cemetery or crematory must accept a burial transit permit issued under the laws of the state where the death occurred.²

How the Permit Is Issued Through TxEVER

Most Texas burial transit permits are now processed through the Texas Electronic Vital Events Registration system, or TxEVER, which handles death registration and permit issuance statewide.³ How quickly you can get the permit depends on the type of death:

For a natural death, the funeral home can print the burial transit permit directly from the TxEVER death record. No local registrar approval is needed first.
For an unnatural death, the funeral home submits a permit request to the local registrar through TxEVER. Once the registrar accepts it, the funeral home retrieves and prints the permit from the system’s print queue.
If the death certificate is incomplete, the funeral home has to contact the local registrar directly and request a manual permit outside the electronic system.⁴

The natural-versus-unnatural distinction changes the timeline. Natural deaths can be turned around almost immediately once the record is in the system. Unnatural deaths add a registrar review step, which depends on the local office’s availability.

What Form VS-116 Requires

The burial transit permit is filed on Form VS-116, the standardized document prescribed by the Texas Department of State Health Services.⁵ Most of the information on the form is pulled from the death certificate: the full legal name of the deceased, the date and time of death, and where the death occurred. The form also asks for the method of final disposition and the name and address of the receiving facility.

When remains are headed out of state, VS-116 asks for the port of exit or the name of the common carrier handling the shipment. The local registrar will not issue the permit until a death certificate, complete as far as possible, has been filed. If a physician, medical examiner, or justice of the peace has not yet certified the cause of death, the permit cannot be finalized.

The Medical Certification Bottleneck

The step that delays families most often isn’t the permit itself; it’s the medical certification of cause of death. Under Health and Safety Code Section 193.005, the attending physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse has five days from receiving the death certificate to complete the certification. Deaths investigated by a medical examiner or justice of the peace follow the same five-day deadline.⁶

Here’s the part that catches families off guard. Final disposition cannot happen until the person responsible for the medical certification specifically authorizes it.⁶ If the certifying physician is slow to respond, or the death is under investigation, the funeral director can explain the reason for the delay but can’t move forward without that authorization. Pressing the funeral home on timing when the real holdup is at the certifier’s office is a common source of frustration.

Preservation Rules Running in the Background

While the permit and certification are being sorted out, a separate clock is running on the body itself. Under 25 Texas Administrative Code Section 181.4, remains cannot be held or in transit more than 24 hours after death unless one of three things is true: the body is refrigerated between 34 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit, embalmed by a licensed embalmer, or enclosed in a sealed container that prevents fluid seepage and odor.⁷

The 24-hour clock starts at the time of death, not when the funeral home takes custody. If embalming or refrigeration can’t happen at the place of death, the body has to be placed in a sealed container before any transport begins. For long-distance shipments, this timeline creates the tightest squeeze.

The 48-Hour Cremation Waiting Period

For cremation, there’s another timing rule on top of everything else. Under 22 Texas Administrative Code Section 205.7, cremation can’t happen sooner than 48 hours after the time of death listed on the death certificate.⁸ The only way to shorten it is a written waiver from a Justice of the Peace in the county where the death occurred, or a court order.

Even after the burial transit permit is in hand and the death certificate is filed, the crematory can’t proceed until that 48-hour window closes. If you’re shipping remains to an out-of-county or out-of-state crematory, plan for the delay on the receiving end.

Packaging Requirements for the Carrier

Texas rules are specific about how the body has to be packaged when a common carrier takes it. Remains must be placed in either a sound casket enclosed in a strong outside shipping case, or a metal container designed for that purpose.¹ If the body hasn’t been embalmed or is decomposing, the standard is tighter: an airtight metal casket inside a strong shipping case, or a sound casket inside an airtight metal-lined shipping case.

The permit itself has to be sealed in a strong envelope and attached to the outside of the shipping case.¹ Packaging must also meet any additional requirements imposed by the carrier or by the receiving state or country. Airlines generally require remains to be checked in at least two hours before a domestic departure and four hours before an international one, so the permit needs to be ready well before the booking window closes.

Cremated Remains and TSA Screening

Cremated remains are far easier to ship, but air travel adds one requirement families often miss. The urn or container has to be made of material that passes through an X-ray machine. Wood, plastic, cardboard, and non-lead-based ceramic are acceptable.⁹ Metal urns and lead-lined containers won’t clear screening, and TSA officers cannot open a sealed container to inspect it manually. A container that fails the X-ray will not fly.

Remains Coming Into Texas From Abroad

When the death happens outside the United States, the process runs through both foreign consular procedures and federal health rules before Texas law comes into play. The U.S. Department of State advises families to work with consular officials at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate, who coordinate with local authorities on documents. Four are generally required: a consular mortuary certificate, a local death certificate, an affidavit from the local funeral director confirming the casket contents, and a transit permit issued by local health authorities at the port of departure.¹⁰

On the U.S. side, the CDC requires that non-embalmed, non-cremated remains arrive with a death certificate stating the cause of death. If the certificate isn’t in English, an authenticated translation must be included. If no death certificate is available, the consular mortuary certificate must confirm the death was not caused by an infectious disease.¹¹ A separate CDC import permit is required under 42 CFR Section 71.54 when the person died from an infectious disease and the remains are not embalmed or cremated. Fully cremated remains, embalmed remains, and clean dry bones are exempt from those federal permit requirements.

Once the remains reach Texas, the foreign burial transit permit is recognized under Section 193.008, and a Texas cemetery or crematory must accept it.²

Disinterment Is a Separate Permit

Moving a body that has already been buried is not covered by the burial transit permit. Under 25 Texas Administrative Code Section 181.6, remains cannot be removed from a cemetery without a written order from the State Registrar or the State Registrar’s designee.¹² A licensed funeral director has to handle the disinterment and is responsible for getting written consent from the cemetery, the plot owner, and the next of kin. If none of those parties can be identified, a written consent order from the county judge takes their place.

Two exceptions cut the paperwork. A disinterment permit isn’t required when remains are moved to a different location within the same cemetery, and cremated remains can be relocated without one at all.¹² If the disinterred remains will then be shipped to a new cemetery by common carrier, a burial transit permit has to be obtained from the local registrar in addition to the disinterment permit.

1
Cornell Law Institute. 25 Texas Administrative Code 181.3 – Transportation of Dead Bodies
2
State of Texas. Texas Health and Safety Code 193-008 – Burial-Transit Permit
3
Texas Department of State Health Services. TxEVER Guides and Videos
4
Texas Department of State Health Services. Funeral Home TxEVER Cheat Sheet
5
Texas Department of State Health Services. Requisition for Texas Vital Statistics Forms
6
State of Texas. Texas Health and Safety Code 193-005
7
Cornell Law Institute. 25 Texas Administrative Code 181.4 – Preservation of Bodies
8
Cornell Law Institute. 22 Texas Administrative Code 205.7 – Waiting Period for Cremation
9
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. What Is the Process for Bringing Bodies in Coffins or Ashes in Urns Into the United States
10
U.S. Department of State. Death
11
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Importation of Human Remains Into the U.S. for Burial, Entombment, or Cremation
12
Cornell Law Institute. 25 Texas Administrative Code 181.6 – Disinterment