How Long It Takes to Notarise a Document and What Decides It

There is no fixed time for notarising a document, and any page quoting minutes is guessing. The appointment itself is usually the shortest part of the job. What takes longer is everything around it: confirming what the receiving authority wants, getting the right original, and then the steps after the notary, such as DFAT, an embassy and a translator.

Key takeaways

• How long a notarial act takes depends on the document, your preparation and the notary's own checks, not on a standard clock.
• The most common delays at the appointment are avoidable: missing or mismatched identity documents, a document signed in advance, or a document that is not in its final form.
• For documents going overseas, the notary is often one step in a chain. DFAT, the destination's embassy and any translator each set their own timing.
• Sometimes the quickest route is no notary at all: a statutory declaration before an authorised witness, a certified copy for Home Affairs, or a registry certificate sent to DFAT directly.
• To estimate your own timeline, ask each body in the chain for its current position. Do not rely on a figure from a website, including this one.

Why this page gives no minutes or days

Many pages on this subject publish a neat table: so many minutes for an affidavit, so many for a power of attorney. Those numbers are not measurements. They vary from notary to notary, from document to document and from client to client, and they say nothing about the parts of the process that actually take time.

A figure also invites the wrong plan. If you book a notary believing the whole task will be finished in an afternoon, and then learn that your degree needs university verification before DFAT will accept it, or that the embassy wants the document legalised before a translator touches it, the appointment was never the bottleneck. So this page explains what drives the time and how to find out the current position for your own documents.

What happens at the appointment

An Australian notary public witnesses signatures, certifies copies of original documents they have sighted, and administers oaths and affirmations. A notary never certifies that the contents of a document are true. Before acting, the notary works through a sequence of checks, and each takes as long as your documents allow:

1. Identity. The notary checks your identity against current photo identification, usually a passport, and may ask for supporting documents. Names on your ID and on the document should match.
2. Capacity and understanding. The notary must be satisfied that you understand what you are signing and are able to make the decision it records.
3. Free will. The notary checks that you are not signing under pressure. A notary who has doubts may decline.
4. The document. The notary reads enough to know what kind of act is needed: witnessing a signature, certifying a copy, or taking an oath or affirmation on an affidavit.
5. Signing. You sign in the notary's presence, not before you arrive.
6. The notarial certificate. The notary completes a certificate stating what was done, signs and seals it, and often binds it to the document.
7. The record. The notary records the act in a permanent register.

For a simple, well-prepared document, that sequence moves quickly. For a multi-page company document with signing authority to establish, or an affidavit with many exhibits, each step has more to cover. See what a notary public does for the wider picture.

What slows the appointment down

Most delays at a notary's desk are the same handful of problems, and nearly all can be fixed before you arrive.

• Identification that does not match. A passport in one name and a document in another, for example after marriage, needs linking documents such as a marriage certificate. See accepted ID for notarisation.
• A document signed in advance. A signature the notary did not see cannot be witnessed. You will be asked to sign again, sometimes on a fresh copy.
• A document that is not final. Blank spaces, missing pages or a draft still being negotiated mean the notary cannot complete the act. Finish the document with whoever prepared it first.
• A copy instead of the original. A notary certifies a copy only against the original. A scan, a photocopy or an earlier certified copy is not enough.
• A language barrier. If you do not read the language of the document, the notary must be satisfied that you understand it, which can mean arranging a translation or an interpreter.
• Company authority. Signing for a company usually requires evidence that you hold that authority, such as a board resolution or a current company extract.
• Special wording. Some foreign authorities want a particular form of notarial certificate. Bring their instructions, in writing, to the appointment.

The chain beyond the notary

For a document used in Australia, the notary may be the last step. For a document going overseas, the notary is often in the middle. The time it takes to "get a document notarised" in the everyday sense is really the time it takes to complete this chain, and most of its links are outside the notary's control.

Before the notary

The first delay is often finding out what is actually required. The receiving authority, whether a foreign university, a bank, a court or a registry, decides the form it wants. Ask it in writing: does it want the original notarised, a notarised copy, an apostille, a translation, and in what order?

