# Certified true copies



## Naish_82 (Jun 27, 2011)

Does a Defence Force member with 20 years service count as a public servant who can certify a true copy?


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## SarahM (Feb 8, 2011)

Naish_82 said:


> Does a Defence Force member with 20 years service count as a public servant who can certify a true copy?


I'm not sure about a defence force member but here is the complete list of people who can certify a cope in Australia:
(1) a person who is currently licensed or registered under a law to practise in one of the following occupations:
Chiropractor Dentist Legal practitioner
Medical practitioner Nurse Optometrist
Patent attorney Pharmacist Physiotherapist
Psychologist Trade marks attorney Veterinary surgeon
(2) a person who is enrolled on the roll of the Supreme Court of a State or Territory, or the High Court of Australia, as a legal practitioner (however described); or
(3) a person who is in the following list:
Agent of the Australian Postal Corporation who is in charge of an office supplying postal services to the public
Australian Consular Officer or Australian Diplomatic Officer (within the meaning of the Consular Fees Act 1955)
Bailiff
Bank officer with 5 or more continuous years of service
Building society officer with 5 or more years of continuous service
Chief executive officer of a Commonwealth court
Clerk of a court
Commissioner for Affidavits
Commissioner for Declarations
Credit union officer with 5 or more years of continuous service
Employee of the Australian Trade Commission who is:
(a) in a country or place outside Australia; and
(b) authorised under paragraph 3 (d) of the Consular Fees Act 1955; and
(c) exercising his or her function in that place
Employee of the Commonwealth who is:
(a) in a country or place outside Australia; and
(b) authorised under paragraph 3 (c) of the Consular Fees Act 1955; and
(c) exercising his or her function in that place
Fellow of the National Tax Accountants' Association
Finance company officer with 5 or more years of continuous service
Holder of a statutory office not specified in another item in this list
Judge of a court
Justice of the Peace
Magistrate
Marriage celebrant registered under Subdivision C of Division 1 of Part IV of the Marriage Act 1961
Master of a court
Member of Chartered Secretaries Australia
Member of Engineers Australia, other than at the grade of student
Member of the Association of Taxation and Management Accountants
Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
Member of the Australian Defence Force who is:
(a) an officer; or
(b) a non-commissioned officer within the meaning of the Defence Force Discipline Act 1982 with 5 or more years of continuous service; or
(c) a warrant officer within the meaning of that Act
Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants or the National Institute of Accountants
Member of:
(a) the Parliament of the Commonwealth; or
(b) the Parliament of a State; or
(c) a Territory legislature; or
(d) a local government authority of a State or Territory
Minister of religion registered under Subdivision A of Division 1 of Part IV of the Marriage Act 1961
Notary public
Permanent employee of the Australian Postal Corporation with 5 or more years of continuous service who is employed in an office supplying postal services to the public
Permanent employee of:
(a) the Commonwealth or a Commonwealth authority; or
(b) a State or Territory or a State or Territory authority; or
(c) a local government authority;
with 5 or more years of continuous service who is not specified in another item in this list
Person before whom a statutory declaration may be made under the law of the State or Territory in which the declaration is made
Police officer
Registrar, or Deputy Registrar, of a court
Senior Executive Service employee of:
(a) the Commonwealth or a Commonwealth authority; or
(b) a State or Territory or a State or Territory authority
Sheriff
Sheriff's officer
Teacher employed on a full-time basis at a school or tertiary education institution


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## MArk Harrison (May 31, 2011)

Hello. My Fiance lives in indonesia we nd to get a certified copy- i was told to go to a public notary but they only sign in indonesian.... does this mean we have to have this translated?....

any help would be greatly appreciated


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## SarahM (Feb 8, 2011)

Hi Mark,
All documents not in English must be accompanied by an English translation. So yes, I'd assume that you would have to get it translated, even if it is only one or two senteces saying "this is a true copy...".


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## MArk Harrison (May 31, 2011)

Thank you Sarah- sorry to be a pain one other question. nIm having issues on what needs to be ceritfied- obviously passport birth cert, id need to be certifed.

however evidence of relationship such as phone bills, photos etc need to be certified?

