Online Apostille in Australia: How It Works

Search for "online apostille Australia" and you will find sites offering to apostille your document from a web form, sometimes within hours. Before you pay any of them, hold on to one fact: in Australia, only the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) issues apostilles. No notary, law firm, translation agency or website can issue one. Anything that calls itself an Australian apostille and did not come from DFAT is not one.

That does not mean nothing can be done online. It means the online parts are the steps around the apostille, and it helps to know which is which. For how remote notarial appointments work in general, see Online Notarisation in Australia; this page covers only what changes when the goal is an apostille.

The chain, and which links can happen online

An apostille is the last link in a short chain. Each link has a different answer to "can this be done online?"

1. The notarial act, where one is needed. Private documents and copies usually need a notary to certify the copy or witness the signature before DFAT will look at them. This is the only link where video can play a part, and whether it can depends on the state the notary practises in and, decisively, on whether the receiving authority will accept a remotely executed act.

2. Lodgement with DFAT. DFAT publishes how to apply, what form and fee apply, and how documents are returned. Parts of that process may be done online, but the document itself generally has to reach DFAT. Check DFAT's current instructions rather than a summary on a commercial site, including this one.

3. The apostille itself. DFAT checks the signature and seal on the document against its records — of Australian notaries, and of officials of Australian issuing bodies — and attaches the certificate. It certifies that signature and seal. It says nothing about whether the contents are true.

4. Delivery. The apostilled document comes back to you or your agent, and then travels to wherever it is needed.

So an "online apostille service" is, at best, someone who handles links 1, 2 and 4 for you, and lodges with DFAT on your behalf. That can be genuinely useful. It is not the same as the apostille being issued online, and a service that implies otherwise should make you cautious.

The specific problem with a remotely notarised document

This is the part generic pages skip. DFAT's job at link 3 is to authenticate a notary's signature and seal. If the notarial act was performed by video and the seal applied electronically, DFAT has to be able to authenticate that form of seal before an apostille can follow.

Whether it can, for your document, is a question for DFAT in the specific case. Do not assume that because a remote act was lawful in the notary's state, DFAT will apostille it, or that the destination will accept the result. Three separate yeses are needed:

1. The notary can lawfully perform the act remotely.
2. DFAT will authenticate the notarisation in the form proposed.
3. The receiving authority abroad will accept a remotely executed act bearing an apostille.

The third is decided by the receiving authority, not by Australian law. Many foreign registries, courts and ministries are more conservative than Australian law requires them to be, and some expect a wet-ink signature and a physical seal on anything they receive. If you cannot get a clear yes from the destination, a conventional appointment is the safer route.

When no notary is needed at all

Some Australian public documents — registry-issued certificates and certain official records, for instance — may be authenticated by DFAT directly, with no notarial step. If that applies to your document, the only link where video could have helped disappears, and what remains is lodgement and postage. Confirm with DFAT whether your document qualifies before paying for a notarisation you may not need.

Electronic apostilles

Some countries party to the Hague Apostille Convention issue apostilles in electronic form, and the Hague Conference runs a programme supporting electronic apostilles and online registers for verifying them. Whether DFAT issues an electronic apostille for your document type, and whether your destination would accept one, are both questions to confirm on the day. Do not rely on either being available because another country offers it.

Apostilles only work between parties to the Convention. Check the destination against the HCCH status table before you start; membership changes. A country that is not a party needs DFAT authentication followed by legalisation at its embassy or consulate instead, and nothing in that route is online end to end.

How to tell a real apostille from a lookalike

• It came from DFAT. An Australian apostille is issued by DFAT. A certificate from a private company, however official it looks, is not an apostille.
• It is attached to the document it certifies. It relates to a specific signature and seal on that document.
• It carries the standard apostille wording and a unique number and date, which is what allows it to be verified.
• It was not produced from a scan alone. If a provider apostilled your document without the original, or a notarised version of it, ever reaching anyone, ask exactly what you have been sent.

If in doubt, the receiving authority can tell you what it will accept, and DFAT can tell you whether a document bearing its apostille is genuine.

Frequently asked questions

Can I upload a scan and receive an apostille by email? Not as a general rule. An apostille authenticates a signature and seal on an actual document. Whether any electronic route exists for your document is a question for DFAT in the specific case.

Can an online notary apostille my document? No. A notary can perform the notarial act that comes before the apostille. Only DFAT issues the apostille.

Is a video-notarised document harder to apostille? It can be, because DFAT must be able to authenticate the form of notarisation. Confirm with DFAT and with the receiving authority before booking a remote appointment for a document that needs an apostille.

I am overseas. Does that change anything? The apostille still comes from DFAT in Australia. See From Overseas Apostille in Australia for the logistics.