How to Notarise a Criminal Record Check in Australia

Often you do not need a notary at all. DFAT can apostille or authenticate an original National Police Check directly. A notary helps when the overseas authority wants a certified copy, when your check arrived electronically and DFAT asks for it to be notarised first, or when a signed declaration must go with it.

Key takeaways

• A notary cannot vouch for your record. Only the police can say what is, or is not, on it.
• DFAT names National Police Checks and fingerprint reports among the original documents it can legalise, so check with DFAT before you pay a notary.
• Get the right check first: federal or state, name-based or fingerprint-based, and every name you have used.
• A notary is useful for a certified copy, for a check DFAT will not take electronically, and for a declaration that explains names or residence.
• Most overseas authorities want a recent check. The clock usually runs from the date the police issued it, not the date of the apostille.

What a notary can and cannot do with a police check

A police check, or criminal record check, is a certificate from a police agency that reports the disclosable criminal history held against your name and details on the day it was issued. The police searched the records. Nobody else did, and nobody else can add to what the certificate says.

A notary public does not search anything and cannot certify that you have no convictions. If a foreign employer asks for a "notarised criminal record", what it almost always wants is one of two things: a copy of the police certificate that a notary has compared with the original and certified as a true copy, or the police certificate itself, confirmed by the Australian government through an apostille or authentication certificate.

A notary can also witness your signature on a declaration that travels with the check. Common examples are a declaration that explains why the name on the check differs from your passport, or one that confirms you have lived only in Australia during the period the foreign authority is asking about. Those declarations are private documents, so they need a notary before DFAT will act on them.

What the notary never does is confirm the contents. A notarial certificate on a copy of a police check says that the copy matches an original the notary saw. It says nothing about whether the record is complete, and the foreign authority reads it that way.

Get the right check before anything else

The most expensive mistake with police checks is not a notarial one. People obtain a check, have it certified and apostilled, and then learn it was the wrong kind. Settle three questions with the receiving authority before you order anything.

• Federal or state. For use overseas, authorities most often ask for the Australian Federal Police National Police Check, which draws on records from every state and territory police force. State and territory police also issue checks. If the instructions say "national", "federal" or "AFP", a state check will not do, and the reverse can also be true.
• Name-based or fingerprint-based. A standard check is run on the name, date of birth and other details you give. Some foreign immigration authorities want a check based on your fingerprints. If the requirement mentions fingerprints, a name-based certificate will not satisfy it, however it is certified.
• Purpose and names. Choose the purpose that matches what you are doing, and list every name you have been known by, including former, maiden and differently spelt names. An authority that sees a name on your passport or birth certificate that is missing from the check may reject it.

When you do not need a notary

This is the point that is specific to police checks, and it is where many people overspend.

A National Police Check is an Australian public document, issued by a government agency. DFAT's page on the documents it can legalise names National Police Checks and fingerprint reports among the police documents it accepts as originals. For those, DFAT applies the apostille or authentication certificate to the original and confirms the issuing official, and no notary is involved. If the foreign authority is happy with the original, a notary adds a fee and nothing else.

State and territory police checks are not named on that list in the same way, although DFAT also refers to "other Australian government issued documents". Whether it will take a particular state certificate directly is for DFAT to say, so ask it before you book anyone.

A notary usually does come into it when:

• the receiving authority wants a certified copy rather than the original, or you need to keep the original;
• you need several legalised copies for several destinations;
• the check was issued electronically and DFAT says it needs to be notarised first;
• the check must be accompanied by a signed or sworn declaration.

Checks delivered electronically

Many police checks now arrive as a digital certificate rather than a paper one with a signature and seal. That raises a question for everyone further down the chain, because a printout of a PDF is not an original in the way a paper certificate is.

DFAT says it accepts only a limited range of electronic official documents. It assesses each one when you lodge it, may ask you to forward the original email or log in to the issuing portal so it can confirm the document is genuine, and will tell you if the document needs to be notarised first. It also says that a scanned copy is never an electronic document for its purposes.

If DFAT asks for notarisation, a notary will sight what you have, which may mean looking at the certificate in the portal or the original email, and word the certificate to describe exactly what was seen and how. Notaries differ in how they handle this, and some foreign authorities verify a digital check online and want nothing further. Tell the notary how you received the check, and ask the receiving authority what it accepts, before you choose a route.

