New Zealand Visa Documents to Notarise From Australia

For most people in Australia, a New Zealand visa needs no notarised document at all. Australian citizens get a resident visa on arrival. Australian permanent residents with a current travel facility usually do too. Everyone else applies to Immigration New Zealand (INZ), which cares far more about translations and police certificates than about notaries.

Key takeaways

• Australian citizens apply for nothing in advance. There are no visa documents to certify.
• Australian permanent residents need a current permanent visa or resident return visa, and an NZeTA before they fly.
• Other applicants lodge with INZ, usually online with clear scans. INZ asks for an original or certified copy only when it needs one.
• INZ has listed a Justice of the Peace among acceptable certifiers. That is unusual for an overseas authority, so check before paying a notary.
• Translations are where applications go wrong. Never translate your own documents or use a relative.
• An apostille is not part of a normal INZ application. It matters for New Zealand courts, companies and property.

Why does your status in Australia decide everything?

New Zealand treats people coming from Australia in three different ways. Which group you are in decides whether you have any paperwork at all. So work that out first, before you gather or certify anything.

The rules below reflect INZ's published guidance as we last read it. INZ changes its requirements by operational circular, sometimes several times a year. Its current page for your visa type is the only reliable source. Treat this page as a map of the questions to ask, not as the answer.

What do Australian citizens need?

Nothing, for immigration purposes. INZ grants an Australian citizen a resident visa when they arrive in New Zealand. It is not applied for in advance. Australian citizens also do not need a New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA). They travel on their Australian passport and are processed at the border.

There is no visa application, so there is nothing to certify, notarise or apostille. If someone tells you to get your birth certificate notarised to move to Auckland, ask them which form it is for. It will not be for INZ. It may be for a New Zealand employer, a professional registration body or a bank, and each of those sets its own rules.

What do Australian permanent residents need?

A permanent resident of Australia who is not a citizen can usually be granted a resident visa on arrival too. INZ has set two conditions for that:

• you hold an NZeTA before you travel; and
• you hold a current Australian permanent visa or resident return visa.

The trap is the travel facility on the Australian visa. A permanent visa does not expire, but its travel facility can. If yours has lapsed, you may need a resident return visa from the Department of Home Affairs before New Zealand will treat you as a permanent resident. Check your visa details on the Home Affairs immigration site before you book.

Again, INZ is checking your Australian visa status here. It is not looking for a notarised document, and a notary cannot fix an expired travel facility.

What if you are in Australia on a temporary visa?

Students, working holiday makers, skilled workers on temporary visas, and permanent residents whose return visa has lapsed apply to INZ like any other applicant. What follows is about those applications. INZ has many visa types, and the documents list differs for each. Read the checklist for your exact visa first.

Most INZ applications are lodged online. INZ generally works from clear colour scans of the original documents. It may ask you for an original or a certified copy later, if it needs to check something. So do not certify everything by reflex. Wait to see what INZ actually asks for.

Does INZ accept copies certified by a JP?

This is where New Zealand differs from most overseas authorities. INZ's guidance has described an acceptable certifier as a person authorised by law to certify documents in your home country or in New Zealand. It has given examples that include a Justice of the Peace, a notary public, a lawyer and a court official.

So, unusually, INZ may accept a copy certified by an Australian JP. A JP is a free volunteer witness in every Australian state and territory. Most other countries will not accept a JP's certification, and DFAT cannot apostille one. INZ is not asking for an apostille, so that limit may not matter here.

Check INZ's current wording for your application before paying for a notary. If INZ's instructions for your visa name a JP, use one. If they are silent or say something else, ask INZ. The receiving authority decides what it accepts, and here that is INZ.

Which birth certificate should you use?

INZ's identity guidance has asked for a full birth certificate. That means one showing your full name, date and place of birth, and your parents' names. An Australian registry birth certificate meets that description.

A commemorative birth certificate may not. Some commemorative versions leave out the parents' details, and some registries print them in a decorative format. If yours is commemorative, order a standard certificate from the registry in the state where you were born. That is quicker than arguing with a case officer.

