Corrections and White-Out on Documents Going Overseas

Do not use white-out on a document going overseas. Fix mistakes before signing by reprinting the page. At the notary appointment, strike an error through with a single line, write the correction, and initial it in front of the notary. After notarisation, change nothing. Only the registry corrects a registry certificate, and DFAT refuses altered public documents.

Key takeaways

• Correction fluid hides what was there before, which is exactly what an overseas authority, a notary or DFAT wants to see. Avoid it.
• The best correction is made before signing: fix the file and reprint the page.
• At the appointment, a single line through the error, the correction beside it, and initials made in front of the notary is the usual method.
• Do not change a document after it has been notarised or apostilled. Prepare a new one.
• Never correct a registry certificate yourself. DFAT says altered public documents are not acceptable for legalisation.
• Some receiving authorities reject any handwritten change. Ask if in doubt.

Why is white-out a problem?

A correction on a legal document has to answer two questions for whoever reads it later: what did it say before, and who changed it? Correction fluid and correction tape answer neither. They hide the original text completely, and they do not show who made the change or when. A reader overseas, looking at a notarised power of attorney with a patch of white under the attorney's name, cannot tell whether you corrected a typo or someone replaced the attorney after you signed.

For that reason, notaries commonly will not notarise a document with correction fluid on it, particularly in the operative parts such as names, amounts, dates and property descriptions. Receiving authorities overseas often treat it the same way, and some embassies and registries reject documents with any visible alteration. It is not a formality: the whole point of notarisation is that the reader can trust the document is the one you signed.

How should you correct a mistake before signing?

If the document is typed and the mistake is found before signing, the cleanest fix is to correct the file and reprint the page, or the whole document. Nobody reading it will ever know there was an error, because there is nothing to see. Do this before the appointment, not at the notary's desk while the rest of the document waits; replacing pages of a multi-page document once it is in front of the notary raises its own questions about which pages belong together.

If the document came from someone else, such as a lawyer, bank or agency overseas, ask them to send a corrected version rather than editing their document yourself. They may need to approve the change, and they will want to know the version you sign is the one they prepared. Our guide to what to do when an embassy rejects a document covers what happens when a problem is found late.

What if you find a mistake at the appointment?

If reprinting is not possible, a handwritten correction is usually acceptable, made in the right way. Draw a single line through the incorrect words, so they can still be read. Write the correct words clearly beside or above them. Then initial the change, in front of the notary, and the notary will commonly initial it too, or refer to the alteration in the notarial certificate. Do not scribble over the error, write over the top of it, or cut and paste.

The Attorney-General's Department sets out the same principle for Commonwealth statutory declarations on its page about Commonwealth statutory declarations: to change anything after the witness has signed, you must make the change in front of the same witness, and you and the witness both initial next to every change. Documents for overseas use follow the same logic, and the receiving authority may have its own stricter rules.

What if the mistake is found after notarisation?

Then do not touch the document. Once the notary has completed the certificate, any change, however small, means the document no longer matches what the notary certified. If the notary is not present to witness and initial the change, nobody can tell who made it. A receiving authority may reject the document, and if an apostille has been added, DFAT's certificate relates to the document as it was.

The usual fix is a new document, signed and notarised again, and then legalised again if needed. In some cases the notary who performed the act can advise whether a correction can be dealt with at a further appointment with you present, but that is the notary's decision and depends on the document and where it is going. Our guide to an invalid notarial act explains what can undermine a notarisation.

When you find the mistake	Usual fix	Avoid
Before printing or signing	Correct the file and reprint	Handwritten changes you do not need
At the notary appointment	Single line through, correction beside, initialled in front of the notary	Correction fluid, writing over
After notarisation	A new document, notarised again	Any change to the notarised document
After the apostille	A new document, notarised and legalised again	Altering the document or the apostille
On a registry certificate	A correction through the registry, then a new certificate	Any change by you
In a translation	A corrected translation from the translator	Editing the translation yourself

What about errors on certificates and official documents?

These are a separate category, because you did not create them. A birth, marriage or death certificate, a police check, a court order or a university transcript is issued by an official body, and only that body can correct it. If a registry certificate has a misspelt name, apply to the registry for a correction; it will issue a corrected certificate. Do not write on it, and do not ask a notary to certify a changed version.

DFAT's page on documents it can legalise says public documents that have been laminated, framed or altered in any way are not acceptable for legalisation. An altered certificate is therefore stuck: it cannot be apostilled, and a notarised copy of it would faithfully reproduce the alteration. Where an error cannot be corrected at the source in time, a declaration explaining the discrepancy, sworn before a notary, is sometimes accepted overseas; our guide to name mismatches between documents explains that route.

What about certified copies of a corrected document?

A certified copy reproduces the original as it is. If the original carries a handwritten correction, the copy will show it, and a notary certifying the copy is confirming only that the copy matches the original they sighted. Notaries commonly note visible alterations, erasures or additions on the original in their certificate, so that the reader knows they were there when the copy was made and were not added to the copy afterwards.

That note does not make the correction acceptable to the receiving authority; it only records it. If the original is a document you created, such as a contract or declaration, and the correction was not properly made, it is usually better to fix the original first. If the original is an official document with a correction made by the issuing body, for example an amended certificate with the registrar's own endorsement, the copy simply shows that endorsement. And editing a PDF of an official document before printing it counts as an alteration too, even if nobody can see the change.

What about translations?

A certified translation with an error should be corrected by the translator, who reissues it with their details and certification. If you edit a translation yourself, it is no longer the translator's certified work, and a receiving authority that compares it with the original may reject it. DFAT requires translations it legalises to carry the translator's name, signature, NAATI seal and practitioner ID, and date, on every page, so a page you have amended by hand is unlikely to pass. Our guide to a rejected translation covers the fix.

How do you avoid corrections altogether?

1. Proofread every page before printing. Names, dates, passport numbers, addresses, amounts and property descriptions first.
2. Check names against your passport. Spelling, order and middle names should match exactly.
3. Ask the issuer to fix their document. If a lawyer or agency prepared it, get a corrected version from them.
4. Print clean copies. Single-sided if the receiving authority prefers, with no handwritten notes.
5. Leave the signature and date blank. They are completed in front of the notary.
6. If a correction is unavoidable, make it at the appointment. Single line, correction beside it, initialled in front of the notary.

Common mistakes to avoid

The most common mistake is reaching for correction fluid to fix a typo the night before the appointment. The second is fixing a small error after the notary has finished, assuming nobody will mind; overseas authorities often do. The third is correcting a registry certificate by hand, which makes it unusable for legalisation. The fourth is editing a certified translation. The fifth is a correction that is initialled, but not in front of the notary, which leaves the question of who made it unanswered.

Here is an illustration, not a real case.

Tomás is preparing a declaration for a registry in Spain and spots, at home, that his mother's surname is misspelt. He fixes the file and reprints the page instead of using correction fluid. At the appointment, the notary notices the date of a property purchase is one year out. There is no printer to hand, so Tomás strikes the wrong year through with a single line, writes the right one beside it, and he and the notary both initial the change.

In short

Keep correction fluid away from documents going overseas. Fix mistakes before signing by reprinting. At the appointment, a single line through the error, the correction beside it and initials made in front of the notary is the usual method. After notarisation or an apostille, prepare a new document rather than changing the old one. Official certificates are corrected only by the body that issued them. Our document notarisation services page explains what happens at the appointment.

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