How to Notarise UK Documents in Australia

UK documents rarely need an Australian notary. A UK birth, marriage or death certificate is already a certified copy of a register entry, in English, and most Australian bodies accept it or a plain certified copy. A notary matters more when you sign UK paperwork here, such as a bank form, a deed or an identity form.

Key takeaways

• A certificate issued by a UK register office is itself a certified copy of the entry. A photocopy of it is not.
• For Home Affairs and most Australian bodies, a copy certified by an authorised person is usually enough. No apostille and no translation are normally needed.
• Ask for the full birth certificate, which shows the parents. The short version often falls short for citizenship and family claims.
• England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland keep separate registers. Order from the one where the event was registered.
• DFAT cannot apostille a UK document. If a UK certificate needs an apostille, the FCDO Legalisation Office in the UK issues it.

Do UK documents need to be notarised for use in Australia?

Usually not. An Australian notary cannot confirm what a UK register says, so notarising a UK certificate adds little for an Australian reader. What Australian bodies normally want is the certificate itself or a certified copy made by someone who has sighted it.

For a visa, the Department of Home Affairs generally asks for clear colour scans and sometimes certified copies. A Justice of the Peace or another authorised person can make those copies, often for free, so paying a notary for a domestic purpose is usually unnecessary. See our notary or JP guide for who can certify what.

An apostille is rarely asked for either. As of our last check, the HCCH status table showed the Convention in force for the United Kingdom since 24 January 1965 and for Australia since 16 March 1995. Where an Australian body does want UK authentication, a UK apostille is the normal form. Check the table on the day, and order one only when the receiving body asks.

Short or full UK birth certificate?

A UK birth can be evidenced by two kinds of certificate. The short certificate shows the child's name, sex, date and place of birth. The full certificate, sometimes called the long form, is a copy of the whole register entry and also shows the parents and the informant.

Most Australian uses that involve a family link need the full one: citizenship by descent, partner and parent visas, a child's passport, and anything where you must show who your parents are. A short certificate proves a date of birth, not a relationship, and it is a common reason for a request for more information. If you hold only the short version, order the full one from the register that holds the entry.

Which UK office issues your certificate?

There is no single UK registry. Births, marriages and deaths are recorded separately in England and Wales (the General Register Office), in Scotland (National Records of Scotland) and in Northern Ireland (the General Register Office for Northern Ireland), each with local registrars. A certificate must come from the jurisdiction where the event was registered, so a Glasgow birth is ordered from the Scottish records, not from England.

Two details catch people out. Certificates from Wales are often bilingual, Welsh beside English; the English text is usually enough and no translation is needed. And marriages in England and Wales have been recorded in an electronic register since May 2021, so certificates issued from it look different and show the parents of both parties. Neither change makes an older certificate invalid.

Common UK documents and their Australian uses

UK document	Issued by	Common Australian use
Full birth certificate	The register for England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland	Citizenship by descent, visas, children's passports
Marriage or civil partnership certificate	The register where it was recorded	Partner visas, name changes
Death certificate	The register where the death was recorded	Estates, superannuation, insurance
Police certificate	ACRO Criminal Records Office	Visas, some professional registrations
Degree certificate and transcript	The awarding university	Skills assessments, employers, study
Deed poll	You, sometimes enrolled with a UK court	Linking an old name to a new one

What about a UK police certificate?

When we last checked, Home Affairs' general rule was a police certificate from each country where you have spent a total of 12 months or more in the last ten years since turning 16. Check the current rule for your visa. For the UK, that is usually an ACRO police certificate, which covers the whole United Kingdom; a basic check made for employment may not be the same thing, so order the type the checklist names.

You apply yourself from Australia, and it comes to you to upload. It does not need a notary, and an Australian notary cannot add anything to it. If a UK body instead wants an Australian police check, that runs the other way; see our criminal record check guide.

Do UK degrees need to be certified or verified?

Australian employers, universities and skills assessors usually accept a certified copy of a UK degree certificate and transcript, and some also ask for independent verification through the university's registry or an official degree checking service. Ask the receiving body which it wants before paying for anything.

DFAT will not legalise a UK degree: its page on documents it can legalise says it accepts no foreign education documents, even if notarised in Australia. If a third country wants a UK degree apostilled, that is done by the FCDO in the UK.

Signing UK paperwork in Australia

This is where most British people in Australia actually meet a notary. A UK bank, solicitor, pension scheme, company or land registry process sends a document to sign before a witness, and the kind of witness is set by the UK body. It varies a lot.

• An independent adult witness. Many UK deeds only need someone who is not a party or relative to watch you sign. A notary is not required.
• A certifier for identity documents. UK banks and pension providers often ask for certified copies of your passport and proof of address, and list who may certify. A notary is usually on that list; a JP sometimes is not, because the body is overseas. NSW JPs are not authorised to witness documents for use overseas.
• A notary, with or without an apostille. Some UK bodies and many courts want a notarial certificate and an apostille. The notary witnesses your signature, and DFAT then issues the apostille on the notary's certificate.
• A named form. For land in England and Wales, HM Land Registry's form ID1 has its own rules for people overseas; our apostilles for the UK guide covers it.

Our guides to selling overseas property and overseas bank accounts cover the usual cases.

What about a UK power of attorney?

Here the rules really do differ. A lasting power of attorney for England and Wales has its own forms, witnesses and registration, and Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own systems. An Australian enduring power of attorney is a different instrument and is not automatically recognised in the UK. Ask a UK solicitor which document to use before anything is signed, then follow their witnessing instructions exactly. Where they ask for a notary, the notary checks your identity and that you understand and sign freely; DFAT can add an apostille afterwards. See our international power of attorney guide.

What if your name has changed?

Name differences are the most common snag. A UK birth certificate in a birth name, a marriage certificate, a UK deed poll and an Australian change of name certificate may all be needed to join the dots. Provide the chain in order and keep each link. Some bodies accept an unenrolled deed poll; others want it enrolled or ask for extra evidence. An apostille on a document whose name no longer matches your passport is not faulty; it certifies the signature and seal, not your current name. See apostille name mismatches.

How do you prepare UK documents for an Australian application?

1. Read the receiving body's checklist and note whether it wants originals, certified copies or colour scans.
2. Check which version you hold, and order the full certificate if a relationship must be shown.
3. Order from the right register for England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
4. Gather the name-change chain if your names differ between documents.
5. Certify copies through a JP or other authorised person if copies are asked for, and keep the originals.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

Sarah, born in Manchester, lives in Brisbane. She is preparing a parent visa application for her mother and, at the same time, selling a flat in Edinburgh. For the visa she orders her full birth certificate from the General Register Office, because her short one does not show her mother, and uploads colour scans. For the flat, her Scottish solicitor sends a deed to sign before a witness and an identity form that must be certified by a notary. She signs the deed before an independent adult, as instructed, and takes only the identity form and her passport to a notary. No apostille is needed, because the solicitor did not ask for one.

In short

UK certificates are English-language certified copies of a register entry, so for Australian use they usually need only the right version from the right register and, where asked, a certified copy. DFAT cannot apostille them; the FCDO can. A notary becomes useful when you sign UK paperwork here and the UK body asks for one. See document notarisation and apostille and authentication.

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Not sure whether your UK paperwork needs a notary, a witness or nothing at all? Send us the instructions you were given, and we will explain each step before you book.