The second is getting the right original. A birth or marriage certificate has to be ordered from the state or territory registry, and a decorative ceremony certificate will not do. University documents have a further step: DFAT legalises an original degree or transcript only once the university has verified it, and a notarised copy also needs that verification, with the notary's certificate stating that the original record was verified with the issuing institution. A plain "true copy" certificate does not satisfy DFAT. The verification is the university's process, on the university's timetable.

After the notary

Only DFAT issues apostilles and authentication certificates in Australia. DFAT publishes its own lodgement options and current service information; check its legalisation pages on the day rather than relying on anyone's estimate. If the destination is not a member of the Apostille Convention, the document then goes to that country's embassy or consulate for legalisation, and each mission sets its own procedure. Check the HCCH status table on the day to see which route applies. Translation comes last where the destination wants the apostille translated too. Allow for postage or courier at each hand-over.

Step	Who sets the timing	How to find out
Confirming requirements	The receiving authority overseas	Ask it in writing what form it wants
Ordering a registry certificate	The state or territory registry	The registry's own website
University verification	The university	Its graduations or records office
The notarial act	The notary and your preparation	Ask when booking what to bring
Apostille or authentication	DFAT	DFAT's current service information
Embassy legalisation	The destination's mission	That embassy or consulate
Translation	The translator, and the destination's rules	Ask the receiving authority who may translate

Do remote or video notarisations save time?

Sometimes, and sometimes not. Whether a remotely performed notarial act is acceptable is decided by the receiving authority, and state and territory arrangements for remote witnessing differ. Even where a video appointment is possible, signed original pages often still have to travel to the notary by post before the notarial certificate can be attached, and then on to DFAT. Ask the receiving authority whether it accepts a remote act before choosing one. See online notarisation in Australia.

The quickest route may be no notary

A notary is not always what the task needs, and saying so is the most useful time-saving advice on this page.

• Statutory declarations for Australian use are witnessed by an authorised witness, a much wider group than notaries, and Commonwealth declarations can in some cases be made digitally. Check the list of who can witness a statutory declaration for the form you are using.
• Copies for the Department of Home Affairs are usually certified by an authorised person, which can include a Justice of the Peace. A notary is often not needed.
• Registry certificates, court documents and national police checks going overseas can generally go to DFAT directly for an apostille or authentication, without a notary. Confirm with DFAT first.

A Justice of the Peace is a free volunteer witness for Australian purposes. A JP's certification is not accepted overseas as a notarial act and cannot be apostilled, so for a private document going abroad, the JP route costs time rather than saving it. See notary or Justice of the Peace.

How to prepare so the appointment is short

1. Get the receiving authority's instructions in writing, including any required wording or form.
2. Finish the document, with every blank filled and every page present, but do not sign it.
3. Bring current photo ID, and linking documents if your name differs between ID and document.
4. Bring originals for any copy you want certified.
5. For a company document, bring evidence of your authority to sign.
6. Tell the notary in advance where the document is going, so the right certificate is prepared.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A Hobart nurse needs a power of attorney for a property matter in Sri Lanka and copies of her nursing degree for a registration board in Ireland. She assumes one notary appointment will cover both. In fact the appointment is the quick part. The Irish board wants notarised copies with an apostille, so she first asks her university to verify the degree, which DFAT requires, before the notary certifies the copy with the required statement. Sri Lanka was not an Apostille Convention member on the last snapshot, so the power of attorney, once notarised, goes to DFAT for authentication and then to the Sri Lankan mission. A Sri Lankan lawyer drafted it, and she asks him about its effect, not the notary. Her real timeline is set by the university, DFAT and the mission.

In short

No honest source can tell you how long notarising a document takes, because the answer depends on the document, your preparation and the checks the notary must make. The appointment is usually the short part. The receiving authority, the university or registry, DFAT, any embassy and any translator set most of the timetable. Prepare fully, ask each body for its current timing, and check first whether you need a notary at all.

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Not sure how many steps your document needs? Send us the document and where it is going, and we will explain each step before you book.