How to Notarise Lebanese Documents in Australia

Lebanese documents are proved in Lebanon, not by an Australian notary. For Australian use you usually need an extract from the Lebanese civil status register, called an ikhraj qaid, with a NAATI-certified English translation. Lebanon is not an Apostille Convention member, so documents signed here for Lebanon need DFAT authentication and Lebanese consular legalisation.

Key takeaways

• Lebanese civil status is proved with an individual extract or a family extract from the civil status register.
• Marriage and divorce in Lebanon are handled by the religious authorities of each community, and then recorded in the civil status register.
• Lebanese documents are usually in Arabic, sometimes with French. Everything needs an English translation.
• Lebanon was not in the HCCH status table when we last checked, so there is no apostille. Check the table on the day.
• A wakala (power of attorney) for Lebanon is usually signed at a Lebanese consulate, or before an Australian notary and then authenticated and legalised.

Do Lebanese documents need to be notarised in Australia?

Usually not. An Australian notary can certify that a copy matches a Lebanese document they have sighted, but cannot vouch for what the Lebanese civil status register records. For Australian uses, what matters is the right extract and a translation that gets every name right.

For a visa, the Department of Home Affairs generally asks for colour scans of the originals, English translations, and sometimes certified copies. A Justice of the Peace or another authorised person can usually certify those copies for free. Start with the Home Affairs document checklist for your visa stream, and our notary or JP guide explains who can certify what.

What is an ikhraj qaid?

An ikhraj qaid is an extract from the Lebanese civil status register, issued by the personal status authorities. Lebanon records people in family registers linked to a place of registration, which is often a family's ancestral town rather than where anyone lives now. The extract is the official record of what that register holds.

It comes in two main forms. An individual extract covers one person: name, parents' names, date and place of birth, religious community, marital status and register details. A family extract covers the whole family registered together, such as a husband, wife and children, and shows how they are related. Australian bodies often need the family extract for partner, parent and child visas, because it shows the relationships on one document.

Which Lebanese documents do people most often need?

Lebanese Australians are one of the country's longest-established communities, and the same documents come up for new arrivals and for families who have been here for generations.

Lebanese document	Issued by	Common Australian use
Individual civil status extract	Lebanese personal status authorities	Visas, citizenship, identity
Family civil status extract	Lebanese personal status authorities	Partner, parent and child visas
Marriage document	The religious authority, then recorded in the register	Partner visas, name changes
Divorce judgment	The religious court of the community	Proving an earlier marriage ended
Judicial record	Lebanese judicial record authorities	Police certificate for visas
Death certificate	Recorded by the personal status authorities	Estates, superannuation, insurance

How are Lebanese marriages and divorces recorded?

Lebanon has no civil marriage of its own. Marriages celebrated in Lebanon are performed and documented by the religious authority of the couple's community, and divorces and annulments are decided by that community's religious courts. The marriage or divorce is then recorded in the civil status register, which is why it appears on the family and individual extracts.

Civil marriages celebrated abroad, including in Australia, can generally be registered in Lebanon through the Lebanese embassy or a consulate. For an Australian partner visa or a new marriage here, the documents usually asked for are the marriage document or divorce judgment and an up-to-date extract showing the change. If you are not sure whether a divorce is final or recognised in Australia, speak to a lawyer; our international divorce documents guide covers the paperwork side.

How should Lebanese documents be translated?

Lebanese documents are usually in Arabic, and some also carry French. Everything the Australian body relies on needs an English translation, including stamps, register numbers and handwritten notes. When the translation is made in Australia, use a NAATI-credentialled Arabic translator. Home Affairs accepts translations made outside Australia only if they show the translator's full name, address and credentials. Our NAATI translation guide explains what a certified translation must include.

Names need the most care. Arabic names can be written in English in several ways, so one name may appear as Mohammad, Mohamad or Muhammad, and a family name may be spelled differently by different relatives. Lebanese records also show your father's and mother's names, which a translator may render differently from your parents' own passports. Tell the translator how each person's passport spells their name.

