How to Notarise a Citizenship Document in Australia

To use an Australian citizenship certificate overseas, you often need no notary: DFAT lists citizenship certificates among the originals it can apostille or authenticate directly. You need a notary when you want to keep the original and send a copy, when the recipient wants your passport instead, or when you must sign a declaration about your nationality.

Key takeaways

• "Citizenship document" can mean a citizenship certificate, evidence of Australian citizenship, or your passport. Ask the recipient which one it wants, in writing.
• An original Australian citizenship certificate is a public document. DFAT can often apostille it directly, but the original then goes overseas.
• A notarised copy lets you keep the original. DFAT then confirms the notary's signature, not the Home Affairs signature.
• A Justice of the Peace copy is fine inside Australia but is not accepted overseas and cannot be apostilled.
• Neither a notary nor an apostille confirms that you are a citizen. Only the issuing government can, and foreign authorities may check with it.

When a citizenship document goes overseas

People in Australia need to prove their nationality to a foreign government more often than you might expect. The common reasons are claiming a second citizenship, often by descent; dealing with a former country's nationality rules after becoming Australian; registering a child's birth with a foreign consulate; buying or inheriting property abroad; and proving status to a foreign employer or pension fund.

In each case the reader is another country's official, working to its own rules and usually with little tolerance for irregular documents. This page is about that outward journey. If you are still applying for Australian citizenship, the pack you need for Home Affairs is quite different, and rarely needs a notary; see citizenship application documents.

Which document are you being asked for?

An Australian citizenship certificate is issued when citizenship is conferred, or when citizenship by descent is registered for someone born overseas to an Australian parent. Evidence of Australian citizenship is issued by the Department of Home Affairs to people who became citizens automatically, for example by birth in Australia in circumstances the law sets out, and who want a document confirming it. An Australian passport is evidence of citizenship for many purposes, and some foreign authorities accept a certified copy of its photo page instead of a certificate.

If you hold a foreign citizenship or naturalisation certificate, such as your parent's naturalisation record from another country, the position is different. An Australian notary can certify that a copy matches the foreign original, but cannot vouch for the foreign government that issued it, and DFAT legalises Australian documents. A foreign certificate is normally authenticated in the country that issued it.

Original to DFAT, or a notarised copy?

This is the choice that saves or costs the most. DFAT's page on documents it can legalise names citizenship certificates among the Australian originals it can deal with directly. So an original citizenship certificate can often be apostilled with no notary involved.

The catch is that the apostille attaches to the document you lodge, which then goes overseas and may not come back. A citizenship certificate can be hard to replace quickly, and you may need it again in Australia. That is when a notarised copy is the better route: a notary sights the original, certifies a copy, and DFAT confirms the notary's signature and seal. You keep the certificate.

The two routes prove slightly different things. An apostille on the original confirms the Home Affairs signature on the certificate. An apostille on a notarised copy confirms the notary's. Most recipients accept either, but some nationality authorities prefer one, so ask.

An apostille is used for countries in the Hague Apostille Convention. For other countries, DFAT issues an authentication certificate and the country's embassy or consulate then legalises it. Only DFAT issues either certificate in Australia. Check the destination on the HCCH status table on the day.

What the notary can and cannot do

An Australian notary public, usually an experienced solicitor appointed under state or territory arrangements, can do three things with a citizenship matter:

• Certify a copy of your citizenship certificate, evidence of citizenship or passport, having sighted the original;
• Witness your signature on a foreign application, declaration or renunciation form;
• Administer an oath or affirmation where a sworn statement about your status or your name is required.

A notary cannot certify that you are a citizen, that the certificate is genuine, or that you have not since lost or renounced citizenship. Only Home Affairs can say that. A foreign authority may verify the document independently; the notarial certificate gets it into the process, it does not replace that check.

Some identity documents carry printed warnings about copying, and rules differ by issuing country and by the era the document was issued. If your document carries such wording, raise it when you book. The usual answer is an official extract, replacement or letter from the issuing department, certified instead of the document itself.

Descent claims and renunciations

These are the two most common reasons people need a citizenship document notarised, and the two with the most avoidable failures.

Claiming citizenship by descent in another country. The foreign consulate usually wants an unbroken chain of documents linking you to the ancestor: your birth certificate, your parent's, sometimes your grandparent's, marriage certificates for every name change, and proof of when the ancestor did or did not naturalise elsewhere. Your Australian citizenship certificate may be one link, and possibly your parent's too. Each link is authenticated where it was issued, so Australian documents go to DFAT and foreign ones are dealt with abroad. Get the consulate's complete list before certifying anything; people often pay for a document it never wanted. Italian citizenship by descent shows one full chain.

Renouncing a citizenship. Some countries require proof that you have given up another nationality before they will naturalise you; others want proof that you hold one before accepting a renunciation. The order is set by the two governments and can be circular. Get it confirmed in writing by both before signing anything, because renunciation is usually permanent. A notary witnessing that signature will want to be satisfied you understand it. See dual citizenship documents.

At the appointment

1. Photo identification. A current passport is safest. The name on it should match the citizenship document; where it does not, because of marriage, a change of name or a different transliteration, bring the documents that bridge the gap.
2. The notary sights the original. Not a photocopy, a scan, or a copy someone certified earlier.
3. The copy is certified, sealed and bound to the notarial certificate, so it cannot be separated without leaving evidence.
4. Any declaration is signed in front of the notary, and the act is recorded in the notary's register.

Transliteration deserves its own line. Names moving between scripts are a leading cause of rejection in nationality matters, because a birth certificate, a passport and a foreign register may each spell the name differently for legitimate reasons. A sworn declaration explaining the forms of your name, made at the same appointment, deals with it before the foreign clerk asks.

Situations compared

Situation	Usual document	Notary needed?
Inside Australia, any purpose	Copy certified by a JP or authorised person	No
Foreign authority accepts the original	Original certificate, apostilled by DFAT	No; confirm with DFAT
You need to keep the certificate	Notarised copy, then DFAT	Yes
Recipient wants your passport	Notarised copy of the photo page, then DFAT	Yes
Renunciation or nationality declaration	Foreign form signed before a notary, then DFAT	Yes
Lost certificate	Replacement or evidence from Home Affairs	Not until you have it

Nationality authorities commonly set a recency limit on the documents they accept, measured from the date of the notarial certificate or apostille. Time the notary appointment close to lodgement rather than preparing everything months ahead. If a translation is needed, see NAATI translation with a notary.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A man in Melbourne, born in Greece and an Australian citizen by conferral, is registering his daughter's birth with the Greek consulate. The consulate asks for proof of his Australian citizenship, apostilled. He needs his certificate for an Australian matter later in the year, so a notary certifies a copy and DFAT apostilles the notary's certificate. His name appears in Greek script on his Greek documents and in two Latin spellings on his Australian ones, so at the same appointment he makes a sworn declaration explaining the forms of his name. Neither the notary nor DFAT confirmed that he is a citizen; the consulate relied on the certificate for that.

In short

For use overseas, an original Australian citizenship certificate can often go to DFAT directly, with no notary. Use a notary when you need to keep the original, when the recipient wants a copy of your passport, or when you must sign a declaration or renunciation. A JP copy will not work abroad. For the steps, see document notarisation or apostille and authentication.

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