Colour Copies, Scans and Black-and-White Certified Copies

A certified copy can usually be colour or black and white, unless the receiving authority says otherwise, and some do. What matters is that the certifier compares a clear, complete paper copy with the original. A scan is different: a scan of a certified copy is not itself a certified copy, and DFAT does not accept scans at all.

Key takeaways

• Colour or black and white is usually your choice, unless the receiving authority specifies one; check its instructions.
• The certifier must compare the copy with the original, not a scan, photocopy or earlier certified copy.
• A scan or photo of a certified copy is a copy of a copy; many authorities will not treat it as certified.
• For online Home Affairs applications you attach clear scans or photos; certified copies are for paper applications.
• DFAT says scanned copies are not electronic documents and cannot be legalised.
• Copy every page and both sides, with nothing cut off, whichever colour you choose.

Does a certified copy have to be in colour?

Not as a general rule. A certified copy is a copy that an authorised person has compared with the original and endorsed as a true copy. Home Affairs' instructions for certified copies in paper applications describe what the certifier must check and write, but they do not say the copy has to be in colour. The same is true of most Australian bodies.

Some receiving authorities do specify. A foreign university, an overseas registry or a professional body may ask for colour copies so that stamps, seals and coloured backgrounds show clearly. Others ask for black and white, sometimes because colour copies of official documents can be mistaken for originals. If the instructions say either, follow them exactly. If they say nothing, a clean colour copy is usually the safer choice for documents with coloured stamps, photographs or security backgrounds, and black and white is fine for plain typed documents.

Why does colour matter at all?

Because the copy has to show everything on the original. Official documents often carry coloured seals, signatures in blue ink, photographs, watermarks and patterned security backgrounds. In black and white, a red registry stamp can disappear into a grey background, and a faint seal may not show at all. A certifier can only certify a copy that is legible and complete; if part of the original does not appear on the copy, the certifier may refuse to certify it, or the receiving authority may reject it.

Some security features, such as holograms, raised seals and watermarks, do not reproduce well in any colour. That is expected. The copy does not need to reproduce the security feature itself, but the text and any stamp around it must be readable. If a copy is unclear, the certifier may ask for a better one.

Can a certifier certify a scan or a printout of one?

A certifier certifies a paper copy against the original they are looking at. If you print a scan of your original and bring both the printout and the original, the printout is simply the copy, and it can be certified like any photocopy, as long as it is clear and complete. What a certifier cannot do is certify a copy against a scan, a photocopy, or a copy of a copy, because they have not seen the original. A notary in particular must sight the original document.

The same point applies to documents that only exist electronically, such as a bank statement downloaded as a PDF. There is no paper original to compare with. How a notary handles an electronic-only document varies from notary to notary, so ask before the appointment, and ask the receiving authority whether it will accept what the notary can offer. DFAT, separately, accepts only a limited range of official electronic documents. Our guide to originals and copies covers the general rule.

Is a scan of a certified copy still certified?

Usually not. The certifier's endorsement relates to the paper copy they signed. When you scan that paper, you create a new copy, and the endorsement on it is just an image of a signature and stamp. Some bodies accept scans of certified copies uploaded to their portals as a matter of convenience, while others want the certified paper copy itself sent to them. The receiving authority decides, so check its instructions before you rely on a scan.

For Home Affairs, the question usually does not arise. Its instructions for online applications through ImmiAccount say it can accept photos of documents if they are clear and show all the document information, and its certified-copy instructions apply to applications made on paper. So for an online visa application you normally upload a clear colour scan or photo of the original, not a scan of a certified copy.

Receiving body	What it usually wants	Colour?
Home Affairs, online application	Clear scans or photos of the originals	Clear and complete; colour usually safer
Home Affairs, paper application	Paper copies certified by a listed person	Not specified in its instructions
DFAT, for an apostille	The original, or a paper copy notarised by an Australian notary	Scans are never accepted
A foreign authority	Whatever its instructions say, often notarised	Follow its instructions exactly
An Australian bank, university or employer	Its own rules; often a JP certified copy or an upload	Ask the body

What does DFAT accept?

DFAT only legalises Australian public documents: originals issued by Australian government agencies or officials, originals issued by Australian tertiary institutions, and copies notarised by an Australian notary. Its page on documents it can legalise says it accepts only a limited range of official electronic documents, and that scanned copies are not electronic documents for its purposes and cannot be accepted. DFAT also cannot legalise a copy certified by a JP. So if a copy is going to be apostilled, it has to be a paper copy notarised by an Australian notary, and for university documents the notary's certificate must also state that the original record was verified with the issuing institution.

What about passports and photo identity?

Identity documents are where colour matters most. A certified copy of a passport photo page is usually meant to let someone else compare the photograph with you, and a muddy black-and-white copy can make that impossible. Unless told otherwise, copy the photo page in colour, at full size, with the machine-readable lines at the bottom fully visible. If the authority wants other pages, such as a page with a visa or an observation, copy those too.

Some requests go further than a copy. Home Affairs' certified-copy instructions say a certifier who has known you for at least one year can also complete an identity declaration and confirm that your photographs are genuine, which is a different act from certifying a copy. Foreign authorities sometimes ask for a notarised copy of a passport, where the notary certifies the copy and, if asked, may also confirm that the person who appeared before them matches the photograph. A JP's certified copy will not serve that purpose overseas. Our guides to notarising a passport copy and to a notary versus a JP explain which to use when.

How do you prepare copies for certification?

1. Read the receiving authority's instructions. Look for anything about colour, paper size, single or double-sided copies, and whether it wants paper or an upload.
2. Copy the whole document. Every page and the back of every page with anything on it, including stamps, endorsements and translations.
3. Check the copy. Make sure nothing is cut off at the edges and that stamps and signatures are readable.
4. Choose colour where it helps. Use colour for documents with photographs, coloured stamps or security backgrounds, unless told otherwise.
5. Bring the original and the copy. The certifier needs to compare them side by side.
6. Send the certified paper copy itself where paper is asked for, rather than a scan of it.

Common mistakes to avoid

The most common mistake is emailing a scan of a certified copy to a body that wanted the certified paper copy, and finding it treated as uncertified. The second is using a black-and-white copy of a document whose key stamp is in red or blue, so the stamp disappears. The third is bringing a photocopy of a photocopy, with the original left at home; no certifier can certify it. The fourth is copying only the front of a card or certificate that has writing on the back. Finally, do not laminate originals to protect them; DFAT will not accept laminated documents, and certifiers may struggle to copy them clearly.

Here is an illustration, not a real case.

Farah, in Canberra, is applying to a university in Germany that asks for certified copies of her degree and transcript, in colour, posted on paper. She makes clean colour copies of both sides of each page, takes them with the originals to a certifier, and posts the certified paper copies. When the university also asks her to upload scans to its portal, she uploads colour scans of the originals and notes that the certified copies are in the post.

In short

Colour or black and white is usually your choice, unless the receiving authority specifies one. Colour is safer for documents with stamps, photos or coloured backgrounds. Every certified copy must be a clear, complete paper copy compared with the original. A scan of a certified copy is not certified, and DFAT does not accept scans at all. Our document notarisation page covers notarised copies for overseas use.

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Not sure whether your copies need to be colour, notarised or simply uploaded? Tell us what the documents are and who asked for them, and we will explain each step before you book.