Apostille for Australian public documents

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) can issue an apostille on Australian public documents*.

As a leading provider of notary services in Sydney, we help our clients with arranging for Australian public documents to be stamped with an apostille from DFAT.

*some Australian government departments, agencies and officials now issue documents electronically, many without digital certificates or signatures and with no simple way of independently verifying the documents.

Some exceptions

Not every Australian public document can or should be stamped with an apostille.

Irreplaceable and multi-use documents. In most cases, if you stamp your Australian public document with an apostille, it becomes a ‘single-use’ document. Your document with an apostille will be used for a specific purpose and it might not be returned to you. This means documents with have sentimental value (ie, birth certificates), cannot be easily replaced (ie, testamurs), or will be needed for other purposes (ie, citizenship certificates), should not be stamped with an apostille. Instead, consider whether you can order a replacement certificate and have that replacement certificate stamped with an apostille or have a notarised copy of the original document stamped with an apostille.

Passports and other identity documents that should not be marked. Like irreplaceable and multi-use documents, your original passport is an Australian public document that is not easily replaced and is intended to be for multi-uses. Accordingly, your passport should not be stamped with an apostille.  Instead, you should have a notarised copy of your passport stamped with an apostille (so that your original passport remains unmarked). In the same way, you would not stamp your original driver licence with an apostille, rather a notarised copy of your driver licence can be stamped with an apostille.

Less than perfect documents. If your Australian public document has been laminated, marked, worn or damaged in any way, or just it is ‘too old’, it cannot be stamped with an apostille. DFAT will reject it or just be unable to verify it. Instead, you must order a replacement document or arrange for a notarised copy of your document to be stamped with an apostille.

Electronic documents. If you have received your document electronically (ie, by email or download), DFAT can stamp it with an apostille, subject to DFAT’s discretionary approval. DFAT’s protocol, process and criteria for approving electronic documents can vary depending on the document. DFAT will verify that the electronic document was issued by an Australian government department, agency or official before it issues an apostille. Due to the uncertainty with various electronic documents, we only provide apostille services for electronic documents from Australian government departments, agencies and officials after we have notarised those documents.

Documents without security features. Some Australian government departments and agencies issue their certificates on security paper (ie, with watermarks and other features that help identify the certificate as being original and genuine).

Unverifiable documents. DFAT will verify all documents against its database of Australian government departments, agencies and officials. This means if DFAT cannot verify a document for whatever reason, including those outlined above, then DFAT will not issue an apostille.

Foreign public documents

Public documents issued by foreign governments are not Australian public documents. This includes public documents issued by foreign embassies or consulates even though they are physically located in Australia. These documents are public documents of the government that issued them (ie, foreign public documents) and not Australian public documents. Foreign public documents cannot be stamped with an apostille issued by the Australian government.

If the foreign country is a member of the Apostille Convention, the foreign public documents should be stamped with an apostille issued by that foreign government – not by Australia. If the foreign country is not a member of the Apostille Convention, the foreign public document will likely require authentication and legalisation.

Can notarised foreign public documents be stamped with an apostille?

You may receive advice that DFAT will stamp an apostille on foreign public documents notarised by an Australian notary public. While this is correct (because DFAT will recognise an Australian notary public), it ignores the authority, jurisdiction, or validity of an Australian notary public notarising a foreign public document. In the same way that DFAT will not stamp an apostille on a foreign public document, an Australian notary public should not be notarising a foreign public document.

If you have a foreign public document, it should be notarised and/or stamped with an apostille in the country where it was issued – not Australia.

Documents notarised by other notaries

We will not provide the apostille service for documents notarised elsewhere (ie, not by one of our notaries). You must consult that notary or contact DFAT directly for help.