The family's main question is «how long?». The honest answer depends on destination, consular schedule, cargo flight availability, and cause of death. This is the realistic breakdown.
Stage 1: Uzbek-side documents (4–7 days). Death certificate 1–3, apostille 5–10 (parallel), embalming 1–2, sanitary cert 1–2. All run in parallel.
Stage 2: consular legalization (3–7 days). Russia 1–3, Israel 2–4, US 3–5, Germany 3–7, Canada 5–7.
Stage 3: cargo flight booking (2–5 days). Most corridors have 2–5 flights/week. Jewish holidays, Ramadan and Christmas compress availability.
Stage 4: actual flight (1–3 days). Direct destinations same-day, one stop typically 1–2 days, two stops up to 3.
Stage 5: receiving side (1–3 days). Local funeral home pickup, local paperwork, transfer to burial site.
Totals: UZ-RU 5–9 days; UZ-IL 7–12; UZ-DE 7–14; UZ-US 10–18; UZ-CA 12–20; UZ-UA 10–16 (via third country).
What slows things: forensic investigation (+5–10), long weekends/holidays (+2–4), religious calendar (+1–2), surname mismatches (+2–5), missing local funeral home (+1–3).
Speedups: parallel stages, open the case in the first 24 hours, copies of passports ready up front, pre-existing local funeral home saves 2–3 days.
Frequently asked questions
Only in very rare cases, usually consular fast-track for officials or VIP cases. Standard family cases are at least 5–9 days.