By Ern Phang, Solicitor & Notary Public
Director of Phang Legal. Solicitor since 1998 and notary public since 2005.
Example: the situation
Nisha is applying to VFS for her baby's passport, and the checklist asks for attested copies of the parents' passports, including the visa page. Her visa is electronic, so there's no label to copy.
Since September 2015, Australian visas are electronic, so attesting a visa works differently. Let's discuss how.
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?
Example: the solution
Nisha brought her passport and her VEVO details to our office. Our notary public verified her visa online with VEVO and notarised the copy, along with her passport pages, for VFS.
To obtain a quote on our notary public services for India, please visit
Request a notary quote.
About Us
This blog is maintained by Phang Legal, a boutique law firm with offices in Parramatta and Rouse Hill. We help clients from across Sydney and beyond with personal, professional and timely Legal Services, Notary Services and Apostille Services.
As a leading provider of notary services in Sydney, we have 1k+ Google Reviews (4.9) (updated July 2026) with many clients happy to share their experience in using our services.
Phang Legal — Parramatta
6/83 George Street
Level 3, 87 Marsden Street (from 1 March 2026)
Parramatta NSW 2150
Phang Legal — Rouse Hill
214/80 Main Street
Rouse Hill NSW 2155
Call 02 9687 8885 | WhatsApp | Request quote
About the author
Ern Phang — Solicitor & Notary Public
This article was written by Ern Phang, a director of Phang Legal, a solicitor since 1998 and a notary public since 2005.
Ern has been a member of the Society of Notaries of NSW since 2005, a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Notaries since 2013, and a member of the Law Society of New South Wales since 1998.
Ern regularly writes about his experiences as a notary public and the practical issues his clients face when sending documents from Australia to India and other countries all over the world.
Using information in this article
This article provides general information. Requirements, forms, fees and service arrangements may have changed since its original publication. Check the receiving organisation’s current requirements and obtain advice relevant to your circumstances.
