Documents You Need Notarised When Registering a Birth Overseas

When you register your Australian-born child's birth with another country, you usually need no notary. Order the full birth certificate from the state registry, and DFAT can often apostille or authenticate that original directly. A notary is needed mainly for extra documents: an absent parent's consent, a paternity acknowledgement, or a name declaration the consulate wants signed in advance.

Key takeaways

• Register the birth in Australia first, then order the full birth certificate that names both parents.
• Hospital papers, the registry's acknowledgement and commemorative certificates are commonly confused with it. Consulates expect the standard certificate.
• A registry birth certificate is a public document. DFAT may apostille or authenticate the original directly, with no notary. Confirm with DFAT.
• A consulate in Australia applies its own country's rules, including any deadline for registering a birth abroad.
• A Justice of the Peace's certification is not accepted by a foreign consulate and cannot be apostilled.

Which kind of "registering a birth overseas" do you mean?

The phrase usually means one of two things, and they need quite different paperwork.

• Your child was born in Australia, and you want to register the birth with your own country, through its embassy or consulate here. The child is then recorded as its citizen and can get its passport.
• Your child was born abroad, and you are an Australian citizen who wants the child recognised as Australian.

The first is the common case and the main subject of this page. The second is covered near the end. In neither does a notary do much, which is worth knowing before you book one. If your case is registering your own birth late in another country, that is a different process, with affidavits at its centre.

How do you get the right Australian certificate?

Nothing happens with a foreign consulate until the birth is registered with the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages in the state or territory where the child was born. The hospital or midwife notifies the registry, and parents complete the registration themselves, usually within a set period. Each state and territory runs its own registry, so the forms and ordering process differ.

Then order the full birth certificate: the standard certificate that names both parents. A consulate needs the parentage, because citizenship passes through it.

A commemorative birth certificate is on DFAT's list of documents it can legalise, so it is not "worthless". But consulates generally expect the standard certificate, and some commemorative versions leave out the parents' details that citizenship depends on. Order the standard one. Do not laminate it: DFAT does not accept laminated documents.

What will the consulate ask for?

Every country sets its own requirements, and many set a time limit for registering a birth abroad, with a longer or harder process after it passes. Find your consulate's current instructions early, ideally before the birth. Typical requirements include:

• the child's full birth certificate, often apostilled or authenticated;
• both parents' passports, and sometimes proof of the parent's citizenship;
• the parents' marriage certificate, if they are married;
• an application form, and passport photos of the child;
• sometimes an appointment attended by both parents and the baby.

If your parents' marriage certificate was issued in Australia, it too may need DFAT's apostille or authentication before the consulate accepts it. A marriage certificate from your own country is usually already on its register, but ask.

Does the birth certificate need a notary before DFAT?

Probably not. Although the consulate is in Australia, it applies its own country's rules, and many want the Australian birth certificate apostilled or authenticated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) before they accept it.

A registry birth certificate is a public document, and DFAT's list of documents it can legalise includes registry certificates. DFAT may be able to apostille or authenticate the original directly, without a notary. Confirm with DFAT. If it can, the route is simply registry, DFAT, consulate. Our birth certificate page sets out both routes, including when a notarised copy is better.

1. Register the birth with the registry in the state or territory where the child was born.
2. Order the full birth certificate, and consider a second copy to keep.
3. Get the consulate's current list, including any deadline, and ask whether it wants an apostille or authentication.
4. Take the original to DFAT. Whether your country is an apostille member must be checked against the HCCH status table on the day. If it is not, DFAT authenticates the certificate and the consulate then legalises it.
5. Attend the consulate with the documents and the people it asks for.

The consulate also decides whose translation it accepts. Many translate or check documents themselves; ask before paying for one here.

When is a notary genuinely needed?

A parent who cannot attend. Some consulates want both parents to consent to the registration or the child's first passport. If one parent cannot attend, because they are working interstate, overseas or not in contact, that parent's signed consent may need to be witnessed by a notary. If they are overseas, they sign before a notary where they are.

Acknowledgement of paternity. Where the parents are not married, some countries require the father to formally acknowledge the child before he can be recorded, or before citizenship passes through him. Some accept that acknowledgement signed before a notary; others require it before the consul. Ask which.

Names. Naming conventions differ. A country may require a particular surname structure, or a joint declaration by both parents choosing the child's name. The Australian certificate may not match what its register expects. If a declaration is needed, ask whether the consulate takes it at the appointment or wants it notarised in advance.

Keeping the original. If you need the original birth certificate for something else at the same time, a notarised copy, then apostilled or authenticated, may be accepted instead. For how notarised copies work, see document notarisation. Consents and declarations are covered under legal declarations.

Which document needs which step?

Document	Usual route	Notary?
Child's full birth certificate	Registry, then DFAT, then consulate	Usually not
Parents' Australian marriage certificate	Registry, then DFAT if the consulate asks	Usually not
Parents' passports	Shown at the consulate	No
Absent parent's consent	Signed before a notary where that parent is	Often
Acknowledgement of paternity	Before a notary or the consul, as the country requires	Sometimes
Name declaration	At the appointment, or notarised in advance	Sometimes

The consulate is the receiving authority here, even though it sits in an Australian city. Its instructions outrank anything an Australian office tells you about the same document, so read them before you order anything.

Common mistakes

• Waiting until after the birth to read the rules. Deadlines can start on the day the child is born, and some countries make late registration harder.
• Bringing the wrong certificate. A hospital record, an acknowledgement letter or a commemorative certificate is not the full registry certificate.
• Paying a notary for the certificate itself. DFAT can often take the registry original directly. Ask DFAT first.
• Using a JP. A Justice of the Peace is a witness for Australian purposes. A foreign consulate will not accept a JP's certification, and DFAT cannot apostille it.
• Signing a consent before the appointment. A consent that must be notarised has to be signed in front of the notary, with photo identification.

What happens after the registration?

Once the birth is registered, the child can usually be issued that country's passport. Keep the consulate's registration certificate with the Australian birth certificate. You will need both again, particularly if the child later claims that citizenship as an adult. For claims by descent made later, see the Irish Foreign Births Register as one worked example.

Whether holding that citizenship affects anything in Australia, and whether that country permits dual nationality, are questions to check with both governments.

What if your child was born overseas and you are Australian?

A child born abroad to an Australian parent may be eligible for Australian citizenship by descent, applied for through the Department of Home Affairs. The key document is the foreign birth certificate, which is certified in the country that issued it, if at all. An Australian notary cannot vouch for it. Home Affairs generally accepts copies certified by an authorised person, and a translation by a NAATI-credentialled translator where one is made in Australia.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A Melbourne couple, both citizens of a European country, have a baby in Victoria. Before the birth they read their consulate's instructions and note its deadline. After registering the birth, they order two full certificates. DFAT apostilles one original directly, with no notary. The father is working overseas when the appointment comes, so the consulate asks for his written consent. He signs it before a notary where he is working, and it is apostilled there. The mother attends the consulate with the baby, both passports and the consent.

In short

Registering an Australian-born child with another country starts at the state registry, with the full birth certificate. DFAT can often apostille or authenticate that original directly, so a notary is usually not needed for the certificate. A notary appears for the extras: an absent parent's consent, a paternity acknowledgement, a name declaration, or a notarised copy when you must keep the original. Check the consulate's list and deadline early.

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Registering a birth with a consulate? Send us the consulate's document list, and we will explain each step before you book.