What about a Lebanese judicial record?

When Home Affairs asks for police certificates, it usually wants one from each country where you have lived for a total of 12 months or more in the last ten years since turning 16. For Lebanon, that is a judicial record from the Lebanese authorities. People living in Australia usually apply through a representative in Lebanon or through the Lebanese embassy or a consulate. Check the Home Affairs instructions and the current Lebanese process before you apply.

The record needs an English translation. It does not need an Australian notary, although a notary can witness an authority you give to a relative applying for you.

What about Lebanese school and university documents?

Lebanese universities and schools often issue certificates and transcripts in Arabic, French or English, depending on the institution. Australian universities, employers and skills assessors usually accept certified copies, with English translations of anything in Arabic or French. Some also want a qualification verified with the institution or through the Lebanese education authorities.

Any verification or attestation of a Lebanese qualification has to be done in Lebanon. DFAT does not legalise foreign education documents, and an Australian notary can only confirm that a copy matches what they saw. Ask the receiving body what it needs before you arrange anything, because requirements differ widely between assessors.

How do you prepare Lebanese documents for an Australian application?

1. Read the receiving body's checklist and note whether it wants originals, certified copies or colour scans.
2. Order a recent extract, individual or family as needed, so it shows your current marital status.
3. Add the marriage document or divorce judgment where a change in status must be proved.
4. Arrange a NAATI Arabic translation that uses each person's passport spelling.
5. Certify copies through a JP or other authorised person if copies are asked for, and keep the originals.

How do you sign a wakala for Lebanon in Australia?

A wakala, or power of attorney, is how many Lebanese Australians let a relative sell or manage property, deal with an inheritance or handle a bank in Lebanon. Two routes are common. You can sign at the Lebanese embassy or a Lebanese consulate, which can prepare and attest powers of attorney for use in Lebanon. Or you can sign before an Australian notary and have the document authenticated and legalised.

Because Lebanon is not an Apostille Convention member, the notary route is longer: the Australian notary witnesses your signature, DFAT authenticates the notary's signature and seal, and the Lebanese embassy or consulate legalises it. The document may then need further steps in Lebanon, such as attestation by the foreign ministry, before it is used. Ask the Lebanese lawyer or office which route it accepts. Our guides to sending Australian documents to Lebanon and DFAT authentication cover the Australian steps.

What if your Australian births and marriages need registering in Lebanon?

Many Lebanese Australians register their Australian-born children and Australian marriages in Lebanon, so that the family extract is complete. This is done through the Lebanese embassy or a consulate, which usually asks for the Australian certificate authenticated by DFAT, legalised by the consulate, and translated into Arabic. Check the consulate's current list before you order anything, and see our guide to registering a birth overseas.

What does this look like in practice?

Here is an illustration, not a real case. Georges lives in Sydney and is sponsoring his wife, Rania, for a partner visa. They married in a church in Lebanon last year. He also wants his brother to sell a small plot in the family's home town.

For the visa, they order a fresh family extract, which now shows the marriage, and the church marriage document, and have both translated by a NAATI-credentialled Arabic translator who spells every name as the passports do. For the land, Georges books an appointment at the Lebanese consulate in Sydney and signs a wakala there, because the lawyer in Lebanon said a consular wakala is simplest for the land registry.

In short

Lebanese documents are proved in Lebanon, through individual and family extracts from the civil status register, marriage and divorce documents from the religious authorities, and a judicial record for police checks. In Australia you add a NAATI Arabic translation and certified copies where asked. A wakala for Lebanon is signed at a Lebanese consulate or before an Australian notary, then authenticated and legalised, as no apostille is available.

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Not sure what your Lebanese paperwork needs? Send us the instructions you were given, and we will explain each step before you book. For translation with notarial certification, see our NAATI translation with notary certification service.