What happened to Australian visa labels?
Since 1 September 2015, Australia stopped issuing physical visa labels in foreign passports as proof of a person's Australian visa and moved to an electronic visa system. All Australian visas can now be checked or accessed through the Visa Entitlement Verification Online system (VEVO) maintained by the Department of Home Affairs on behalf of the Australian Government.
VEVO allows visa holders, employers, education providers and other organisations to check visa details and conditions online and it provides up to date and accurate information.
When clients ask us to notarise their visas, this generally means we notarise a copy of their visa as provided by VEVO and after verifying it online with VEVO.
Do I need to notarise my visa through VEVO for VFS?
According to several VFS checklists, you may be required to provide a copy of your passport. For example, for issuing a passport for a minor (under 18 years old), one of the requirements is to provide:
Attach copies of passports of both the parents (First, Last & Visa page- Attested by JP or Notary).
(NSW residents kindly submit documents attested by a Notary Public only,
list of NSW notaries available at: https://notarynsw.org.au/find-a-notary)
Not only do you need to provide a copy, but it would need to also be attested. If you live in New South Wales, then your passport must be attested by a notary public - and this is why we receive so many enquiries for this service, but it's not as straight forward as it appears.
What does it mean by "First, Last & Visa page"?
For most passports, regardless of country, the 'first page' is generally a reference to the biographical or details page of the passport holder. This is the page that contains the photograph of the passport holder, their name, date of birth, place of birth, date of issue and expiry etc. Information contained on this page, including the photograph of the passport holder, is the most important information which identifies the passport holder. It would not matter where your passport was issued from, if you need to provide a copy of your passport then it would always include the first page.
In some passports, the 'last page' sometimes has additional information like signatures, emergency contact details, or addresses. In other passports, there is no information because that additional information appears on the second or third page following the biographical page. In the Australian passport, the last page has very little beneficial information (ie, it allows the passport holder to write their address - suggested to be written in pencil so that it can be changed). However, in the Indian passport. the last page contains official information such as the passport holder's father's name, mother's name and addresses. Accordingly, if you have an Australian passport or any other foreign passport that has little to no information on the last page, there would be little to no reason to provide a copy of the last page. If you have an Indian passport, then it would be very important to provide a copy of the last page.
The 'Visa page' contains stamps from various countries confirming visas - however, as discussed, Australia no longer provides visa stamps in foreign passports. Occasionally, depending on how the passport holder enters Australia, there may have been entry or exit stamps, but these are not visa stamps or labels. Without original visa stamps or labels, if you are carrying a foreign passport in Australia, then you do not have a visa page for Australia - and there is where much of the confusion arises when our clients attempt to interpret the requirements outlined in the VFS checklist.
If I do not have a Visa page in my passport, do I provide a copy of my VEVO?
Due to the VFS checklist and the requirement to provide a notarised copy of their passport visa page, many clients also ask us to notarise a copy of their VEVO to confirm their visa status in Australia. However, it is questionable whether this is actually required. Read on.
In our experience, an increasing number of clients have started to 'ignore' this requirement in the VFS checklist, or at least acknowledge that it is not relevant since there is no visa page in their passport. Some clients have unsuccessfully tried to contact VFS for clarification and given up only to rely on their own interpretation, while other clients have managed to speak to someone at VFS and they have been told (as they have reported to us) that the visa page is not required in Australia - and that makes sense.
It is possible that the VFS checklist was based on a generic document that has been applied across different jurisdictions/countries, and the requirements contained in the checklist may not have been properly adapted to address the electronic visa system in Australia. For example, not every passport will have a last page or a last page with important information and not every passport will have a visa page with stamps or labels. If these pages do not exist in your passport, then how can you provide them? Naturally, most people will tend to be cautious and want to provide more information than less information - but that also potentially increases the cost as well as the time and inconvenience when it could just as easily be avoided.
Final words
If you are concerned about the process or the requirements outlined in any VFS checklist (especially the cost of having your VEVO notarised or any other requirement associated with having your documents notarised), you should always check with VFS first. As they are notoriously difficult to connect with, we also encourage you to plan ahead and attempt to sort out these issues well before you actually need to action your request.
Unfortunately, we receive many enquiries from clients who need to have things sorted on the same day, and while we are able to accommodate more often than not, they remain confused and unsure about the process without enough time to check (meaning they probably spend more time and money or make things more complicated than what they need to be). A word of warning so that you do not get caught out in the same situation.
What next?
To obtain a quote on our notary public services for India, please visit https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/notary-fees/.
Acknowledgements
This blog is supported and maintained by Phang Legal. Phang Legal is a leading provider of notary public services in Sydney. With offices conveniently located in Parramatta, Phang Legal supports and services the Indian community across Sydney with readily available and easily accessible notary public services at highly competitive rates.
For more information regarding notary public services for documents going to India, view our notary publications at https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/jurisdiction/india-notary/.
Frequently asked questions regarding our notary public services can also be found at https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/faqs/.
For Hindi to English translation services by NAATI accredited translators, see https://hindi-naati-translation.blogspot.com.au/.
Ern Phang
Notary Public
Ern Phang is the solicitor director of Phang Legal and a notary public. Ern regularly writes about his experiences as a notary public, including the kinds of problems and solutions that his clients face when sending documents to India.
IMPORTANT: the information in this article is correct at the time of publication, however the law constantly changes. This means you should always refer to the most recent articles because we try to update this blog on a regular basis with the most current information.
