Online Death Registration

Registering the death of a person is the first and key obligation to be fulfilled by a close relative of the deceased, i.e. the informant.

Criminal offence in breach of the duty to register death

Under section 14 of the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance, Chapter 174, Laws of Hong Kong, it shall be the duty for the informant (being the nearest relative or other relevant person of the deceased) to register a death from natural causes within 14 days after such death. Anyone who refuses or, without reasonable excuse, omits to register a death as required by the law shall be deemed to have committed a breach and is liable to a penalty of a fine of HK$2,000 or up to six months' imprisonment.

If you intend to perform online death registration for a deceased person, you can use the Immigration Department’s online service. This article will give you the details.

Who Can Use This Service?

You may register the death of a deceased person through the internet if the following requirements are met:

• the deceased person died of natural cause and you are in possession of the original Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death (Form 18) signed and issued by the registered medical practitioner who attended the deceased person during his or her last illness;
• you are registering the death of a deceased person within 14 days after such death; and
• you are a registered user of “iAM Smart+” mobile app.

Supporting documents

Upon online registration of death, you need to:

• provide information required for death registration;
• upload a copy of the Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death (Form 18);
• upload a copy of the deceased’s Hong Kong identity card / travel document; and
• upload a copy of your Hong Kong identity card.

You are also required to provide information on the deceased person's occupation, nationality, and marital status.

Depending on the nature of the case, you may be required to submit other supporting documents (e.g. the original Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death (Form 18)).

How to perform Online Death Registration

Step 1

You can perform online registration of death by submitting information required for registration of death and supporting documents through the link below:

Step 2

The deaths registries will prepare the register form of deaths (“Form 2”) according to the information and documents provided by you. Notifications in both SMS and email will be sent to you once the Form 2 is ready for confirmation. You are required to login the online registration service to verify the information and perform digital signing on the Form 2 using “iAM Smart+”.

You can perform digital signing through the link below:

After verifying and signing the register form of deaths, you may apply for a certified copy of death entry (commonly known as “death certificate”). You may choose to collect “the certified copy” in-person at a Deaths Registry or receive it by post. If you choose to receive it by post, online payment made by credit card (VISA, Mastercard, JCB, UnionPay), PPS or FPS is applicable to you.

Processing Time

After the deaths registry has received all the required information and documents online, you will normally receive notifications in email from the Deaths Registry within 3 working days (exclude the time for you to confirm the contents on the register form of deaths (“Form 2”) and working days denote Monday to Friday excluding General Holidays) once the death registration is completed and the certified copy of the death entry (if applicable) is ready for collection or delivery by post.

Fee

Registering a death online does not incur a fee. If you want to obtain a certified copy of the death entry (commonly known as “death certificate”) after online registration of death, you will be required to pay HK$140 per copy (for in-person collection/ collect by post locally).

If you did not apply for a certified copy at the time of the death registration but need to get one afterwards, you will be required to apply for a search of death records first and a search fee will be charged. (HK$140 for Particular Search and HK$680 for General Search. For details, please see Fees Leaflet (BDR 100)). For more information on applying for a death certificate, please refer to “Application for Search of Death Records and/or a Certified Copy of a Death Entry”.

Supporting documents to be produced on collection

When you collect the death certificate at the deaths registry of the Immigration Department, you will need to produce the following supporting documents:

• Your Hong Kong identity card or valid travel document;
• Printout of online registration acknowledgement; and
• If you wish to authorise someone to collect the relevant certificate(s) on your behalf, the authorised person must produce the original written authorisation signed by you and copy of your Hong Kong identity card or your valid travel document when he/she collects the relevant certificate(s).

Return of the deceased person’s Hong Kong Identity Card after online death registration

According to the Registration of Persons Regulations (Chapter 177A), any person who has in possession of an identity card of a deceased person, shall deliver it to the Commissioner of Registration for cancellation within 30 days after the date of the death of the deceased. After completion of the online death registration, you should deliver the deceased person’s identity card to the Commissioner of Registration for cancellation together with a completed "Notification of death and return of identity card of deceased persons" (Form  ROP35a).

Other After-Death Arrangements

After registration of death, relatives will normally arrange the funeral of the deceased (e.g. cremation or burial).  Applicant must pay attention to application means and documents required for relevant government services.

Assistance and Further Information

If you need technical assistance in using the online service, you can call the Immigration e-Services Hotline at (852) 3128 8668 between 7 am and 11 pm daily.

For general enquiries, please call (852) 2824 6111 during office hours (from 8:45 am to 5:15 pm, Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 12 noon on Saturday, except public holidays), send a fax to (852) 2877 7711 or send an email to enquiry@immd.gov.hk.

Further information on this service is also available in a set of helpful Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).