Did you know that VFS recently changed its requirements?
Changes with VFS happen from time to time and (unfortunately) without notice catching many people by surprise. This sometimes means you could have a pending application, which is now invalid due to the changes. You're not alone.
Having been in this industry for nearly two decades, we've seen many changes come and go. Some changes make sense and are reflective of various changes in processes, policy, or regulation. On the other hand, some changes make no sense at all and leave us scratching our heads.
Sadly (and strangely), the recent changes have singled out people living in New South Wales to be subject to different requirements from the rest of Australia. Not sure why that's the case. But regardless of the reason, that's the situation that we and everyone else must deal with.
If you live in New South Wales and you are submitting documents to VFS, some of those documents must be attested by a notary public (even if the checklist or the document itself states that it can be attested by a justice of the peace). If you live in other states, then a justice of the peace will be accepted, but in NSW it can only be attested by a notary public.
This presents us with an unusual problem because there are some documents that you might have to submit to VFS which cannot be notarised in Australia. Here are some examples of documents that you might need to have attested in Australia and whether they can actually be notarised or not.
"I need to attest or notarise my Indian marriage certificate"
Sorry, if your document originated from an Indian government office, it isn't an Australian public document or an internationally recognised document and so it can't be notarised in Australia. Documents issued from India should be notarised by a public notary in India - not in Australia. If there's no connection to Australia, then we don't have the authority to attest, certify or notarise it (ie, state that it's a true copy of a specific document) especially if we have no way to verify, identify or confirm that the original is in fact genuine. Some notaries may tell you that they are just certifying that it's the copy of an original document, but the problem always exists that if they can't verify the original, then how do they certify it? We don't accept that this is the correct approach and so we're unable to assist with that kind of notarisation.
"I need to attest or notarise my child's Indian passport"
Yes, we can notarise the Indian passport. Even though it has been issued by the Indian government because the Indian passport (like all other passports) are international documents and should be recognised and accepted in Australia.
"I need to attest or notarise my passport, front and back page, and my visa page"
What do you mean by 'visa page'? Australia no longer issues physical labels or stamps in passports for visas. The stamps that may appear in your passport generally relate to entry and exit stamps, but they're not visas - and not every country continues to physically stamp passports anyway. For Australia, your visa is now recorded electronically through VEVO, also known as Visa Entitlement Verification Online. We are able to notarise the VEVO as it's issued by the Australian government.
"I need to attest or notarise my Aadhaar card", "I need to attest or notarise my PAN card", I need to attest or notarise my OCI card"
All these cards are issued by the Indian government. They are not internationally accepted or recognised documents (ie, they are only for use in India) and therefore have no connection or relevance to Australia. Accordingly, these documents should normally be notarised by a public notary in India - not in Australia. DESPITE THIS, we have been providing clients with a solution to notarise their passport, with a copy of their various Aadhaar card/PAN card or OCI card with a declaration that 'they are the one and the same person'. So while this strictly is not notarising a copy of the various cards, it's notarising a statement or declaration that you are the same person who appear in those cards, that kind of attestation or notarisation has been accepted previously. We're still are not providing certification that those cards or the copy of those cards are true (which would otherwise be beyond our authority to do so). If you only want the Aadhaar card, PAN card or OCI card to be attested without your passport, then we're unable to assist for the same reasons as explained above.
Closing thoughts
We've already started to see the number of documents being rejected by VFS because they haven't been attested or notarised by a notary public. We want to take this opportunity to remind people that these changes exist with VFS, not our office. Taking out your frustrations on our office will not aid you in your endeavours, especially as we're here to help.
To assist the Indian community in Sydney, we've recently introduced revised pricing for our notary public services in an attempt to ease the burden imposed by these changes.
For more information or to obtain a quote, please contact us on 02 9687 8885.
