Business Innovation Visa Documents: What Needs a Notary

For a business innovation visa, few documents need an Australian notary. Most evidence is about an overseas company, and those records are notarised and legalised in the country where they were issued. For the Department of Home Affairs, a certified copy by an authorised person is usually enough. An Australian notary mainly helps with Australian documents going overseas.

Key takeaways

• Business visa evidence is mostly about a company, and company records are authenticated in the country of incorporation, not here.
• An Australian notary cannot vouch for a foreign registry's document. No notary can vouch for a register they have no access to.
• For documents lodged with Home Affairs, a certified copy by an authorised person, or a clear upload, is usually enough.
• An Australian notary is genuinely useful for Australian documents going overseas, and for a power of attorney that lets someone offshore gather records.
• Business visa programs have changed in recent years. Check the current visa and its evidence list with Home Affairs before gathering anything.

Check the program first

Australia's business and investment visas have been restructured in recent years, and some streams have closed to new applicants while people already in the system continue through later stages. Before you gather a single document, confirm on the Home Affairs immigration website which visa you are applying for, whether it is open, and what its evidence list says today. A checklist written a few years ago, by anyone, may describe a stream that no longer exists. A registered migration agent or immigration lawyer can tell you which pathway fits; a notary cannot.

What follows applies to the documents themselves, whichever business pathway you are on. The pattern is the same for an initial application, a later permanent stage, or a state or territory nomination.

Why company records are different

A business application is unlike most visa applications in one respect: the bulk of the evidence is not about you, it is about a company. And company records behave differently from personal ones. A birth certificate comes from a registry that will reissue it. A shareholders' register comes from a corporate filing system in another jurisdiction, and proving to an Australian decision-maker that an extract is genuine is a chain of steps done there, not here. That single distinction decides most of what follows.

Where is a notary genuinely needed?

Usually overseas, in the country that issued the document.

• Overseas corporate records. Certificates of incorporation, company extracts, shareholder and director registers, share certificates and constitutional documents are commonly notarised and legalised in the country of incorporation, if the decision-maker wants them authenticated at all.
• Audited financial statements and accountants' reports from an overseas firm. The usual pattern is that the accountant signs a declaration before a notary in that country, with the statements bound in as an exhibit.
• Asset and business valuations prepared overseas, such as property valuations, plant and equipment reports and independent business valuations, typically follow the same route: the valuer attends a notary locally, and the report is annexed.
• Ownership and source-of-funds evidence, where funds or shareholdings sit in another country: the bank or registry confirmation is usually notarised and legalised there.

An Australian notary cannot attest that a foreign corporate registry issued a document. They can certify that a copy matches a document produced to them, which is a far weaker statement than the authentication chain in the country of incorporation, and it is rarely what is being asked for. Confirm the exact form with the nominating state or territory, if you have one, and against current Home Affairs guidance.

One Australian notarial act does come up often: a power of attorney. Business applicants are frequently in Australia while a co-director or accountant assembles records offshore. A power of attorney signed here before a notary and apostilled by DFAT is often what lets that person act for you overseas. Whether it is effective for the purpose is a question for a lawyer in that country. See powers of attorney and declarations.

Where does a notary buy you nothing?

For documents lodged with Home Affairs, a certified copy by an authorised person is usually sufficient, and the range of people who may certify is wide. Paying for a notary is a common and avoidable expense for:

• Australian company extracts you can obtain yourself from ASIC;
• Australian bank statements and accountants' letters for an Australian entity;
• documents lodged as electronic copies where originals are not sought;
• anything the nominating authority accepts as an uncertified upload.

"Certified" from an Australian agency and "certified" from an overseas authority rarely mean the same thing. Ask the decision-maker, or your migration agent, what standard it wants for each document.

Where an Australian certified copy is wanted, a Justice of the Peace or another authorised person can usually provide it free or cheaply, provided they see the original. A notary adds nothing for an Australian recipient that an authorised person cannot. The exception is a document that also has to go to an overseas body later, where a notarised copy saves doing the work twice; say so when you book, so the notary can prepare it in a form DFAT will accept.

Documents going the other way

Once a business is operating here, the traffic often reverses. An overseas authority may need Australian documents: an ASIC extract, an Australian company constitution, a director's declaration, or evidence of an Australian business for a home-country approval such as a currency-control or investment permit. These are notarised in Australia, where needed, and then apostilled by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) if the destination is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, or authenticated by DFAT and legalised at that country's embassy or consulate if it is not. Check membership on the HCCH status table on the day.

This is the part of a business migration file an Australian notary can actually do, and it is often left until last. Some ASIC documents can go to DFAT directly as government commercial documents; DFAT's list of documents it can legalise explains which. Company resolutions and declarations are private documents and must be notarised first. See notarising a board resolution and document notarisation.

Document	Where it is authenticated	Australian notary?
Overseas certificate of incorporation or extract	The country of incorporation	No
Overseas audited accounts or valuation	Where the accountant or valuer signs	No
Australian documents for Home Affairs	Not usually; a certified copy or upload	Rarely
Power of attorney for someone offshore	Signed here, then DFAT	Yes
ASIC extract for an overseas authority	DFAT, directly or after a notary	Sometimes
Director's declaration for an overseas authority	Sworn here, then DFAT	Yes

How do translations fit in?

Company filings in another language need an English translation for Australian immigration. Translations prepared in Australia should be by a NAATI-credentialled translator. Translations prepared overseas should show the translator's full name, address, telephone number and details of their qualifications and experience. The receiving authority decides whose translation it accepts.

A notary does not translate. A notary can attest the translator's declaration and bind the translation to the source document, which is what overseas registries and some assessing bodies expect. See NAATI translation with a notary.

In what order should it all happen?

For an overseas corporate document:

1. Obtain a current certified extract from the registry in the country of incorporation.
2. Have it notarised there, if the decision-maker wants it authenticated.
3. Have it apostilled or legalised there.
4. Translate it, after checking whether the recipient wants the translation before or after legalisation.

For an Australian document heading overseas:

1. Obtain the original or a current official extract.
2. Have it notarised in Australia, if it is a private document.
3. Lodge it with DFAT for an apostille, or authentication followed by embassy legalisation.
4. Translate it if the destination requires.

Corporate chains run longer than personal ones, because a registry extract has to be recent enough for the recipient and each step consumes that freshness. If an extract must have been issued within a set period before lodgement, work out when to order it by counting back from the lodgement date. We do not quote processing times: registries, auditors, notaries, DFAT and embassies each set their own.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A manufacturer who owns a company overseas is preparing a business visa application with a migration agent. The agent's list includes the company's certificate of incorporation, its shareholder register and two years of audited accounts. The applicant is already in Australia, so he signs a power of attorney before an Australian notary, DFAT apostilles it, and his co-director overseas uses it to order fresh extracts and have them notarised and legalised there. The audited accounts come with the auditor's notarised declaration. His Australian bank letter is simply uploaded; no notary is needed for it.

In short

Most business visa evidence is about an overseas company, and those records are authenticated in the country that issued them, not by an Australian notary. For Home Affairs, a certified copy by an authorised person, or a clear upload, usually suffices. An Australian notary is useful for a power of attorney that lets someone gather records offshore, and for Australian documents an overseas authority needs. Confirm the current visa, its evidence list and each document's required standard before paying for anything.

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