Before certain New Zealand documents can be used overseas, Document Authentication may be necessary.
It is usually required where overseas officials are not able to determine on sight the authenticity of New Zealand documents. To check the requirements, contact the relevant authorities in the country concerned or their overseas representatives.
The authentication process varies depending on the document type and country requirements.
If your document is to be sent to a country that is not on the list of countries shown in this document, an Apostille certificate will need to be attached to the document. The Department of Internal Affairs can advise the procedures to be followed for this process.
The Authentication procedures and fees at each stage are set out below.
Your documents need to meet certain requirements before you send them to Internal Affairs:
1. A birth, marriage*, death or change of name certificate issued in New Zealand:
Send the original document to Department of Internal Affairs if it has the round seal of the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages (or the Registrar-General).
Some older documents do not have either seal and so new certificates need to be ordered from Births Deaths and Marriages. You can call them on 0800 22 52 52 (from overseas +64 4 474 8150) or download their application forms at www.bdm.govt.nz
* Internal Affairs cannot authenticate the marriage certificate that you signed on your wedding day (the Copy of Particulars of Marriage). They can only authenticate an official marriage certificate ordered after the wedding.
2. A document bearing the seal and/or signature of an approved government agency such as a District/High Court, a Police station, the NZQA, the NZFSA, IRD, etc:
Send the original to the Department of Internal Affairs.
Criminal Conviction Letters from the Ministry of Justice:
When ordering these please ask the Ministry of Justice to print the Criminal Conviction Letter on their blue logo paper with an ink signature. The Department of Internal Affairs cannot attach an authentication certificate to black and white letters.
Please follow the instructions on their website (these apply for all countries) :
Companies Office documents:
Certificates of Good Standing, Incorporation and Extracts are available electronically from the Companies Office website. You need to request these via email so that they contain a validation code. You can then email (or post) them to the Department of Internal Affairs and they can validate and authenticate them.
To order these documents please go to:
3. Documents that are not issued by the government:
Documents such as contracts, references, powers of attorney, academic documents*, Chamber of Commerce certificates and any other document not issued by the government needs to be notarised by a Notary Public in New Zealand before you send them to the Department of Internal Affairs office. The Notary Public will sign the document and affix his/her seal to it. You can find a list of Notaries Public for your area in the Yellow Pages of your telephone book. The Notary Public will charge a fee. [external link]
You then need to send the Department of Internal Affairs only the notarised copy, not the original.
You cannot have your documents certified by a solicitor or a JP (Justice of the Peace).
*All documents issued by a school or university will need to be notarised before you send them to the Department of Internal Affairs. They cannot authenticate original documents issued by schools or universities. They can only authenticate original documents issued by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and the Ministry of Education.
If you are uncertain whether your documents require notarisation, please check with the Department of Internal Affairs Authentication Unit [external link]
top of page
The Authentication Unit at the Department of Internal Affairs authenticates the signature and seal of the approved Government Agency or Notary Public. This takes up to five working days. Please advise the Authentication Unit if urgent processing is required. Once the Authentication Unit has authenticated your documents they will pass your documents on to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the next step in the authentication process.
Make sure you have enclosed:
The document/s to authenticate. If you have more than one document to authenticate, you may need to check with the end-user whether the documents can be processed as a set or authenticated separately. Documents in a set will be joined together.
Documents with different seals can be authenticated as one set. For example a birth certificate with the round seal of the Registrar of Births,
Deaths and Marriages can be authenticated with a document that bears the signature and seal of a Notary Public.
Please indicate clearly which supporting papers belong together, and the order of each set, when you submit more than one set of documents.
You should paper clip or staple each set together.
All fees are paid to the Department of Internal Affairs.
The fee includes payment for both the Department Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Please find the instructions (Category A or Category B) corresponding to the country you wish to use your document/s in to determine the cost of your authentication.
Send your document/s and any letters of instruction to the Department of Internal Affairs at:
By Courier:
Authentication Unit
Department of Internal Affairs
Level 13, Prime Property Tower
86-90 Lambton Quay
Wellington
Standard Post:
Authentication Unit
C/- The Translation Service
Department of Internal Affairs
PO Box 805
Wellington
CATEGORY A - Countries that require the signature and seal of the Ministry Foreign Affairs and Trade on an Authenticated document.
FEES: This amount includes fees for both the Department Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Payment is to be made to the Department of Internal Affairs.
|
| Algeria Jakarta | Kenya Canberra | Peru Wellington/Auckland |
| Bangladesh Canberra | Kiribati Tarawa | Philippines Wellington |
| Bolivia Sydney | Kuwait Canberra | Qatar Jakarta |
| Brazil Wellington | Laos Canberra | Saudi Arabia Auckland |
| Cambodia Canberra | Lebanon Canberra | Singapore Wellington |
| Canada Wellington | Malaysia Wellington | Solomon Islands Honiara |
| Chile Wellington | Mali Tokyo | Sri Lanka Wellington |
| China Wellington | Morocco Canberra | Sudan Jakarta |
| Costa Rica Sydney | Myanmar Canberra | Taiwan Wellington |
| Cuba Wellington | Nauru Auckland | Thailand Wellington |
| Egypt Canberra | Nepal Canberra | Tuvalu Auckland |
| Eritrea Canberra | Nicaragua Tokyo | United Arab Emirates Canberra |
| Ghana Canberra | Nigeria Canberra | Uruguay Sydney |
| Guatemala Tokyo | Oman Auckland | Vanuatu Port Vila |
| Indonesia Wellington | Pakistan Wellington | Viet Nam Wellington |
| Iran Wellington | Papua New Guinea Wellington | Yemen Sydney |
| Jordan Canberra | Paraguay Melbourne | Zambia Tokyo |
| Zimbabwe Canberra |
top of page
CATEGORY B - Countries that require the signature of a New Zealand Diplomatic Overseas Mission on an Authenticated document.
FEES: NZ$195 for one authentication certificate This amount includes fees for both the Department Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Payment is to be made to the Department of Internal Affairs.
|
||
| Afghanistan Embassy Canberra | Bahrain Embassy London | Benin Embassy Paris |
| Bhutan Embassy India | Burkina Faso |
Burundi Brussels |
| Cameroon Consulate Sydney | Cape Verde Embassy The Hague | Central African Republic Embassy Paris |
| Chad Embassy Brussels | Democratic Republic of Congo Embassy London | Equatorial Guinea Embassy Paris |
| Ethiopia Consulate Melbourne | Gabon Consulate email contact Sydney | Gambia Embassy London |
| Guinea Embassy Paris | Guinea-Bissau Embassy Paris | Guyana High Commission London |
| Haiti Embassy Washington | Iraq Embassy Canberra | Ivory Coast Embassy London |
| Jamaica Consulate Sydney | Kyrgyzstan Embassy London | Libya Embassy Canberra |
| Madagascar Consulate Sydney | Mauritania Embassy Paris | Niger Embassy Paris |
| North Korea | Rwanda Embassy London | Senegal Embassy London |
| Sierra Leone High Commission London | Syria Embassy Canberra | Tajikistan Email contact Tajikistan Embassy Moscow |
| Togo Embassy Paris | Tunisia Consulate-General Sydney | Uganda High Commission London |
Uzbekistan |
|
|
