Public Notary

Fumens is qualified to offer public notary service to individual, corporate and commercial clients from the Melbourne area. You can contact us online or visit our public notary offices in Melbourne CBD or Glen Waverley.

Public Notary (Certified by the Chinese Consulate in Australia)

The process of a Public Notary is very complicated. Our notary lawyers will provide you with a quality one-stop public notary service so that you can get the documents you need quickly and easily.

The Notarization Process

Step 1: Sign the document by a notary public (normally will be completed within 1-2 working days upon receipt of materials). To make an appointment with a notary public, please call 03 9590 6808.

Step 2: Obtain a certification by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) or its offices (please note that it is an Authentication, not an Apostille, and normally this will need 1 week on average).

Step 3: The applicant applies to the corresponding Chinese embassy or consulate in Australia for certification (average 1-2 weeks) according to the place where the original document was issued (notarized place). Note that the notarized place is not necessarily the location of the office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (place of certification) of the certified document.

The Firm declares∶

• Our firm is unable to provide the exact processing time of the second and third steps, and the processing time provided above is for reference only.
• Clients who conducting public notary need to confirm the contents of the certification document by themselves and provided them to our Firm. The content must not be changed or it will be re-billed once documents are signed by a public notary

Cautions

1. Corporate business certifications should also provide the company registration certificate containing the legal representative information and a copy of the legal representative’s passport;
2. Certificates of marital status and certificates of non-criminal record are valid for 6 months from the issue date, and the parties concerned must complete the certification of the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (including its offices) and the certification of the Chinese Embassy and Consulates in Australia within the validity period.
3. If you apply for a foreign child to be sent to China for foster care, please submit the “Foster Care Power of Attorney” certified by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or its offices, as well as a copy of the birth certificate, passport, parents’ passports and Australian visa of the foster child.

(Reprinted from Embassy of the Republic of China in the Commonwealth of Australia)

Public Notary Q&A

When do you need a Public Notary (certified by the Chinese Consulate in Australia)?

• When applying for employment permits, Permanent Residency in China or matters dealing with properties, child foster care, and one-time entry and exit passes in China, domestic government departments will require applicants to provide Australian non-criminal record certificate and certification, Australian degree certification, Australian marriage certificate certification, Australian birth certification, power of attorney to deal with properties certification and other documents.
• Documents issued by the Australian government need to be authenticated by the consular authority of the Chinese Consulate in Australia.
• Australia, Hong Kong and Macao are contracting members of the Apostille Convention, while Mainland China is not a contracting member of the Apostille Convention. Thus, documents issued by Australia need consular authentication when used in Mainland China, and the documents issued by Australia need to be Apostille certified if used in Hong Kong and Macao.
• The purpose of performing Australian consular authentication is to ensure that the notarial document issued by Australia can be recognized by the relevant departments in the territory of another country and have legal effect, so as not to affect the legal effect of the document due to doubts about whether the seal and signature on the document are true
• The consular authentication of the Chinese Embassy and Consulates in Australia is an activity to confirm the seal and signature of the Australian diplomatic department or certification body on the document applying for consular certification

Do documents in Hong Kong and Macau need to be certified by the Chinese Embassy and Consulate?

All kinds of documents sent to the Hong Kong and Macao that have been Apostille certificated by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or its offices will not be required to be certified by the Chinese Embassy and Consulates.