Legalise your documents for overseas

Notary Public

What is a Notarised Document?

For documents to be accepted overseas, they must be legalised and proven genuine.

Who is a Notary Public?

A Notary Public is a specialist legal practitioner who can verify, witness and certify original and copy legal documents for overseas use.

We coordinate between the New South Wales legal system and overseas systems of law so your documents can be used in the overseas country.

We verify legal documents and check the identity, capacity & authority of the person signing the document. Once complete, the Notary will seal the document.

We are appointed by the New South Wales Supreme Court under the Public Notaries Act 1997 (NSW) and the Public Notaries Appointment Rules 1998.

Do I need to notarise?

Notarised documents are required when they need to be submitted to authorities overseas.

Notarisation confirms the authenticity of signed documents and that they comply with the jurisdictional requirements of New South Wales or Australia.

The Old School Way – Authentication and Attestation

Time estimate: 8-10 working days

Documents to be sent overseas normally require a Notary’s seal and signature to be legal.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (‘DFAT’) authenticates a Notary Public’s notarisation and issues a Certificate with the Notary’s document.

The documents must often be attested to at the outgoing foreign country’s Consulate or Embassy.

The Easy Way - Apostille

Time estimate: 3 working days

Australia is a signatory to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (‘Hague Convention’).

This allows the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s (‘DFAT’) Apostille to be issued reducing the client’s time and cost.

An Apostille is DFAT’s stamp statement which identifies the Notary’s signature.

This is enough and no further legalisation from Consulates or Embassies is needed.

An apostille is very beneficial, it will speed up any situation where you need to prove your identity overseas.

Documents We Notarise

Public Documents

• Photo and personal identification documents passports, including,
• Australian driver’s licences
• Medicare card
• Council and water rates and utility bills
• Birth certificates
• Marriage certificates
• Death certificates
• Australian Citizenship certificates
• Change of Name certificates

Private Documents

• Power of Attorney
• Contracts
• Affidavits
• Statutory Declarations
• Application Forms
• Bank and Asset statements
• Grant of Probate
• Grant of Letters of Administration
• New South Wales School reports, college degrees, university certificates and transcripts
• Doctor’s letters, medical reports & hospital medical documents
• International movement records from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (‘DFAT’)

Can you notarise documents in languages other than English?

If you are signing a document in a language other than English, we can witness your signature on the document, however, we will need to be satisfied that you understand what you are signing.

Translation Services

We can assist you in translating your documents into English.

Most Australian institutions require documents in non-English languages to be translated into English by a National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (‘NAATI’) accredited translator.

We can recommend one of the NAATI-accredited translators whom we work with.

Electronic Documents

For electronic documents, we print them as physical or hard copy documents before notarising them as a ‘true printed copy’ of the original electronic document.

Notarised by Real people

Our notary public services are verified and notarised by real people, not AI, through wet signatures, physical stamps, and seals, and, if binding is needed, ribbons on a physical document.

Similarly, DFAT apostille and authentication attested at foreign Consulate or Embassy offices are also completed through wet signatures, physical stamps and seals, and ribbons.

Our Notary Fees

Our price structure is very straightforward & transparent. Our notarial services start from AUD 120.

We provide timely notary service at a very competitive rate.

How should I start?

Easy, either,

1. provide the original hard copy document to our office or
2. if they are electronic documents, they can be emailed directly to us by whoever issued the documents