Incase of a Death, the following are the legal procedures that need to be followed:

1. Obtain a medical certificate of death:

Obtain a death certificate at the hospital where the death has occurred or has been registered, on presenting the original passport (& a photocopy) of the deceased. 

Charges : Approximately Dhs. 50/.

2. Obtain a permission for burial from the Dubai Police.

The documents required to obtain this are:

a) Original passport of the deceased, & a photocopy

b)  Original passport of a next of kin (bearing a valid residence visa), & a photocopy. The Dubai Police will issue a letter (in quadruplicate) for burial.

3. Show a copy of the police letter to Awqaf al Jafferiya

This is to obtain a permission for digging the grave for burial. The permission from Awqaf to be handed over to the caretaker at the graveyard (remember to make a few photocopies before handing this over). Please instruct the caretaker not to start digging the grave; inform a member of the Kafan/Dafan Committee, who will make arrangements for digging of the grave as well as ghusl, kafan and dafan. They will also advise you when to release the body from the hospital, depending on the time of the day as the graveyard remains closed after sunset.

4. One copy of the police letter to be taken to the hospital

This is for releasing the body. The hospital will arrange for an ambulance to transport the body to the imambargah for ghusl.

5. The second copy of the police letter to be taken to the Ministry of Health

This is located at the Al Baraha (ex-Kuwaiti) Hospital for issuing the official death certificate at a fee of Dhs. 50/-. This is issued in duplicate.

6. Documents retained by immigration

The yellow copy will be retained by the immigration department along with the 3rd copy of the police letter, at the time of cancellation of the residence visa of the deceased.

7. The 4th copy of the police letter is for the next of kin or the family

For any court procedures or legal matters pertaining to the splitting of the estate of the deceased.

8. Additional Formalities

Obtaining of the death certificate from the ministry, cancelation of the visa and transferring of the estate can be taken care of after the burial but within one month of death. After cancelation of the visa of the deceased, the passport of the guarantor can be retrieved from the Dubai Police.  Please make enough copies of all documents as these will be required at different places. The police will then retain the passport of the deceased and send it to the embassy /consulate for cancelation.

The above procedures are from recent experience and may change from time to time. Also from recent experience, only persons with residence visas from Dubai can be buried in Dubai.