I keep reading a letter from my employer needs to be certtified but i have an original letter with the details is this ok?....

thank you so much


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## SarahM (Feb 8, 2011)

MArk Harrison said:


> Thank you Sarah- sorry to be a pain one other question. nIm having issues on what needs to be ceritfied- obviously passport birth cert, id need to be certifed.
> 
> however evidence of relationship such as phone bills, photos etc need to be certified?
> 
> ...


You shouldn't really give originals, only certified copies. All official things should be certified, eg: letter from your employer, bills, payslips, identity
Things that you *don't* need to get certified are photos (you can just us print outs from a computer), cards, letters, emails....


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## llawjm (Jul 7, 2011)

Hi all!

I called the Australian immigration office today to ask about what needs to be certified and what doesn't. Then girl I spoke to at first wasn't sure, put me on hold and asked someone. 

She came back saying that every document needs to be certified!

After ending the call it occurred to me, how do I certify my online bank statements, savings statements, payslips, travel emails etc etc. 

Obviously we will get the important documents certified, but seriously, alot of stuff these days is electronic! Take Australia's e-Visas for example!

Help / Thoughts? 

Matt


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## SarahM (Feb 8, 2011)

Hi 
That seems to much of a sweeping statement to me "_every document_ needs to be certified". As you said, many of us have online statements and emails.

_Photocopies_ are certified so that we know they are true copies of the original;but, if you print out your online statement, that print-out *is* the original. So obviously there's no need to certify an original, since only photocopies must be certified.

Print-outs of emails are the same deal. So even if immigration said that, what they meant is every (important) photocopy of a document must be certified; this wouldn't apply to originals. Oh so much stress 



llawjm said:


> Hi all!
> 
> I called the Australian immigration office today to ask about what needs to be certified and what doesn't. Then girl I spoke to at first wasn't sure, put me on hold and asked someone.
> 
> ...


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## raymp (Dec 29, 2010)

A Justice of the Peace in Queensland can now certify a downloaded document with the following " This is a true and correct copy of the original downloaded document which i have viewed"


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## dan (May 16, 2011)

SarahM said:


> Print-outs of emails are the same deal. So even if immigration said that, what they meant is every (important) photocopy of a document must be certified; this wouldn't apply to originals. Oh so much stress


yeah it's funny how this works

i paid my application fee in australia and the form said that i needed to attach a certified copy of the receipt. the receipt was a pdf sent via email.

in the end my friendly JP got me to print out the PDF and that became the original, then i photocopied the first printout and that became the 'certified copy'.

one of these days the bureaucracy will catch up with their technology.....!


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## miniature.moose (Jul 22, 2011)

This is all so confusing. Who knows what has to be certified and what doesn't?! My partner had a copy of his passport certified today and it cost €3 just for one piece of paper. We have loads of documents (like every one else), it seems insane to pay €3 for every piece of paper we want to provide a copy of. Would I really have to do this for all our bank statements? Are we even supposed to include all of our bank statements or just a representative selection... or just proof that we have a joint account? Sorry for all the questions, going a bit crazy today after my partner took an original of his birth certificate to get a certified copy today and they told him he'd have to go to his birthplace (which thankfully isn't too far!) to get one! Do I have to provide an original copy of my university degree certificate as part of my "sponsorship commitment"? I only scanned my original before I left and printed out a copy... not sure if that will do though...

Do you think the registration office in Hamburg won't certify anything that isn't in German? Now I'm really concerned!!


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## augenblick (Jul 27, 2011)

miniature.moose said:


> This is all so confusing. Who knows what has to be certified and what doesn't?! My partner had a copy of his passport certified today and it cost €3 just for one piece of paper. We have loads of documents (like every one else), it seems insane to pay €3 for every piece of paper we want to provide a copy of. Would I really have to do this for all our bank statements? Are we even supposed to include all of our bank statements or just a representative selection... or just proof that we have a joint account? Sorry for all the questions, going a bit crazy today after my partner took an original of his birth certificate to get a certified copy today and they told him he'd have to go to his birthplace (which thankfully isn't too far!) to get one! Do I have to provide an original copy of my university degree certificate as part of my "sponsorship commitment"? I only scanned my original before I left and printed out a copy... not sure if that will do though...
> 
> Do you think the registration office in Hamburg won't certify anything that isn't in German? Now I'm really concerned!!


