How to Notarise Chinese Documents in Australia

A document issued in mainland China is authenticated in China, not by an Australian notary. Most Australian bodies want the Chinese original or a Chinese notarial certificate, a NAATI-certified English translation, and sometimes a certified copy. Since late 2023, China issues apostilles instead of relying only on consular legalisation, which has made the process shorter.

Key takeaways

• Chinese public documents are usually proved in Australia with a notarial certificate issued by a Chinese notary office, not with an Australian notary's stamp.
• China's apostille arrangements began in November 2023. Check the HCCH status table on the day for the current position.
• Anything in Chinese needs an English translation. For Home Affairs, a NAATI-credentialled translator is the safe choice when it is done in Australia.
• An Australian notary can certify a copy of what they sight and witness your declarations, but cannot vouch for a Chinese record.
• Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan documents follow their own rules. Do not use the mainland process for them.

What changed when China joined the Apostille Convention?

China's accession to the Hague Apostille Convention came into force in November 2023. Before that, a Chinese document used abroad usually needed authentication by Chinese authorities and then legalisation by the receiving country's embassy. Now a single apostille from a Chinese authority is normally enough between member countries, subject to any objections recorded by the HCCH.

Two practical points follow. First, older documents may carry the earlier embassy legalisation stamps, and that is not a reason to redo them if the receiving body is satisfied. Second, whether an Australian body wants an apostille at all is its own decision. Many Australian uses, including most visa applications, rely on translations and copies rather than apostilles. Check the current position on the HCCH status table before you pay for authentication.

What is a Chinese notarial certificate?

A Chinese notarial certificate is a document issued by a notary office in China that formally confirms a fact, such as a birth, a marriage, a relationship or the absence of a criminal record. It is often bound with a translation and is the form many overseas bodies expect, because some Chinese records are not designed for use abroad.

Chinese notary offices are public bodies with a different role from an Australian notary public. An Australian notary witnesses signatures and certifies copies; a Chinese notary office can certify facts drawn from official records. That is why an Australian notary cannot replace a Chinese notarial certificate. If a Chinese record needs to be proved, the proof has to come from China.

A notarial certificate usually comes as a bound booklet, sometimes with an English translation added by the notary office. Keep it bound. Taking the pages apart can make the certificate unusable, because the binding is part of what shows nothing has been added or removed.

Which Chinese documents do people most often need?

The documents that come up most in Australia are notarial certificates of birth, marriage or kinship, marriage certificates, household register records, degree and graduation certificates, and certificates of no criminal record. Each is issued, and proved, by a different Chinese body, so a problem with one is fixed with that body.

Chinese document	Usually proved by	Common Australian use
Birth or kinship	Notarial certificate from a Chinese notary office	Visas, citizenship, family claims
Marriage certificate	The certificate, often with a notarial certificate	Partner visas, name changes
Household register (hukou)	Copy of the relevant pages, sometimes notarised in China	Identity and family details
Degree or graduation certificate	Certificate plus an official verification report if asked	Skills assessments, employers, universities
No criminal record	Notarial certificate issued in China	Visas and some professional registrations

Degree documents deserve a note of their own. Some Australian universities, skills assessors and employers ask for an official verification report from China's higher-education verification service rather than a certified copy. Ask the receiving body which form it accepts before you order anything, because a certified copy will not stand in for a verification report it requires.

Do Chinese documents need a NAATI translation?

Yes, when an Australian body relies on them. Anything in Chinese, including stamps and seals, needs an English translation. When the translation is made in Australia, use a NAATI-credentialled translator. A translation bound into a Chinese notarial certificate may be accepted by some bodies, but not by all of them.

Home Affairs accepts translations made outside Australia only when they show the translator's full name, address and credentials. Other Australian bodies can set their own rules. Mainland documents use simplified characters, while documents from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan normally use traditional characters, so tell the translator where the document came from. Our NAATI translation guide explains what a certified translation must include.

What can an Australian notary do with a Chinese document?

