Australian Attestation Services FAQs

Attestation is where an Australian document is legalised and recognised to be used overseas. This process is carried out for countries that are not a party to the Hague Convention. The document/s must first be notarised by an Australian public notary, authenticated by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and subsequently attested by the relevant Embassy/Consulate within Australia.

Apostille is where an Australian document is legalised and recognised to be used overseas for countries that are a party to the Hague Convention. The document/s must first be notarised by an Australian public notary, and are then Apostilled by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Documents which are apostilled for use in these countries do not generally require any further legalisation from individual embassies or consulates. Once a document is apostilled it is able to be used in any Hague convention country.

In order for foreign authorities to verify the authenticity of your documents.

Cost can vary depending on the country for which you require your documents legalised.

Applying for an apostille can take as little as 3 days. However, applying to have your documents attested by the relevant Embassy/Consulate usually takes between 8-10 working days from receipt of the original documents (and academic verification for the attestation of university degrees).

We require the following documents:

1. The original documents to be attested for overseas use; and
2. A scanned copy of your passport.

We pride ourselves as being your one stop shop for notarisation, authentication/apostilling and legalisation services. Whether you are in Australia or abroad, we endeavour to make the difficult and time consuming process of notarisation, authentication/apostilling and legalisation as painless as possible with the end-to-end services that we provide.

Notarisation is where a document’s authenticity is verified by an Australian public notary (who is a public officer, usually appointed by a State or Territory Supreme Court, and given statutory powers to witness documents, administer oaths, and perform other legal functions of a national and international nature). This can be done through an Australian public notary witnessing a signature and applying a certificate stating all the essential and necessary details, as well as citing an original document and vouching for its authenticity with a certificate stating all the relevant facts.

Additionally, Bannermans Lawyers provides high quality specialist legal services to the strata, development, construction and insurance industries. Since, the firm’s establishment in 2007, it has applied its expertise and industry experience to becoming Sydney’s leading strata law firm, employing a team of over 30 staff, including approximately 20 highly skilled lawyers