Immigration Minister Scott Morrison says the family of a Tamil asylum seeker who died last weekend will face "very real difficulties" obtaining visas to attend his funeral in Australia.

Leo Seemanpillai, 29, died on Sunday from burns to 90 per cent of his body after setting himself on fire in Geelong, while living in the community on a bridging visa.

His closest relatives, who fled with him from Sri Lanka in 1990, continue to live in a refugee camp in India.

The Federal Government has offered to send his body back to Sri Lanka or India, but his family wants him buried in Australia.

They say they fear for their safety if the funeral was held in either of those countries.

A friend of the family says there is confusion now about whether the relatives will be granted a short-term visa to come to Australia and attend the funeral.

However, Mr Morrison has told AM that Mr Seemanpillai's family has been told by his department that they face challenges in obtaining a visitor's visa.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 54 seconds 3 m 54 s Scott Morrison talks to AM about the family's situation Download 1.8 MB

"It's for the department to assess a valid application that requires valid travel documents on the part of the parents, and this presents very real difficulties, which is why the Government, through myself as minister, made the quite unusual offer to repatriate the remains in these very tragic circumstances," Mr Morrison said.

"The visa application process has been explained to the family. There are very real difficulties with this and that's why I made the offer that I have.

"The family has rejected the offer, I understand. That's what I've been told. It's a matter for them - I can only make the offer in these circumstances."

But Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says Mr Morrison is in a position to assist the family further.

"There are ways that the Minister can ... get around these types of difficulties in circumstances that require a bit more grace and a bit more compassion," she said.

"[Mr Morrison has] got to be prepared to do that though."

Mr Seemanpillai was born in war-ravaged north-eastern Sri Lanka and he was about six when his Tamil family fled for an Indian refugee camp 24 years ago.

He arrived in Darwin from India on January 9, 2013, and was held in detention before being granted a bridging visa with work rights in June last year.