An Australian notary can certify that a copy matches the Chinese original they have sighted, witness your signature on a statutory declaration or affidavit, and witness a translator's declaration. A notary cannot confirm that the contents of a Chinese record are true, cannot issue a Chinese notarial certificate, and cannot issue an apostille.

For Australian purposes you may not need a notary at all. A Justice of the Peace or another authorised person can usually certify a copy for Home Affairs. A notary becomes useful when the paperwork goes the other way: for example, a power of attorney signed in Australia so a relative can deal with property in China. That document is notarised here and then apostilled by DFAT. Our guide to sending Australian documents to China covers that direction.

How do you prepare Chinese documents for an Australian application?

Work from the receiving body's own checklist, because Home Affairs, AHPRA, universities and skills assessors each ask for slightly different things. The steps below keep the order right, so that a translation is not made from a document that later has to be replaced.

1. Read the checklist and note whether it wants originals, notarial certificates, verification reports, certified copies or colour scans. For visas, start with the Home Affairs document checklist for your stream.
2. Check names and dates against your passport, including the order of family and given names and the romanisation used.
3. Order what must come from China: notarial certificates, a new certificate of no criminal record, or a degree verification report.
4. Get an apostille from the Chinese side only if the receiving body asks for one.
5. Arrange a NAATI translation of every page not in English, including the notarial certificate pages and seals.
6. Certify copies through an authorised person if certified copies are requested, and keep the bound originals safe.

What if you are in Australia and need a new Chinese certificate?

You usually have to deal with the Chinese authority that holds the record, which may mean applying through a relative in China, through an online service offered by the issuing body, or through the Chinese embassy or consulates in Australia for services they offer to Chinese citizens. Which route is available depends on the document, so check the official source first.

Some documents, such as a certificate of no criminal record, are issued based on where you lived in China, and a recently issued one is often required. Build that into your timing, and ask the Australian body how recent the certificate must be before you order it. An Australian notary can witness any authority letter or declaration the Chinese office asks you to sign, and DFAT can then apostille it if the Chinese side requires that.

What are the common mistakes with Chinese documents?

• Translating only part of it. The notarial certificate pages, stamps and any attached translation all need to be covered.
• Unbinding a notarial certificate. Scan it as a bound booklet instead of taking it apart.
• Name order and romanisation. A family name first on one document and last on another causes requests for explanation. Tell the translator how your passport shows your name.
• Mixing up regions. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan documents follow different processes from the mainland.
• Using an old certificate when the receiving body wants a recent one.

Are Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan documents different?

Yes. Hong Kong and Macau have their own authorities and their own apostille arrangements, and Taiwan's documents follow a separate process again. A mainland notarial certificate process does not apply to them, and the characters used are usually traditional rather than simplified, which matters for translation.

If your document comes from one of these places, start with the issuing authority there. For Australian documents going the other way, see our guides for Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Australian side, a NAATI translation and a certified copy where asked, works the same way for all of them.

What does this look like in practice?

Here is an illustration, not a real case. Wei is in Sydney applying for a skills assessment. The assessor asks for a degree verification report and an employment reference, and Home Affairs later asks for a certificate of no criminal record covering the years Wei lived in China.

Wei orders the verification report online from the official Chinese service instead of certifying a copy of the degree, because that is what the assessor asked for. For the criminal record certificate, Wei signs an authority letter in Australia so a relative can apply in China; a notary witnesses the letter because the Chinese office asked for a notarised signature. The certificate arrives as a bound notarial booklet, which Wei scans without unbinding and sends with a NAATI translation of every page.

In short

Chinese documents are proved in China, usually through a notarial certificate and, since November 2023, an apostille where one is needed. In Australia you add a NAATI translation and, where asked, a certified copy. An Australian notary helps when you sign something here for use in China, not when you need a Chinese record confirmed.

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Not sure what your Chinese document needs for Australian use? Send us the document and tell us where it is going, and we will explain each step. For translation with a notarial certificate, see our NAATI translation with notary certification service.