Can I sign Form J in front of a Justice of the Peace?

If you live in New South Wales (and you intend to lodge Form J with the VFS office in Sydney), then you cannot sign Form J in front of a justice of the peace. As a NSW resident, Form J must be attested by a notary public. This means you must sign Form J in front of a notary public who will verify your identity and witness your signature.

Form J is required when you have changed your appearance. Sometimes you may have aged (ie, matured) especially if your previous passport photograph was taken when you were a child. Sometimes it's because you previously wore a turban but no longer wear a turban (or you previously didn't but now you do). For some, it's because they've changed their hairstyle or facial hair. Whatever the case may be, if you think you might look different now from what you do (or did before) in your passport photograph, then you may need to submit Form J with whatever other documents you intended to file with VFS.

As a leading provider of notary public services in Sydney, we help many clients with notarising Form J. If you also need help, you must make an appointment, bring your completed Form J with your photograph, and you must sign it in front of our notary public. Our notary public will verify your identity according to your photo identity (ie, passport or driver licence) and witness you sign Form J.

OCI application for your children

Applying on behalf of children

In this article, we specifically address the issue of applying for an OCI for your children. If you, your parents or your grandparents were citizens of India, your children would also be entitled to apply to become an OCI.

For the latest requirements, please visit the VFS website and refer to the latest checklist. For many of our clients, the application for an OCI for their children requires them to have the copies of passports of both parents notarised and a copy of the child's birth certificate to be notarised as well. If you have multiple children, then each child must have their own set of notarised copies of parents' passports.

Usually, the requirement for attestation outlined for this application means 'certified copies'. However, if you are a resident of New South Wales, it also means that the attestation must be performed by a notary public. A justice of the peace (which is a free service) is not authorised to 'notarise' a document. Notarisation can only be provided by a notary public (and this is usually not a free service).

As a leading provider of notary public services in Sydney, we regularly help clients intending to apply for their own OCI as well as an OCI for their children.

What is an OCI?

OCI stands for "Overseas Citizen of India". For many of our clients, who are Australian citizens (and sometimes New Zealand citizens) living in Australia, the main attraction for applying to be recognised as an OCI is the multiple entry and unlimited stay in India. This is especially important if they still have family (ie, aging parents), property or other business interests in India.

What are the benefits of being an OCI?

Aside from multiple entry and the entitlement to multi-purpose life long visa to visit India, the other benefits of being an OCI are:

• Exemption from reporting to Police authorities for any length of stay in India; and
• Parity with non-resident Indians in financial, economic and educational fields except in the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.

Who can apply to become an OCI?

If you have renounced your Indian citizenship (or your family were originally from India) and you are now a citizen of another country (ie, Australia or New Zealand), you can apply to become an OCI provided that:

• you were a citizen of India at the time of, or at any time after 26th January 1950; or
• you were eligible to become a citizen of India on 26th January 1950; or
• you belonged to a territory that became part of India after 15th August 1947; or
• you are a child or a grandchild or a great-grandchild of such a citizen; or
• you are a minor child of such persons mentioned above; or
• you are a minor child and whose both parents are citizens of India or one of the parents is a citizen of India.

Besides, a spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of foreign origin of an Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder and whose marriage has been registered and subsisted for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the application is also eligible for registration as OCI cardholder.

Can't contact DFAT or VFS?

We're a notay public service. We're not the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). We're not VFS. We're not the Indian Consulate.

As a notary public service, we can help you attest and notarise your documents, and we can also arrange for the apostille from DFAT. We don't issue the apostille - DFAT is the only authority that can issue the apostille in Australia.

If you can't contact DFAT, or if you can't contact VFS or the Indian Consulate, there's no point in contacting us to complain. We can't help you to contact them and we can only help you by arranging for the apostille from DFAT.

For some reason, we receive many calls from people asking us questions about DFAT or VFS. Sometimes they ask us to provide them with the contact phone number for DFAT or VFS. If you really want to contact DFAT or VFS, then you would have called the wrong number if you called us.

Storing personal information for notary public services

What do we do with your personal information?

