Documents You Need Notarised When Working Overseas

Taking a job abroad involves two separate gatekeepers, and they rarely want the same documents. The work permit is about whether you may work in the country at all. Professional registration — for nurses, doctors, teachers, engineers, lawyers, electricians and many others — is about whether you may do that work there. For regulated professions, registration is usually the slower of the two and the one that decides the start date.

This page takes them in the order they usually happen, and shows where much of the evidence bypasses a notary altogether.

Step one: get the list from the employer

If you have a job offer, the employer or its immigration adviser usually drives the work permit and knows what the authorities want. Ask for the complete document list for your permit type, and ask whether your role requires registration with a professional body before you can start. Do both before ordering anything.

If you are applying for a working holiday or other visa on your own, the destination's immigration authority sets the list; many accept uploaded scans without any authentication.

Step two: professional registration, often without a notary

If your profession is regulated in the destination, you apply to its regulator. What surprises people is how much of that evidence the regulator wants from institutions directly, not from you:

• Verification of your qualifications, sent directly by your Australian university or training provider, or checked through a verification service.
• Evidence of your current registration and good standing, sent directly by your Australian registration body. Many Australian regulators issue a certificate of registration status for exactly this purpose, on request.
• Employment history, often on the regulator's own form, completed by former employers.

Where evidence must come directly from the issuer, a notarised copy you send yourself will not be accepted, however well sealed. Ask the regulator which items it wants direct and which it will take as certified copies from you. Only the second group involves a notary.

For the items you do supply, a notary can certify copies of your originals so that DFAT can authenticate them if required. University documents have their own DFAT rule: DFAT will legalise the original once the university has verified it, and a notarised copy must record that verification. See notarising an academic transcript and notarising an apprenticeship certificate.

Step three: references and statements of service

Regulators and immigration authorities often want proof of experience: dates, hours and duties. A contract does not prove any of those. What they usually want is a reference or statement of service on the employer's letterhead. Our page on notarising an employment contract explains the difference.

Two different notarial acts apply here, and asking for the wrong one wastes an appointment:

• A notarised copy — you bring the original reference, and the notary certifies the copy.
• A notarised signature — the person who wrote the reference signs it in front of the notary.

If the requirement is the second, your former manager has to attend. Arrange it before you ask them to write anything.

Step four: the work permit

Typical work permit documents include:

• Qualifications, which some countries want authenticated for employment visas even where the regulator saw them already. A few require degrees to go through the whole chain — notary, DFAT, then the destination's embassy — and then be attested again by an authority after you arrive. Allow for every step if it applies.
• A police check, of the exact kind requested: federal or state, name-based or fingerprint-based. See notarising a criminal record check on whether DFAT can authenticate it without a notary.
• Birth and marriage certificates for any family members coming with you. Registry certificates may be apostilled by DFAT directly, without a notary — confirm with DFAT.
• Medical examinations, usually by a doctor the destination approves. No notary.

Whether the destination is an apostille member must be checked against the HCCH status table on the day. If it is not, DFAT authentication and legalisation at its embassy follow the notary.

Timing the perishable documents

Police checks, bank evidence and some registration certificates are accepted only if recent. Registration can take months, and a police check obtained at the start may have expired by the time the work permit is lodged. Get the list of recency limits from each body and obtain the perishable documents last.

Translation

If the destination works in another language, it decides whose translation it accepts. Many want their own sworn translators; ask before commissioning one in Australia.

If you are moving for good

If the job is the start of a permanent move, see our page on migrating overseas, which covers the Australian documents worth gathering before you leave.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Justice of the Peace certify my degree for an overseas employer? Not if it will go to a foreign authority. A JP's certification is not recognised abroad and cannot be apostilled.

My employer overseas only wants scans. Do I still need a notary? Probably not for the employer. The regulator or immigration authority may still want more, so check with each.

Can my university send my degree directly? Many can send verified transcripts or confirmation of award directly. Ask the university's student records office.