The route, step by step

1. Ask the receiving authority in writing which check it wants, whether it takes the original or a copy, whether it needs an apostille or embassy legalisation, and how recent the check must be.
2. Order the check with the right purpose and every name you have used. For a fingerprint requirement, order the fingerprint-based kind.
3. Check the details against your passport as soon as it arrives. If a name or date differs, decide now whether a declaration is needed.
4. Send the original to DFAT if the recipient takes it and DFAT accepts that version. Otherwise, see a notary for a certified copy, a declaration, or both.
5. DFAT legalises the original or the notary's certificate: an apostille for a Hague Apostille Convention country, or an authentication certificate for other countries.
6. Embassy legalisation, for countries outside the Convention, follows DFAT. The embassy or consulate of the destination country sets its own requirements.

An apostille is a certificate that confirms the signature and seal on an Australian public document for use in another country that belongs to the Hague Apostille Convention. It confirms who signed, not what the check says. Membership changes, so check the destination on the HCCH status table on the day. Apostille and authentication explains the DFAT step, and DFAT authentication covers the route for countries outside the Convention.

A copy certified by a Justice of the Peace is a dead end for overseas use. DFAT does not accept JP-certified copies for legalisation, so a JP copy of your police check cannot be apostilled however carefully it was made.

Timing matters more than usual

A police check reflects your record on the day it was issued. Many foreign authorities accept only a check issued within a recent period, which they set themselves, and the clock usually runs from the issue date on the certificate, not from the date of the notary's certificate or the apostille.

So work backwards from the deadline. Find out when the authority needs the document and how recent it must be, allow for DFAT and any embassy step, and only then order the check. Ordering too early can mean paying for everything twice. If a check has already aged past the limit, no stamp can renew it; see when a document is too old for overseas use.

At the notary

For a certified copy, bring the original paper certificate, or be ready to show the electronic original in the way the notary asks, together with current photo identification. For a declaration, the person named on the check must attend and sign in front of the notary, who will check identity and make sure you understand what you are signing. Someone else can sometimes take a paper check to a notary for a copy, because the notary is certifying the document, but a declaration can only be signed by you.

Compare the name on the check with your passport before the appointment. If they differ, even by a middle name or a spelling, the simplest fix is usually a declaration signed at the same appointment that links the names, supported by the documents that prove the link. Names that do not match your passport covers that in more detail, and document notarisation sets out what a notary can certify and witness.

If the foreign authority wants the check or the declaration translated, it decides whose translation it accepts. For DFAT to legalise a translation, it must be by a NAATI certified or recognised translator, with the translator's details and seal on every page.

What you have	What the recipient wants	Usual route
Paper National Police Check	The original, apostilled	Straight to DFAT, no notary
Paper National Police Check	A copy, or you must keep the original	Notarised copy, then DFAT
Electronic check	A legalised document	Ask DFAT; notarise first if it says so
State police check	A legalised document	Ask DFAT whether it takes the original
Any check with a name difference	Proof the names are one person	Declaration before a notary, then DFAT

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A teacher in Perth accepts a job in an Asian country and is asked for a "notarised and legalised criminal record". She asks the school's human resources office to put the requirement in writing, and learns it wants the AFP National Police Check, fingerprint-based, apostilled, and issued within a recent period. Her first instinct was to book a notary. Instead she orders the right check, confirms with DFAT that it will accept the version she received, and sends the original for an apostille. The only notarial step she needs is a short declaration explaining that her passport carries a middle name the police check leaves out, which she signs before a notary and sends to DFAT with the check.

In short

Settle which check the recipient wants before ordering it, and check with DFAT before paying a notary, because an original National Police Check can often be legalised directly. Use a notary for a certified copy, for an electronic check DFAT asks to be notarised, or for a declaration about names or residence. Keep an eye on the issue date throughout. If a working-with-children card is also involved, see working with children checks and a notary, and for the wider job-abroad file, documents for working overseas.

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Not sure whether your police check needs a notary or can go straight to DFAT? Send us the requirements you were given, and we will explain each step before you book.