1. Brief Introduction on authentication:

According to international and China's consular practices, consular authentication is to make the notarial documents issued by notary public in Australia legible and recognized in China. Notarial documents firstly must be authenticated by the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade or its Office in States or Territories.

The Chinese Embassy or Consulates General in Australia just certify the signature and stamps of the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade or its Office in States or Territories.

All documents to be authenticated should meet the following requirements:

1) The signature and stamps of the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade or its Office in States or Territories should have been put on records in the Chinese Embassy or relevant Consulates General.

2) The documents must be legitimate with Chinese laws and regulations.

3) Documents must be band up with stapler or sealed with sealing wax or stamped with paging seal.

2. Procedure:

1) Documents should be notarized by any notary public.

2) The notarized documents should be authenticated (NOT apostilled) by the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade or its Office in States or Territories. For more information about authentication by DFAT office, please click here.

3) Submit your authenticated documents to the relevant Chinese Visa Application Service Center. Please note you should apply for the documents authentication from the Chinese Embassy or relevant Consulate General where the documents notarized but not authenticated, in accordance with consular regions.

For example, if your documents are notarized in South Australia and authenticated in DFAT's office in Melbourne, they should be authenticated in the Chinese Consulate General in Adelaide but not the Consulate General in Melbourne. You should submit your application through the Chinese Visa Application Service Center in Adelaide.

Documents to be used in the Hong Kong or Macao SAR need no authentication from Chinese Embassy or Consulates General if they have been apostilled by Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade or its Office in States or Territories.

 

3. Requirements:

1) Legalization Application Form  or  Legalization Application Form for Death Certificate  which can be downloaded and filled out by the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Only the form with the original signature of the applicants can be accepted and the form should be signed twice on the second page.

2) Original and one copy of the passport of the applicant. If the applicant entrusts someone else to apply for authentication, original and one copy of the passport or photo ID of the entrusted person should also be submitted. In some special cases, an entrusted letter signed by the applicant or issued by the corporate is also required.

3) Original documents to be authenticated.

4) One copy of the document.

5) Copies of passports of the parents and child and birth certificate of the child should be submitted if the documents are power of attorney of children's fosterage.

4. Precautions:

1) Registration certificate of the corporate and one passport copy of the fictitious person should be submitted if the document is concerning company business.

2) Marital status certificate and certificate of non-criminal record are valid for 6 months from the date of issue. Applicant should complete all the procedures within 3 months.

3) Applicants are strongly suggested to collect the documents on time. Document which is not collected within 1 year will be cancelled.