Australian Passport Guarantor or Notary: Who Signs What

For an Australian passport, your identity is confirmed by a guarantor on a paper form or a referee online: an adult Australian citizen who has known you for more than 12 months and meets the passport office's rules. A notary is not part of that. A notary comes in when your passport or other documents need certifying for use overseas.

Key takeaways

• Paper applications need a guarantor; online applications need a referee.
• Either must be an adult Australian citizen who has known you for more than 12 months.
• They also need a passport valid for at least two years, or 12 months on the electoral roll at their address.
• Renewals need no guarantor or referee.
• Child passport consent is signed before a witness over 18, who need not be a citizen.
• A notary is for documents going overseas, such as a notarised copy of your passport.

Guarantor, referee or witness?

The Australian Passport Office uses three roles, and people often mix them up with each other and with notaries. A guarantor is needed when you complete a paper application for a new passport. The guarantor signs the guarantor section of the form and the back of one of your passport photos, using a black pen and writing that it is a true photo of you, with your full name. A referee is needed when you apply online through the application portal; the referee signs nothing, but must be willing to confirm your identity if the passport office contacts them.

A witness is different again. When a parent gives consent for a child's passport in Australia, the parent signs the consent page in front of a witness. According to the passport office, you do not need a guarantor or referee to renew your passport, so this whole question mainly arises for first passports, children's passports and some replacements.

Role	When needed	Signs anything?	Must be an Australian citizen?
Guarantor	Paper application for a new passport	Yes, the form and one photo	Yes
Referee	Online application for a new passport	No, but may be contacted	Yes
Witness to parental consent	Child passport consent in Australia	Yes, witnesses the parent's signature	No
Notary	Documents for use overseas	Notarial certificate and seal	Not relevant to passports

Who can be your guarantor or referee?

The passport office sets the same requirements for guarantors and referees. They must be an adult Australian citizen who has known you for more than 12 months, or since birth for a child under one. They must also either hold a current Australian passport with at least two years' validity, or have been listed on the Australian electoral roll at their current address for at least 12 months.

They must not be related to you by birth or marriage, be in a de facto or registered relationship with you, or live at the same address as you. They also must not be an Australian Passport Officer, including at overseas posts, or an Australia Post employee. For a child passport the exclusions are wider: the guarantor or referee must not be related to the child, have parental responsibility, be related to or in a relationship with anyone who has parental responsibility, or live at the child's address. There is no list of approved professions for applications in Australia; personal knowledge and citizenship are what count.

Can a notary be my guarantor?

Only in the same way anyone could. There is no special role for notaries or JPs in the guarantor rules. A notary you have just met has not known you for more than 12 months, so they do not qualify, however carefully they check your documents. If a notary happens to have known you personally for more than a year, is an Australian citizen, meets the passport or electoral roll condition and is not excluded, they can act, but as someone who knows you, not as a notary.

The same is true of JPs, doctors, lawyers and other professionals. Being in a profession does not help or hurt for an application in Australia. The one exception the passport office mentions is for applications made outside Australia where the guarantor is from overseas: that guarantor must be from an approved occupational group, and you should check with the Australian embassy or consulate where you will lodge.

Who witnesses parental consent for a child passport?

Each person with parental responsibility gives written consent by signing the consent page of the child's application, and the passport office says that signature must be witnessed. The witness must be over 18 and must not be related to the child by birth or marriage, be in a de facto or registered relationship with anyone who has parental responsibility, or live at the same address as the child or anyone with parental responsibility.

The witness does not need to be an Australian citizen. They may witness more than one parent's consent, and they may also be the child's guarantor, though neither is required. A notary is not needed for this. Where a parent is overseas, or will not consent, the passport office has separate processes, so contact it for advice. Our guide to travel consent for children covers a related but different document: consent for a child to travel.

Where does a notary fit in?

A notary becomes relevant once you need your passport, or another identity document, recognised overseas. A foreign bank, university, employer, registry or government may ask for a notarised copy of your Australian passport, sometimes with an apostille from DFAT. A notary sights the original passport, compares it with the copy and certifies it with a notarial certificate and seal. A copy certified by a JP is usually not accepted for those purposes, and DFAT does not apostille JP copies.

A notary may also be needed if a foreign authority wants a sworn statement about your identity or a change of name, or a signature witnessed on a document that mentions your passport. Our guide to notarising a passport copy explains what the notary does, and our guide to a name mismatch with your passport covers a common problem that comes up at that stage.

Applying from overseas

Australians living abroad apply through an Australian embassy, high commission or consulate, and the same basic rules apply. Many people overseas can still find an Australian citizen who has known them for more than a year, even if that person lives in Australia. Where the guarantor is from overseas, the passport office says they must be from an approved occupational group, and the post where you lodge can tell you which occupations it accepts. Appointment arrangements vary between posts, so check before you travel to one. Smartraveller lists Australia's embassies and consulates and how to contact them.

How do you arrange a guarantor or referee?

1. Check whether you need one. Renewals do not; new passports and many child passports do.
2. Choose paper or online. A paper form needs a guarantor who signs; the online portal needs a referee who may be contacted.
3. Pick an eligible person. An adult Australian citizen who has known you for more than 12 months and is not excluded.
4. Check their status. A passport with at least two years' validity, or 12 months on the electoral roll at their current address.
5. Collect their details. Full name, date of birth, daytime phone number, and passport details or electoral roll address.
6. Have them sign, if paper. The guarantor section of the form and the back of one photo, in black pen, with the required words.
7. Lodge as instructed. Follow the passport office's current instructions for your application.

Common mistakes to avoid

The most common mistake is asking a relative, including in-laws, because they have known you longest. The second is choosing someone whose passport has less than two years left and who has not been on the electoral roll at their current address for 12 months. The third is booking a notary or JP out of habit, when the rules are about knowing you, not about official status. A fourth is a guarantor writing on the wrong photo, or in the wrong colour ink; the passport office asks for a black pen and specific wording.

For child passports, people often forget how wide the exclusions are. Someone living at the child's address, or related to either parent, cannot be the child's guarantor or referee. Our guide to how identity is verified explains the separate identity checks notaries do for overseas documents.

Here is an illustration, not a real case.

Olivia is applying for her first adult passport on paper. She thinks about asking a notary, then reads the passport office's rules. Instead she asks a colleague she has worked with for three years, an Australian citizen whose passport has four years left. The colleague signs the guarantor section and writes on the back of one photo in black pen. Later, a university in Germany asks Olivia for a notarised copy of her new passport with an apostille. That is when she books a notary.

In short

An Australian passport needs a guarantor on paper or a referee online: an adult Australian citizen who has known you for more than 12 months, with a passport valid for two years or 12 months on the electoral roll, and who is not related to you or living with you. Child consent needs a witness over 18. A notary is for documents going overseas. Our document notarisation services page explains that side.

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