If you were born outside Australia, your birth certificate comes from that country. An Australian notary cannot vouch for a foreign registry's document. What a notary or JP can do is certify that a copy matches the original you show them. If the certificate is not in English, it will also need a translation.

How strict is INZ about translations?

This is where INZ is most specific. Its rules have differed by visa type:

• Residence visas: every document not in English has needed a certified translation.
• Other visas: police and medical certificates not in English have always needed a certified translation.
• Visitor visas: INZ has relaxed the rule for some supporting documents. It still wants the translator's full name, address, telephone number and qualifications.

INZ does not accept a translation made by the applicant, a family member or an immigration adviser. A translation should come with the original document or a certified copy of it, unless INZ accepts legible copies for that visa. INZ has listed translation businesses and embassies among acceptable sources.

In Australia, the natural choice is a NAATI-certified translator. NAATI is the Australian credentialing body, and its online directory lets you check a translator's credential. INZ is not bound to NAATI, but a NAATI translation carries the details INZ asks for. See our document translation service for how that works.

What about police certificates?

INZ asks applicants over a set age for police certificates in several situations. They include longer stays and residence applications. For time spent in Australia, that means a National Police Check from the Australian Federal Police, of the type INZ specifies.

INZ also sets how recent a police certificate must be when you apply. It may ask for a new one if yours ages during processing. Check the current limit on INZ's page for your visa, then order the AFP certificate close to the date you lodge.

No INZ page we reviewed asked for a police certificate to be notarised or apostilled. INZ normally works with the certificate as issued. Paying a notary to certify it is usually wasted money.

What should you prepare, and in what order?

The order matters, because recency limits and translations interact:

1. Work out your group: citizen, permanent resident, or everyone else.
2. Read INZ's checklist for your exact visa type, dated today.
3. Order standard certificates, not commemorative ones, from the registry.
4. Arrange translations of anything not in English, by an independent translator.
5. Order the AFP check last, so it is recent when you lodge.
6. Certify copies only if INZ asks, and check whether a JP will do.

Where does an Australian notary still fit?

For INZ itself, rarely. A notary may still help in a few cases:

• INZ asks for a certified copy and no suitable JP is available, or you prefer a notary.
• INZ or a sponsor asks for a sworn statement, such as a declaration about a relationship or support.
• A translator is asked to swear to a translation, and the notary witnesses that declaration.

A notary witnesses signatures, administers oaths and certifies copies. A notary never confirms that the contents of your document are true. Our document notarisation page explains each of those acts.

When does an apostille matter for New Zealand?

New Zealand was a party to the Hague Apostille Convention when we last checked, with the Convention in force for it from 22 November 2001. Confirm on the HCCH status table on the day. An apostille is a DFAT certificate confirming the signature and seal on an Australian public document.

For a normal INZ application, an apostille is not part of the process. It matters when a document is used for a New Zealand court, a company filing, a property transaction or a professional registration. Those uses are covered on our page on apostilles for New Zealand. If a New Zealand document is coming the other way, see notarising New Zealand documents in Australia.

Who you are	What INZ usually wants	Notary needed?
Australian citizen	An Australian passport at the border	No
Australian permanent resident	NZeTA and a current travel facility	No
Temporary visa holder	Scans, translations, police check	Rarely; a JP copy may do
Anyone using papers in a NZ court or registry	Set by that court or registry	Often, then an apostille

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A nurse from the Philippines lives in Brisbane on a temporary skilled visa. She wants a New Zealand work visa. Her Philippine birth certificate is in English, so it needs no translation. Her marriage certificate is in Filipino, so an independent translator prepares a translation with full contact details and qualifications. She orders the AFP check a few weeks before lodging. She uploads clear scans. Later, INZ asks for a certified copy of her passport, and a JP certifies it for free. She never sees a notary.

In short

Start with your status in Australia. Citizens and most permanent residents have nothing to certify. Everyone else follows INZ's checklist for their visa, lodges scans, and certifies copies only when asked. A JP may be enough for INZ, which is rare abroad. Spend your effort on independent translations and a recent police check.

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Not sure which group you fall into? Send us the INZ checklist you have been given, and we will explain each step before you book.