How to Notarise Chinese Documents in Australia

A document issued in mainland China is proved in China, not by an Australian notary. Most Australian bodies want the Chinese original or a Chinese notarial certificate, with a NAATI-certified English translation and sometimes a certified copy. An Australian notary helps with the Australian end: copies, declarations and forms you sign here.

Key takeaways

• A Chinese record, such as a birth, kinship or no-criminal-record notarial certificate, is issued and proved by Chinese authorities. An Australian notary cannot confirm what it says.
• DFAT cannot legalise a Chinese document. Each government legalises only documents issued in its own country, and DFAT never accepts foreign education documents, even when notarised in Australia.
• China's Apostille Convention membership has been in force since 7 November 2023, as of our last check. If an Australian body wants a Chinese document apostilled, the apostille is issued in China.
• Everything in Chinese, including seals and the notarial certificate's own pages, needs an English translation. Done in Australia, use a NAATI certified translator.
• For Home Affairs, a copy certified by an authorised person is usually enough; a notary is often not needed at all.

Which direction is your document travelling?

Half the confusion about "notarising Chinese documents" comes from mixing two different jobs. The first is using a Chinese document in Australia: a birth notarial certificate for a visa, a degree for a skills assessment, a marriage certificate for a name change. That is what this page covers. The second is sending an Australian document to China, or signing a Chinese-language form here for use in China, which ends with a DFAT apostille. That direction is covered in our guide to apostilles for China from Australia, and Chinese visa paperwork in China visa documents from Australia.

The rule that separates them is simple. DFAT's own guidance says the government in each country can only legalise documents issued in that country. A document issued in Beijing or Guangzhou can be apostilled only by Chinese authorities; a document signed before a notary in Melbourne can be apostilled only by DFAT.

What is a Chinese notarial certificate?

A Chinese notarial certificate (公证书) is issued by a notary office in China and formally confirms a fact drawn from official records: a birth, a marriage, a family relationship, a degree, or the absence of a criminal record. It usually comes as a bound booklet, often with an English translation added by the notary office, and it is the form many overseas bodies expect because several Chinese records were never designed for use abroad.

Chinese notary offices are public bodies whose role differs from an Australian notary public's. An Australian notary certifies copies, witnesses signatures and administers oaths, and never certifies that contents are true. A Chinese notary office can certify facts drawn from official records. That is why an Australian notary cannot stand in for one: if a Chinese record needs to be proved, the proof has to come from China.

Keep the booklet bound. The binding, and often a seal across it, is part of what shows that nothing has been added or removed. Scan it page by page as a booklet rather than taking it apart.

Which Chinese documents come up most in Australia?

The documents that come up most are notarial certificates of birth, marriage or kinship, marriage certificates, household register (hukou) pages, 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	Public Security Bureau certificate or a notarial certificate	Visas, citizenship, some registrations

Police certificates. The Australian Consulate-General in Shanghai says plainly that it cannot issue Chinese police clearance certificates; applicants deal with the local Public Security Bureau or a Chinese notary office. These are generally tied to where your household registration is, and Australian bodies usually want a recent one. Ask how recent before you order it, and check the current Home Affairs character requirements for your visa.

Degrees. 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 it accepts before ordering anything, because a certified copy will not replace a report it requires. And do not plan on a DFAT apostille for a Chinese degree: DFAT's list of documents it can legalise says it accepts no foreign education documents, even if notarised in Australia.

Do Chinese documents need a NAATI translation?

Yes, whenever an Australian body relies on them. Anything in Chinese needs an English translation, including stamps, seals, handwritten annotations and the pages of the notarial certificate itself. When the translation is made in Australia, use a NAATI certified translator; you can check a translator's credential on the NAATI website. The English translation bound into a Chinese notarial certificate is accepted by some Australian bodies and not by others, so ask first.

Home Affairs accepts translations made outside Australia when they show the translator's full name, address, telephone number and qualifications. Other Australian bodies can set their own rules. Mainland documents use simplified characters, while Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan documents normally use traditional characters, so tell the translator where the document came from. Tell them too how your passport spells and orders your name, so the translation matches it. Our NAATI translation with notary page explains how translation and certification fit together.

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, not a scan or an earlier copy;
• witness your signature on a statutory declaration or affidavit, for instance explaining a difference in name order or a missing record;
• witness a translator's declaration where the receiving body asks for one to be sworn.

A notary cannot confirm that the facts in a Chinese record are true, cannot issue a Chinese notarial certificate, and cannot issue an apostille. Only DFAT issues apostilles in Australia, and only on Australian documents.

For many Australian purposes you do not need a notary at all. A Justice of the Peace or another authorised person can usually certify a copy for Home Affairs, and saying so honestly is part of getting this right. The notary becomes the right choice when the paperwork leaves Australia, for example a Chinese-language power of attorney you sign here so a relative can deal with a flat in Chengdu. That is notarised in Australia and apostilled by DFAT; Chinese consular legalisation is no longer part of it for mainland China, as the Chinese consulate in Perth announced when the Convention took effect. For the legal effect of a property power of attorney, ask a lawyer in China.

How do you prepare Chinese documents for an Australian application?

Work from the receiving body's own checklist: Home Affairs, AHPRA, universities and skills assessors each ask for slightly different things. The order below stops a translation being 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 document checklist on the visa documents page and your stream's official page.
2. Check names and dates against your passport, including family-name order and the romanisation used.
3. Order what must come from China: notarial certificates, a new no-criminal-record certificate, or a degree verification report.
4. Arrange an apostille in China only if the Australian body asks for one. Most Australian uses, including most visa applications, do not.
5. Get a NAATI translation of every page not in English, including notarial pages and seals.
6. Certify copies through an authorised person if certified copies are requested, and keep the bound originals safe.

What are the common mistakes with Chinese documents?

• Translating only part of it. The notarial certificate pages, stamps and any attached translation all need covering.
• Unbinding a notarial certificate. Scan it as a bound booklet instead.
• Name order and romanisation. A family name first on one document and last on another invites questions. A short statutory declaration can explain it if asked.
• Asking DFAT to apostille a Chinese document. It cannot; the apostille, if needed, comes from China.
• 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 have long had their own apostille arrangements, which continued before and after mainland China joined; check the HCCH status table for their current position. Taiwan is not a party to the Convention, so its documents follow a separate route set by Taiwan's own authorities. The mainland notarial-certificate process does not apply to any of them, and their documents usually use traditional characters. For Australian documents going the other way, see our guides for Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

Wei, in Sydney, is applying for a skills assessment and later a visa. The assessor asks for a degree verification report, so Wei orders it from the official Chinese service instead of certifying a copy of the degree. For the no-criminal-record certificate, Wei signs an authority letter in Australia so a relative can apply at the notary office where the household registration is held; a notary witnesses the letter because the Chinese office asked for a notarised signature, and DFAT apostilles it. The certificate arrives as a bound booklet. Wei scans it without unbinding it and sends it with a NAATI translation of every page, seals included.

In short

Chinese documents are proved in China: usually a notarial certificate and, only where asked, an apostille issued there. In Australia you add a NAATI translation of every page and, where asked, a certified copy, which a JP or authorised person can often provide. DFAT cannot legalise a Chinese document. An Australian notary helps when you sign something here, not when a Chinese record needs confirming. See document translation for the translation step.

People also search for

• How do I apostille Australian documents for China?
• When do you need a NAATI translation and a notary?
• What if your translation was not accepted?
• Can you notarise a document in a language you do not read?
• How are overseas documents used in Australia?
• How are Hong Kong documents handled in Australia?

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