Certified Copy of a University Degree in Australia

For Australian employers, skills assessors and paper visa applications, a Justice of the Peace or another authorised person can usually certify a copy of your degree, free. For use overseas you need a notary's certified copy. If that copy is going to DFAT for an apostille, the university must first verify the original, and the notary's certificate must say so.

Key takeaways

• Your testamur, the certificate saying the degree was conferred, is usually issued once. A certified copy lets you keep it.
• For Australian recipients, a copy certified by a JP or a listed occupation is usually enough. Home Affairs publishes its own list for paper applications.
• A JP copy is not accepted overseas and DFAT will not apostille it.
• For DFAT, a plain "true copy" certificate is not enough. The original must be verified with the university, and the notary's certificate must state that it was.
• If the recipient can check a digital credential online, you may not need a certified copy at all.

Testamur or transcript?

People say "degree" to mean two different documents, and the difference decides who should certify what.

The testamur is the formal certificate, often large, sealed and signed by university officers, stating that the degree was conferred. Universities usually issue one, and replacements are restricted. That is why a certified copy exists: it lets you give a recipient something it trusts while the original stays with you.

The academic transcript lists your subjects and results. Universities will usually issue further official copies, and many issue transcripts digitally. A recipient that wants a transcript may be happy with a fresh official one rather than a certified copy. Certified copies of a transcript covers that document separately.

Copies for use in Australia

Most certified copies of degrees stay in Australia: for a job application, a professional registration, a skills assessment or a visa. For these, a notary is rarely needed.

The Department of Home Affairs publishes its own certified copy rules, written for applications made on paper. The certifier must be an Australian citizen who is not related to you and who works in one of the listed occupations, which include a Justice of the Peace, a legal practitioner, a full-time teacher at a school or tertiary institution, a pharmacist and a police officer, among others. They write or stamp the certification wording and add their signature, full name, occupation, phone number and the date. For a copy of several pages, they state the number of pages on the first page and initial the rest. An online application tells you in the form what to attach.

Employers, registration boards and skills assessing bodies set their own rules. Some accept a copy certified by a JP or similar person; some want to verify the degree directly with the university; some want a colour scan of the original and nothing more. Read the instructions, and do not pay for a notary if the recipient accepts a free certifier.

One point catches students out: a full-time teacher at a tertiary institution is on the Home Affairs list, but a lecturer certifying their own student's documents may raise questions for some recipients. Choose someone clearly independent.

Copies for use overseas

A foreign employer, university or registration body cannot check an Australian JP or pharmacist, and will not rely on their certification. A JP copy sent overseas is a common and expensive mistake for people applying for work abroad.

What a foreign recipient can rely on is an Australian notary public, usually an experienced solicitor appointed under state or territory arrangements, whose signature and seal DFAT holds. The notary sights your original testamur, copies it, and attaches a certificate stating that the copy is true and complete. Some foreign recipients accept that notarised copy on its own. Many want it confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) as well.

What DFAT needs for a degree

An apostille is the certificate DFAT issues to confirm a signature and seal on an Australian public document, for use in countries that belong to the Hague Apostille Convention. For other countries, DFAT issues an authentication certificate and the destination's embassy or consulate then legalises it. Only DFAT issues either in Australia; a notary cannot. Check the destination on the HCCH status table on the day.

For university documents, DFAT has a specific rule, set out on its page of documents it can legalise. It will legalise an original degree once the university has verified it. A notarised copy must also be verified with the university, and the notary's certificate must state that the original record has been verified with the issuing institution. A plain "true copy" certificate, however carefully made, does not satisfy DFAT for a university document.

That changes the order of work:

1. Tell the notary at the start that the copy is going to DFAT, and for which country.
2. The original is verified with the university, in the way the university handles verification requests.
3. The notary certifies the copy, with wording stating that the original record was verified with the issuing institution.
4. DFAT apostilles or authenticates the notary's certificate, and an embassy legalises it for a non-Hague country.

If the notary is not told, you may end up with a perfectly good certified copy that DFAT cannot act on. The DFAT side for university records is covered in more detail in apostille for an academic transcript.

Two further DFAT points are worth knowing. TAFE documents follow a different rule from university ones, and private college documents another again, so check which applies to your qualification. And DFAT never legalises foreign education documents, even if they have been notarised in Australia. A degree from a university in another country is authenticated in that country.

Preparing the original

Whoever certifies must sight the original testamur, not a photocopy, a scan or a copy someone certified earlier. Testamurs bring a few practical problems of their own.

• Framed testamurs. Take it out of the frame before the appointment. A document under glass cannot be properly examined or copied.
• Size. Many testamurs are A3 or larger. Ask in advance whether the certifier can copy an oversize document at full size.
• Colour and seals. A monochrome copy of a colour original sometimes draws queries, and embossed seals do not photocopy. A careful certifier notes a seal in the wording.
• Names. If your degree shows a former name, bring the document linking the names, such as a marriage certificate. For overseas use, a recipient may want a declaration as well, which is a separate document signed before the notary.
• A lost testamur. Contact the university. Many will issue a replacement or a statement of award, which can then be certified.

Digital degrees and verification

Many Australian universities now issue degrees and transcripts through a digital credential platform, with a link or code that lets a recipient check the document with the university directly. For a recipient that accepts that, it is stronger evidence than any certified copy, and it costs you nothing. Ask about it before booking anyone.

The difficulty comes when a recipient insists on a certified paper copy of a digital credential. A PDF is not an original in the sense a certifier needs, and a printout is a copy of a copy. A notary can describe exactly what was sighted, but for DFAT purposes the verification rule still applies. See certified copies of online documents.

Situations compared

Recipient	What usually works	Notary needed?
Home Affairs, paper application	Copy certified by a listed, unrelated Australian citizen	No
Australian employer or assessor	Its own rule: JP copy, colour scan or direct verification	Rarely
Overseas employer, no apostille	Notarised copy	Yes
Overseas body wanting an apostille	University-verified original, or a notarised copy stating the verification	For the copy route
Any recipient that verifies online	The digital credential link	No

Translation and number of copies

For a recipient that works in another language, a certified translation is usually needed and is typically bound with the notarised copy. Some countries want the notary's certificate and the apostille translated too, so confirm the order with the recipient. Where DFAT is to legalise a translation, it must be by a NAATI certified or recognised translator; see NAATI translation with a notary.

If you are applying to several institutions, get several copies at once. Each overseas recipient generally keeps what it is sent, and each notarised copy needs its own apostille. See getting multiple certified copies.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A physiotherapy graduate in Adelaide applies for registration in Australia and, at the same time, for a job in Portugal. For the Australian registration board, which accepts copies certified by a listed person, a pharmacist she does not know personally certifies a copy of her testamur, free. For the Portuguese employer, which asks for an apostilled copy, she tells the notary where it is going at the start. The university verifies her testamur, the notary's certificate states that verification, and DFAT apostilles it. Her JP copy, made months earlier, would have been refused in Portugal.

In short

For Australian recipients, a JP or other listed authorised person can usually certify a copy of your degree, and a notary adds nothing. For overseas recipients, a notary certifies the copy; if an apostille is needed, the university must verify the original and the notary's certificate must say so before DFAT will act. For the overseas steps, see document notarisation or apostille and authentication.

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Not sure who should certify your degree? Send us the recipient's instructions, and we will explain each step before you book.