Notarising Immigration Documents for a Sweden Visa Application from Australia

Last reviewed: 26 September 2026. Swedish permit rules change, and they changed for work permits on 1 June 2026. The Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) is the only reliable source on what your application needs.

If you are applying from Australia for a Swedish residence permit, you may not need a notary at all. That is worth knowing before you pay one. Migrationsverket's application pages ask for documents in Swedish or English, submitted as copies, with originals shown in person where it wants to see them. An Australian birth certificate, marriage certificate or employment contract in English generally goes in as it is.

This page covers the three permits Australians most often ask about: the working holiday permit, a permit to live with a partner, and a work permit. It is about Migrationsverket applications. Swedish banks, courts, registries and businesses set their own document rules, and a separate page covers those.

What Migrationsverket asks for, in its own terms

Three points recur across the application pages.

Swedish or English. Migrationsverket says submitted documents should be in Swedish or English. If you translate a document, the translation should be certified, and you include a copy of the original-language document with it. For an Australian applicant, translation usually arises only for documents issued in another country and another language.

Copies, made properly. The pages ask for "correctly made copies" of your passport and copies of your other documents. They do not ask for copies certified by a notary, and they do not mention an apostille or legalisation. That silence is not a promise, so if your caseworker asks for something more, follow the caseworker. But do not assume Sweden works like the countries where every document needs an apostille.

Originals when you attend. Where you are called to the embassy, you bring your passport and the originals of the documents you sent in. That is how the original gets checked. A notary is not part of it.

The working holiday permit

Australia has a youth exchange agreement with Sweden. Migrationsverket describes a permit of up to one year for people aged 18 to 30, which cannot be extended. Evidence of funds is the main document: Migrationsverket sets a minimum amount of money and explains what bank evidence it accepts. It also sets a health insurance requirement, and its page has a note specific to Australian citizens. Read the current page for both rather than relying on a figure from a forum.

A first application is made from outside Sweden. You also need to prove your identity, by presenting your passport at a Swedish embassy or consulate-general or by the digital passport check Migrationsverket offers.

None of this involves a notary. A bank statement printed or downloaded from your bank is what is being asked for. A notarised copy of it adds cost and nothing else.

Living with a partner

This is the permit where people most often expect a notary, because it turns on a relationship certificate. What Migrationsverket asks for:

• a copy of your marriage certificate or equivalent, issued by the country of which you are a citizen
• if the marriage is registered in your country of origin, documents showing that
• if you are not married, evidence that you are unmarried and of living together
• documents from your partner in Sweden about housing and income

You are then interviewed at the embassy or consulate-general named in your application. You bring your passport and the originals of what you sent.

For a couple married in Australia, that means an Australian marriage certificate in English, uploaded as a copy, with the original taken to the interview. Order the full certificate from the state or territory registry, not the decorative certificate given on the day, which is not a registry document.

Married outside Australia? The certificate comes from the country where you married, and any question about authenticating it is for that country, not for an Australian notary. An Australian notary cannot vouch for a foreign registry's document.

Evidence of being unmarried. Australia has no population register that issues a "single status" certificate. If you are asked for evidence that you are unmarried, ask Migrationsverket what it will accept from an Australian. Some people make a statutory declaration or an affidavit for this purpose. Do not arrange one until you know it is the form Sweden wants.

Work permits

Migrationsverket's employee pages centre on the job offer and the employment contract, signed by both parties, and on salary and insurance conditions that changed on 1 June 2026. The pages we reviewed did not ask for certified copies of degrees for an ordinary work permit.

Qualifications do matter in regulated professions. Health care is the obvious example, where a separate Swedish body decides whether you may practise. That body sets its own document rules, which may include certified copies. Find out which body assesses you and what it wants before certifying anything.

Where an Australian notary might still fit

• Swearing an affidavit, if Migrationsverket or a Swedish recognition body asks for a sworn statement and accepts one made in Australia
• Certified copies for a recognition body that asks for them, rather than for Migrationsverket
• Witnessing a power of attorney, so that someone in Sweden can sign a lease or deal with a bank for you before you arrive

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an apostille on my Australian marriage certificate for a Swedish partner permit? The Migrationsverket application page does not ask for one. It asks for a copy, with the original brought to your interview. If your caseworker asks for more, follow the caseworker.

My documents are in English. Do they need translating into Swedish? Not for Migrationsverket, which accepts English. Other Swedish bodies may take a different view.

Can a Justice of the Peace certify my copies? Migrationsverket does not ask for certified copies in the pages we reviewed, so the question may not arise. Where a Swedish body does want certification, a JP's certification is for domestic use and is not recognised overseas.