Hi Mini Moose 

Yes i can understand why you are both going crazy - Been there done that 

As far as i understand it is only "official documents" that need to be certified such as passport, birth certificate etc. If you want to provide something like a birthday card then it doesn't need to be certified.

I am the Australian sponsor of my Ukrainian fiance. To be honest i certified all my sponsor documents and evidence  Because it was free to do so. I went to the local JP and got him to certifiy everything - my degree, EVERY PAGE of my passport, plane tickets, letters etc. He wasnt very happy certifying like 100 pages HAHA. Had to go back a few times to get it all done.

My fiance only certified needed documents such as birth certificates etc. But in Ukraine they can't certify passports it is illegal to do so, so we contacted the Aussie embassy and they said to only certify what we can  It cost my fiance a lot of money to get certifications and witnessing of signatures  At the end of the day i dont care what this whole visa process costs i just want to be with her again so we can move on with our life in Adelaide!

A word of advice - better to certify something you don't need certified vs not certifying something you do need certified 

The extra info that you provide them the better  Uni degree is not essential but i would include it if i were you, and no it doesnt need to be certified.

Each embassy is a little different to the next and have different requirements. Most embassies dont require Form 80, but Moscow Embassy does. Also Moscow embassy requires every page of the passport include for both applicant and sponsor!! Maybe german embassy won't be so strict 

Viel glueck


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## miniature.moose (Jul 22, 2011)

Thanks for the info Augenblick- very helpful! It sounds like Moscow is strict. I think we only need to provide the biographical data pages of our passports, though I'm worried that they won't certify mine in Germany as it's not a German document. We'll see I guess. Berlin requires this weird "settlement details"(886) form which I haven't seen anywhere else where you have to state where you're going to live, which state, address, how well you each speak English. It's a little odd that immi doesn't seem to require it. 

I will take your advice and certify what I think I should, from what you said though it sounds like we have to be more careful about certifying my partner's documents (the applicant)- correct? 

Thanks again, I hope that you and your fiance are back together in Adelaide soon!


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## augenblick (Jul 27, 2011)

miniature.moose said:


> Thanks for the info Augenblick- very helpful! It sounds like Moscow is strict. I think we only need to provide the biographical data pages of our passports, though I'm worried that they won't certify mine in Germany as it's not a German document. We'll see I guess. Berlin requires this weird "settlement details"(886) form which I haven't seen anywhere else where you have to state where you're going to live, which state, address, how well you each speak English. It's a little odd that immi doesn't seem to require it.
> 
> I will take your advice and certify what I think I should, from what you said though it sounds like we have to be more careful about certifying my partner's documents (the applicant)- correct?
> 
> Thanks again, I hope that you and your fiance are back together in Adelaide soon!


No worries, glad to be of assistance  We did that 886 form too. That Form 80 was the worst of all to do  I just collated everything into a folder and made a huge checklist of what i should include and ticked it off as we did it. The application was over 3 kg. The CO hasn't requested any more documents from us so thats a good sign i think. Yeah you are right about it is more important certifying your partner's documents. If you have any probs certifying something because of german law just email your CO and tell them, and they will say its ok just give a normal copy and do what you can do. Make sure you ask it by email because written evidence is crucial  If they tell you over the phone you have no proof they said it is ok. Fingers are crossed for you two too


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## augenblick (Jul 27, 2011)

Yo Mini Moose 

Found this for you from the Aussie Embassy in Berlin (maybe you already have these details?)

Partner (300, 309) - Australian Embassy

It contains all info specific for applicants applying at the Berlin office.

We followed the Moscow office's specific info and it helped us heaps.


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## miniature.moose (Jul 22, 2011)

Thank you Augenblick. You have been very helpful. I have read the Australian Embassy Berlin checklist/info but got confused as there are so many discrepancies between what they say and what the offshore 300/309 visa checklist provided by the Australian immigration website says. Anyway, sure we'll get there in the end. Good luck with your application. Thanks again.


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