With the recent events of hacking and cybersecurity concerns of major companies in Australia, more and more notary public clients have asked us about why, how and where we store their personal information. In this article, we attempt to answer some of these commonly asked questions about your personal information in our care.

Privacy and confidentiality

Our primary obligation is to protect your privacy and keep your information confidential. We only keep information that is necessary for us to:

• Properly identify who you are (ie, copies of your client details and your photo identification)
• Record when you received notary public services from us.
• Verify what notary public services you received from us (including what documents*).
• How much we charged you for the service.

*we do not always retain a full copy of all documents that we have notarised. In most cases, it may only be the first and last page to be able to confirm the document.

We will only provide verification to third-party enquiries (we do not provide copies of our records without your approval) unless required by law.

All information is stored on Google Cloud. Please see our Privacy Statement for more information.

What next?

To obtain a quote on our notary public services for India, please visit https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/notary-fees/.

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Get a quote to notarise
your Indian documents

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.

Frequently asked questions regarding our notary public services can also be found at https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/faqs/.

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.

Why don't we print your document?

We don't print documents. It's a policy that we've had for many years as a result of some bad experiences with clients and their documents.

Yes, we know it's inconvenient for you if you don't have your own printer or it's not easy for you to find a printer. There are several printing offices around Parramatta that offer this service. But we don't print documents for clients.

If your lawyer hasn't sent you the original hardcopy document to sign, just make sure you print your document in the form and the format required by your lawyer. Presumably, this will ensure that it's legally valid and will be recognised for whatever it needs to do in India.

Paper requirements are not consistent

Different countries have different document requirements and different paper requirements. For India, it's common that some legal documents are printed on stamped paper, bonded paper, 'legal paper', green foolscap paper, A3-sized paper, or even cardboard. In fact, this isn't even a complete list of variations that we've seen over the years.

All of these papers are not readily available in Australia. In Australia, our documents are generally printed on white A4-sized 80 gsm paper.

We're not in the printing business

Our service is the notary public service. For the most part, this means we're witnessing signatures or certifying documents. But we're NOT printing documents.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, experience has taught us that if we print documents for clients, and for whatever reason the documents aren't correct, incomplete, improperly formatted, or aren't printed on the 'correct' kind of paper then somehow it's our fault and we get blamed (even though there may be nothing wrong with our notary public services in witnessing or certifying documents).

Sure, maybe over the many years, it's only one or two people who have argued that if we printed the document then we're responsible for the document, but that's enough for us to implement a 'no printing' policy across all. It's an unnecessary administrative burden and worries for our office when it's really not part of what we do or what we're paid to do. We just provide the notary public service.

Power of Attorney for India - Notarisation and Apostille

You need a power of attorney if you want to appoint someone in India to act on your behalf.

If you're signing the power of attorney in Australia, then your signature should be witnessed by a notary public. The notary public can then notarise your power of attorney. As a leading provider of notary public services in Sydney, we help many clients with notarising their power of attorney so that it can be used in India.

Who writes your power of attorney?

Preferably, your lawyer in India will prepare the power of attorney for you, and they can advise you whether you require a general power of attorney or a special power of attorney. They can also advise you whether your power of attorney must be printed on stamped paper, green foolscap paper, or whether it can be printed on normal A4 paper. Usually, if your power of attorney is not printed on stamped paper, then you'll need to pay the stamp duty within 3 months after your power of attorney arrives in India.

In short, you really shouldn't write the power of attorney yourself or even ask a lawyer in Australia to write it for you. Your power of attorney must be valid in India according to the laws in India (and the laws and processes/procedures can vary between states).

Does your power of attorney need a fingerprint or a photo?

Your lawyer can also advise you whether your power of attorney must contain other specific things such as references to your identification document, your photo or a photo of your attorney, or whether it requires thumbprints. Sometimes the power of attorney is also accompanied by another document called 'Photographs and Finger Prints as per section 32A of the Registration Act 1908' which contains places for photographs and fingerprints.

Does your power of attorney need an apostille?

