Apostille or Embassy Legalisation: What Taiwan Requires

Last reviewed: 26 September 2026. Country requirements change. This page is re-checked periodically, and nothing on it replaces confirming the position with the Taiwanese body that will receive your document.

Taiwan is outside the Apostille Convention, so an Australian apostille is not the answer. Taiwan also has no embassy in Australia. Its representative office, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), does the legalisation instead. What is specific to Taiwan is the law that office works under. It allows TECO to authenticate some Australian documents without DFAT having touched them, and to witness private signatures itself, and it provides for a further step in Taiwan if the receiving body wants one.

Check the current position before acting on this or any other page. Confirm against the HCCH status table for the Apostille Convention on the day you start that Taiwan is not listed, and ask TECO how it currently handles Australian documents. Its practice decides which of the routes below applies to you.

The legal framework, briefly

Taiwan's Document Legalization Act, published in English by Taiwan's Bureau of Consular Affairs, sets out what an overseas mission such as TECO may authenticate. The list includes:

• documents notarised or attested by a notary public within the mission's consular jurisdiction;
• documents issued or authenticated by local government agencies within that jurisdiction; and
• private documents signed within that jurisdiction.

It also says a mission legalises only documents issued within its jurisdiction, except in special cases approved by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An Australian document therefore goes to TECO in Australia, not to a Taiwanese office elsewhere.

Route 1: notary, DFAT, then TECO

The chain most people will follow is:

1. Notarise in Australia, if the document is a private one or a copy
2. DFAT authentication (not an apostille)
3. Legalisation by TECO

The Act explains why DFAT may be needed even though TECO could in principle deal with an Australian notary directly. TECO authenticates by comparing a signature or seal against specimens it holds. Where it has no specimen to compare with, it may ask you to have the document authenticated first by the authority that supplied its specimens. For Australian documents that is likely to mean DFAT.

Ask TECO before you start whether it will accept your notary's certificate directly or wants DFAT's authentication first. Some Australian public documents, such as registry-issued certificates, may be able to go to DFAT directly without a notary. Confirm with DFAT.

Route 2: sign in front of a TECO officer

For a private document, such as a power of attorney or declaration, the Act lets an overseas mission verify a signature by having the applicant sign in person, or acknowledge the signature as their own, in front of a consular officer. It may alternatively ask for the document to be notarised or authenticated locally first.

For someone dealing with Taiwanese property, a bank or a family matter, this can be the most direct route. Ask TECO whether it offers signature authentication for your document and what it needs from you on the day.

A further step in Taiwan

Taiwan's Bureau of Consular Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' branch offices, authenticate the signatures and seals of Taiwan's overseas missions. In other words, a document legalised by TECO in Australia can be authenticated again in Taiwan. The Bureau asks for the original verified document, a copy for its records, and identification from the applicant or an authorised agent.

Whether you need that second step depends on the body receiving the document. Ask it before you travel or post anything.

One exception to ask about

The Act provides that where Taiwan has signed a written agreement with a country abolishing re-legalisation, documents legalised by that country's designated authority have the same effect as if legalised by the Taiwanese mission. We have not been able to confirm whether any such arrangement covers Australian documents. Ask TECO. If one does, it would change the chain above.

Translation

The Act and the Bureau's pages we reviewed do not set a general translation rule for foreign documents. Taiwanese bodies will commonly expect documents in Traditional Chinese or accompanied by a translation. Ask the receiving body whether it needs a translation, who may make it, and whether it must be done or certified in Taiwan.

If you are signing a document in Chinese that you cannot read, the Australian notary will want to be satisfied that you understand it and may ask for a translation.

Frequently asked questions

Will DFAT's apostille do for Taiwan? No. Ask DFAT for an authentication and tell them the document is for Taiwan.

Is TECO an embassy? It is Taiwan's representative office in Australia and performs the document legalisation that an embassy would elsewhere.

Can I have my Australian document legalised in Taiwan instead? Taiwan's rules direct you to the Taiwanese office in the country where the document was issued. For an Australian document, that is TECO in Australia.

How long does it take? It depends on DFAT, TECO, courier time and any step in Taiwan. Do not plan to a figure quoted on a blog, including this one.