Learn how to get copies of documents certified for your certificate application.
You may need to get copies of your identity documents certified when your submit an application from overseas for:
- a domestic certificate
- an international certificate.
A 'certified copy' is one that an authorised person has verified as being a true copy of an original document.
How to get copies certified
Show the original document and a photocopy of that document to an authorised person.
(Authorised persons have the authority to make a statutory declaration. This is a type of legal document that sets out facts that you declare to be true and accurate.)
They will:
- compare the copy to the original
- sign and date each copy to confirm that it is a true copy of the original.
Who can certify copies
People with these occupations can witness statutory declarations:
- Bank officer with 5 or more continuous years of service
- Clerk of a court
- Commissioner for affidavits
- Commissioner for declarations
- Dentist
- Justice of the peace
- Legal practitioner
- Magistrate
- Medical practitioner
- Nurse
- Pharmacist
- Police officer
- Post office manager
- Sheriff or sheriff’s officer
- Teacher (full time)
- Veterinary surgeon
For a full list of persons authorised to witness statutory declarations under the Statutory Declarations Act (1959), see Statutory Declarations Regulations 2023 - Schedule 1.
Last updated: 26 April 2024