Notary Services for Immigration Documents

Notary services for immigration documents are needed less often than most people think. For an Australian visa, Home Affairs usually accepts copies certified by an authorised person, and NAATI translations. A notary matters mainly when you are migrating from Australia to another country, whose immigration authority wants notarised copies or declarations, then a DFAT apostille or authentication.

Key takeaways

• For Australian visas and citizenship, a notary is usually not needed. Colour scans, authorised-person certified copies and NAATI translations cover most applications.
• For migrating overseas, the destination decides. Many want Australian documents apostilled by DFAT, and some want them notarised first.
• Documents issued in your home country are authenticated there, not by an Australian notary or DFAT.
• A notary never certifies that a document's contents are true, and cannot improve your chances of a visa.
• Translations for Home Affairs made in Australia should be by a NAATI-certified translator. Translations made overseas need the translator's full name, address, telephone number and qualifications.

Which direction is your immigration going?

"Immigration documents" covers three different situations, and the rules for each are set by a different authority.

1. Applying for an Australian visa or citizenship. The Department of Home Affairs sets the requirements, and it rarely asks for a notary.
2. Migrating from Australia to another country, for work, study, a partner or residence. The destination's immigration authority sets the requirements, and Australian documents often need an apostille or embassy legalisation.
3. Dealing with home-country paperwork while living in Australia, such as documents issued by your country of birth. Those are authenticated in the country that issued them.

Many people are told they "need a notary" for a visa when they are in the first situation. Check before you pay.

Australian visas and citizenship: usually no notary

Most Australian visa and citizenship applications are lodged online through ImmiAccount, with documents uploaded as clear colour scans of the originals. Where Home Affairs does ask for certified copies, a copy certified by an authorised person is usually enough, and the list of people who can certify is wide. A notary is one of them, but so are many professionals and a Justice of the Peace, who certifies free. Check the document checklist for your visa subclass and follow it rather than paying for a notary by default.

Statutory declarations are common in visa applications, for example from friends supporting a partner visa. Those are usually Commonwealth statutory declarations, or Home Affairs' own declaration forms. A Commonwealth declaration can be made with an approved witness in person or by video, or digitally through myGov in English, and none of those needs a notary. See who can witness a statutory declaration.

Where a supporting declaration or document comes from someone overseas, Home Affairs' instructions for that visa decide how it should be witnessed. Follow them, rather than assuming an Australian notary is needed.

Translations for Home Affairs

If a document is not in English, Home Affairs wants an English translation with it. Translations made in Australia should be by a translator certified by NAATI, the national accreditation authority. Translations made overseas do not need NAATI certification, but they must include the translator's full name, address, telephone number and details of their qualifications and experience in the language.

A NAATI-certified translation does not need to be notarised for Home Affairs. Paying a notary to certify a NAATI translation for an Australian visa usually adds nothing. For translations going overseas, the rules are different: the receiving country decides whose translation it accepts, and some want it notarised or legalised. See NAATI-certified translation with notary.

Migrating from Australia to another country

When you apply to live, work or study in another country, its immigration authority decides what it wants from your Australian documents. Common requests are birth and marriage certificates, a police check, degrees and transcripts, evidence of employment, and sworn statements about relationships or finances. The chain depends on the kind of document.

Document	Usual route for overseas immigration
Australian birth, marriage or death certificate	The original can usually go to DFAT directly, with no notary. Laminated or altered certificates are refused.
National police check	The original can usually be legalised by DFAT directly.
Degree or transcript	DFAT legalises an original once the university has verified it. A notarised copy must state that the original was verified with the university.
Employment reference or bank statement	A private document: notarised copy, then DFAT.
Affidavit or sworn statement	Sworn before a notary, then DFAT.
Copy of your passport	Notarised copy, then DFAT if the destination asks for it.

Only DFAT issues apostilles and authentication certificates in Australia. If the destination is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, DFAT issues an apostille; if not, DFAT authenticates the document and the destination's embassy then legalises it. Membership changes, so check the HCCH status table on the day. Many immigration authorities do not ask for legalised documents at all, so confirm what yours wants before paying. Our apostille and authentication page covers that step.

For specific destinations, see UK visa documents and Canada visa documents.

Documents from your home country

Migrants in Australia often need documents from the country they came from: a birth certificate, a police clearance, a marriage registration, an academic record. Those are issued by a foreign authority, and an Australian notary cannot vouch for them. They are generally authenticated or apostilled in the issuing country, sometimes through that country's embassy in Australia.

What an Australian notary can do is certify a copy of a foreign document you hold, stating that the copy matches the original they sighted. That is useful where the recipient only wants a certified copy. It is not a substitute for the issuing country's authentication, and DFAT will not legalise a foreign document, including foreign education documents, even when an Australian notary has copied it. See documents from overseas.

Getting the order right for an overseas application

When documents are going to a foreign immigration authority, the order of steps matters as much as the steps themselves. Doing them out of order is the usual reason people pay twice.

1. Get the destination's list in writing, including whether it wants originals or copies, an apostille or embassy legalisation, and a translation made in Australia or on arrival.
2. Sort public from private documents. Registry certificates and police checks can often go to DFAT as originals. Private documents and copies need a notary first.
3. Arrange any verification, such as a university confirming a degree, before the notary prepares a certificate that must mention it.
4. Attend the notary with the originals and photo ID, for the private documents only.
5. Lodge everything with DFAT together, by registered post or at a Passport Office by appointment.
6. Translate in the order the destination asked for, and legalise at the embassy if the country is outside the Convention.

Order enough copies at each stage. Many immigration authorities keep what you send, and some want a document issued or certified within a recent period, so check before you certify far ahead of lodging.

If you are overseas and applying for an Australian visa

If you are outside Australia, the same Home Affairs rules apply: colour scans for online lodgement, and certified copies only where the instructions ask for them. Certification can usually be done where you live, by a person Home Affairs accepts, and an Australian notary is not needed. Translations made where you live need the translator's full name, address, telephone number and qualifications. For anything that must be witnessed, follow the instructions for your visa, which may point you to an Australian embassy or consulate.

What a notary does, and does not do, for immigration

• Certifies copies of originals the notary sights, such as passports, certificates and records.
• Witnesses signatures on declarations, consents and forms, after checking identity.
• Administers oaths for affidavits and sworn statements.
• Prepares notarial certificates in the form a foreign authority requires.

A notary does not certify that a document's contents are true, check your visa eligibility, give migration advice, or make an application more likely to succeed. Migration advice in Australia is regulated: for advice about an Australian visa, use a registered migration agent or a lawyer. And a notary will decline if they are not satisfied of your identity, understanding or free consent.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A couple in Adelaide are dealing with two applications at once: a partner visa for one of them in Australia, and a residence application for both in Canada later. For Home Affairs, they upload colour scans, have supporting declarations witnessed by a JP, and use a NAATI translator for one foreign certificate, with no notary. For Canada, the police checks and birth certificates go to DFAT directly, and only the notarised copy of one degree needs a notary, because the university must verify it first. They pay for one notarial act instead of a dozen.

In short

For Australian visas and citizenship, you rarely need a notary: colour scans, authorised-person certified copies and NAATI translations cover most applications. For migrating overseas, the destination decides, and Australian public documents often go to DFAT directly while private documents and copies are notarised first. Documents from your home country are authenticated there. Ask the authority that will read the document before paying for any step. Our document notarisation page covers the notary's part when you do need one.

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