Sri Lanka Death Certificate Fee Calculator

The calculator follows the Registrar General's Department (RGD) published "Fees Payable" schedule, the MFA Consular Division Apostille tariff, the gazetted Sri Lanka Sworn Translators' scale, and the Sri Lanka Post EMS international rate card. Seven line items feed into the total: the registration fee (free within 3 months, banded otherwise), the per-copy certified-extract fee, an optional per-order eRGD service fee, an optional register-search fee per year, an optional MFA Apostille (with optional express surcharge), an optional sworn translation per page, and the delivery / courier charge. Each line is surfaced in the breakdown so the bill is auditable against the source documents.

The seven line items

1. Registration fee. Within 3 months of the death is Rs 0 under Section 28 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act. After that the Act steps the late fee through three bands: Rs Rs 500 for 3–12 months, Rs 1,500 for 1–5 years, and Rs 3,000 for over 5 years late.
2. Certified copies. Rs 100 per standard counter copy, Rs 200 per same-day expedited copy at RGD Battaramulla, or Rs 100 per copy via the eRGD online portal.
3. eRGD per-order service fee. Rs 250 on top of the copy fee, charged once per online order regardless of how many copies are in the same basket.
4. Register search fee. Rs 100 per year searched when the year, divisional office, or register volume of the original entry is unknown.
5. MFA Apostille. Rs 1,000 per certificate; +Rs 1,000 one-off for the express service. Required for use in any Hague Convention member state (probate, superannuation, bank, university recognition, etc.).
6. Sworn translation. Rs 1,500 per page for the four national-language permutations (Sinhala↔English, Tamil↔English), or Rs 2,500 per page for other pairs.
7. Delivery. In-person collection is Rs 0. Sri Lanka Post local registered post is Rs 300. EMS international is grouped into four zones spanning SAARC, Asia–Pacific, Middle East & Europe, and Americas / Africa / Rest.

Late-registration approval ladder

The Births and Deaths Registration Act treats late registrations as progressively more serious applications. The free window under Section 28 is 3 months from the date of death. Between 3 and 12 months, the District Registrar at the Divisional Secretariat can register on payment of the late-band fee. From 1 to 5 years, the Additional District Registrar must issue an order — bring an affidavit (attested by a Justice of the Peace) explaining the delay, alongside the standard cause-of-death and identity documents. Beyond 5 years, registration requires the Registrar General's approval with documentary evidence: hospital records, the burial or cremation permit, news clippings, and witness affidavits. The calculator flags the approving authority for the band you select so you know which counter to walk into.

Why an Apostille (not a legalisation) since 2024

Sri Lanka acceded to the Hague Apostille Convention in 2024 and the Convention has been in force here for civil documents since. That replaces the legacy two-step path (MFA legalisation + foreign-mission attestation in Colombo) with a single Apostille issued by the MFA Consular Division — accepted directly in every other Convention member state. For non-member destinations (a handful of countries including some Gulf states for certain document types) the old legalisation chain may still apply. This calculator prices the Apostille only; if your destination is non-member, expect to add a foreign-mission attestation fee on top, which varies by mission.

What the calculator does not include

Statutory and gazetted fees only. The bill does not include lawyer's fees for the over-5-year approval route, private travel to the Divisional Secretariat or RGD Battaramulla, counter-agent photocopy charges around the office, burial or cremation permit fees (issued separately by the local-authority Public Health Inspector under the Local Authorities Public Health Ordinance), or any foreign-mission attestation fees if the destination is outside the Hague Convention. Foreign-issued death registrations (deaths of Sri Lankan citizens that occurred abroad) follow a different consular fee structure and are out of scope for v1. Editing or correcting an already-registered death uses the Section 52 amendment workflow and is also out of scope here.

Three scenarios that map to the most common ways Sri Lankans pay for a death certificate. Try each set of inputs in the calculator above — the breakdown should match the rupee numbers below exactly.

• Registrar General's Department — Death registration and fee schedule
• eRGD — Online certified-copy ordering portal
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Consular Division (Apostille and legalisation)
• Sri Lanka Post — EMS international and registered-post tariff
• Department of Government Printing — Gazette Extraordinary archive

The fees on this page were last reconciled against the published RGD, MFA, and Sri Lanka Post schedules on 2026-05-17. The page is reviewed when a new Gazette Extraordinary or agency circular moves a figure.