How to Get Documents Translated in Australia: Who Can Translate and What Makes It Certified

Getting a document translated for official use in Australia is a short process when it is done in the right order, and an expensive one when it is not. Most rejected translations are accurate; they fail because the wrong person made them, because something on the page was left out, or because they were made at the wrong point in a chain of certificates.

This is the order that avoids those failures, from the question you ask before contacting a translator to the checks you make before you submit.

Step 1: Ask the receiver who may translate

Everything else follows from this, so do it first and get the answer in writing.

• An Australian government body. For the Department of Home Affairs and most other Australian agencies, a translation made in Australia should be by a translator credentialled by NAATI, the national certification body for translators and interpreters. A translation made overseas is generally accepted by Home Affairs if it carries the translator's full name, address and credentials. Check the agency's own published instructions.
• A foreign authority. The receiving country decides whose translation it accepts. Some take a NAATI translation, sometimes only after the translator's signature has been notarised and apostilled. Others require a sworn translator on their own register, and a translation bought in Australia would be wasted.
• A private body — a bank, insurer or employer — will usually tell you if it has a rule. If it does not, ask.

Our comparison of NAATI and non-certified translations covers which kind suits which receiver. If a translation is only for your own understanding, you need no certification at all.

Step 2: For documents going overseas, settle the order

If the document also needs notarising or an apostille, ask the receiver which comes first:

• Translate, then certify. The translator's declaration is notarised and the apostille covers it. Common where the receiver wants the translation to be part of the authenticated bundle.
• Certify, then translate. The document is apostilled first and then translated, so the translation covers the apostille too. Common where the receiver wants every stamp translated, or insists on its own sworn translators.

Getting this backwards is one of the few mistakes that can mean repeating the whole chain. Ask the question explicitly; do not infer it from a friend's case.

Step 3: Find a translator with the right credential

NAATI runs a public online directory of certified practitioners, searchable by language. When you choose a translator, check three things:

• The language pair and direction. Credentials are issued for a direction of translation. A translator certified to translate from Vietnamese into English is not necessarily certified to translate from English into Vietnamese. Most Australian official work is into English; documents going overseas are often out of English.
• The credential number. Every NAATI-certified translator has a practitioner number. NAATI's website has a tool to check a certification by that number. Use it if the translator is not in the directory, since listing is not the only way to confirm a credential.
• Independence. You cannot translate your own documents for official use, however fluent you are, and a relative is a poor choice even where no rule forbids it. Receivers want someone with no interest in the outcome.

If you arrived in Australia recently, check whether you qualify for the government's free translating service for settlement documents before paying anyone. Our page on translator rates covers how to compare paid quotes.

Step 4: Send the complete document, and your passport

Most translators work from clear scans; they do not usually need your originals. Send:

• Every page, both sides, including blank-looking reverses that may carry a stamp.
• Scans good enough to read seals and handwriting. A translator cannot translate what they cannot see, and "illegible" on a translation invites questions.
• Your passport bio page, with a note that names must be spelled as they appear there. This one step prevents the most common rejection.
• The receiver's written requirements, if it has any: wording, format, number of copies, paper or PDF.

Step 5: Tell the translator how you will submit it

Ask for the format the receiver wants before the work starts:

• A digital, signed PDF is often enough for online applications, including uploads to Home Affairs.
• A signed and stamped paper copy may be required where the receiver wants hard copies, or where the translation will be notarised, bound to a document or sent to DFAT.
• More than one copy if you are sending the same document to several places. Copies ordered with the translation are simpler than a second request later.

Step 6: Check the translation when it arrives

A certified translation should carry the translator's statement that it is a true and accurate translation, their name, their signature and stamp, and their NAATI practitioner number. Then check the content yourself:

• Everything is translated — stamps, seals, handwritten notes, marginal annotations, and the signature blocks of officials. Nothing is summarised.
• Names and dates match your passport, with the original spelling noted where it differs, and any converted calendar dates shown alongside the original.
• The source document is identified, by title, date and issuing body, so the receiver can connect the translation to the right document.
• Numbers are right. Registration numbers, dates of birth and passport numbers are where typos do the most harm.

If something is missing, the same translator can usually issue a corrected or supplementary translation. See our guide to what to do when a translation is not accepted.

Step 7: Submit the translation with the original, not instead of it

Receivers almost always want the translation alongside the source document or a certified copy of it. For online applications, that usually means uploading a scan of the original and a scan of the translation. Where the receiver wants paper, a notary can bind the translation to a certified copy of the original, or attest the translator's declaration, if the receiver requires it.

What a notary does, and does not do, in a translation

A notary does not translate and does not check accuracy. A notary can:

• witness the translator's signed declaration that the translation is accurate, which some foreign authorities require
• certify a copy of the original so the translation can be bound to it
• start the DFAT chain, since DFAT can apostille a notary's signature

For an Australian receiver, a NAATI translation almost never needs a notary. Paying for one "just in case" adds cost and fixes nothing.

Frequently asked questions

Does the translator need to see my original document? Usually not. Clear, complete scans are the norm. Ask if the receiver requires the translator to have sighted the original.

Is a NAATI translation accepted overseas? Not automatically. It depends entirely on the receiving country; ask it first.

Can a notary translate my document? A notary who is also a qualified translator might, but notarial authority and a translation credential are separate. The receiver will care about the translation credential.

Will Google Translate do for an application? No. Machine translations are for your own understanding only.