Technically, because Australia and India are both members of the Apostille Convention, documents signed in Australia but used in India should also be stamped with an apostille. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the issuing authority for the apostille in Australia. After your power of attorney has been notarised, it can then be stamped with an apostille. We help many clients with arranging for their notarised power of attorney to be stamped with an apostille from DFAT.

Does your power of attorney need Indian Consulate attestation?

Sometimes, you may also need to have your power of attorney attested by the Indian Consulate. In Australia, VFS Global provides these services on behalf of the Indian Consulate. According to VFS Global, if you are not an Indian Citizen, then your power of attorney must be stamped with an apostille before it can be attested by VFS Global on behalf of the Indian Consulate. If you're not sure about what's required for VFS Global, please check their website for more information and for the specific checklist of documents and other requirements before you send your power of attorney to them for attestation.

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.

Frequently asked questions regarding our notary public services can also be found at https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/faqs/.

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.

Statutory Declaration for Change of Signature

Have you changed your signature?

If you've changed your signature (especially on your passport), VFS may require you to submit a statutory declaration confirming that your signature has changed - especially when you must renew your passport.

What's a statutory declaration?

A statutory declaration is a written statement that you declare is true.

Who can witness a statutory declaration?

In New South Wales, a statutory declaration can be witnessed by a justice of the peace, a lawyer or a notary public.

When does your statutory declaration need to be notarised?

Usually, if you're signing a statutory declaration in Australia but you're sending it to another country (ie, India), then that statutory declaration should be notarised.

If you live in New South Wales and you're submitting documents to VFS, you generally must have those documents attested by a notary public. The requirement for each document differs depending on what it's used for according to the relevant VFS checklist. If you're not sure, it's best to refer to the VFS checklist for the documents required for your application.

If the VFS checklist states that your statutory declaration relating to your change in signature must be attested by a notary public, this means it must be notarised.

To have your statutory declaration notarised, you must sign and declare that the contents of your declaration are true in the presence of a notary public. The notary public will verify your identity (usually according to your passport), witness you sign the declaration, and then notarise your declaration by signing and sealing it with their notary seal.

What can we do for you?

As a leading provider of notary public services in Sydney, we help many clients with attesting documents that they must submit to VFS. If you have changed your signature, then you'll need our help to attest your statutory declaration before submitting it to VFS.

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.

Frequently asked questions regarding our notary public services can also be found at https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/faqs/.

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.

Applying for Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) from VFS

What's an Overseas Citizen of India?

A foreign national, - (i) who was a citizen of India at the time of, or at any time after 26th January, 1950; or (ii) who was eligible to become a citizen of India on 26th January, 1950; or (iii) who belonged to a territory that became part of India after 15th August, 1947; or (iv) who is a child or a grandchild or a great grandchild of such a citizen; or (v) who is a minor child of such persons mentioned above; or (vi) who is a minor child and whose both parents are citizens of India or one of the parents is a citizen of India - is eligible for registration as OCI cardholder.

Besides, spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of foreign origin of an Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder and whose marriage has been registered and subsisted for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the application is also eligible for registration as OCI cardholder. However, no person, who or either of whose parents or grandparents or great grandparents is or had been a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh or such other country as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify, shall be eligible for registration as an Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder.

- https://ociservices.gov.in/

What's the benefit of being an OCI?

• Multiple entry, multi-purpose lifelong visa to visit India;
• Exemption from reporting to Police authorities for any length of stay in India; and
• Parity with NRIs in financial, economic and educational fields except in the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.

Applying for OCI in Sydney

In Australia, applications to become an OCI must be submitted through VFS.

If you live in New South Wales, in support of your OCI application, you must have your various supporting documents attested by a notary public. 

Notary public services for OCI application

As a leading provider of notary public services in Sydney, we help many clients who are submitting their OCI applications to VFS. Documents that we commonly attest to support the OCI application include:

• Copies of passports
• Copies of birth certificates
• Copies of marriage certificates
• Copies of driver licence
• Copies of utility bills
• Statutory Declarations and Affidavits

Each person must submit their own application (and their own set of attested documentation). Submitting an application on behalf of your child will require additional documents from each parent as well.

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.

Frequently asked questions regarding our notary public services can also be found at https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/faqs/.

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.