Document attestation requirements for educational documents
Many overseas authorities and institutions require educational documents to be attested before such documents are accepted them.
Documents are generally attested by the relevant country’s embassy or consulate in Australia. Prior to attestation of the documents by an embassy or a consulate, the documents must be legalised by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
If a country is a signatory to the Hague Convention*, the requirement for document attestation may be fulfilled by DFAT legalisation. In other words, a legalised document from DFAT is or should be acceptable by the overseas authority or institution in that Hague Convention country as an attested document.
*The Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (HCCH 1961 Apostille Convention
Getting your documents legalised by DFAT
DFAT legalises documents by issuing either an Apostille or an Authentication certificate on the document. The Apostille or Authentication certificate verifies the signature, stamp and seal of the signature on the document.
Apostilles are used for countries that are signatories to the Hague Convention while Authentication certificates are used for non-Hague Convention countries.
DFAT can legalise two sorts of documents:
- Original documents: this is permitted only in the following circumstances:
- where the original document has been verified by the document issuing authority via My eQuals; or
- where the original educational document has been certified as a document genuinely issued by the educational institution.
- Notarised documents: DFAT can legalise all notarised documents without any further verification.
For non-Hague Convention countries, DFAT legalised documents must then be attested by the relevant embassy or consulate in Australia.
Authentifier document attestation services
Authentifier is a leading Australian document attestation, DFAT legalisation (Apostille & Authentication) and document notarisation service provider, turning around documents in as little as a few days, not weeks.
Authentifier has an easy online ordering system, and our efficient service and fast processing times have resulted in is receiving a 5-star customer rating, each time and every time.
Document attestation for educational documents
Authentifier’s complete solution for educational document attestation is based on our strength and commitment in working closely with educational providers, government agencies and embassies or consulates.
Authentifier has partnered with My eQuals to streamline the attestation of academic credentials, enabling millions of individuals with a My eQuals account to share their academic credentials directly with us from the My eQuals platform.
Authentifier can seamlessly:
- access My eQuals to obtain educational documents, degrees and other qualifications uploaded to My eQuals by your education provider;
- check and verify your educational documents (e.g. Academic Record, verification of qualifications etc) with your education provider*;
- notarise and seal a copy of your educational document or degree with an official Notarial Certificate;
- process your educational document or degree for DFAT legalisation and embassy or consulate attestation;
- return the completed, fully attested document to you by Express Post (Australia) or courier (overseas).
* If your educational documents are not available on My eQuals, we will need to inspect your original documents. We will return the documents upon completion of our work.
How long will the process take?
Authentifier is capable of providing fast processing times for DFAT legalisation and document attestation.
Our end-to-end processing times are generally as follows:
- DFAT legalisation: 3-4 working days;
- Embassy or consulate attestation: 7 working days.
How much will it cost?
The cost for the end-to-end document attestation process is set out in our Pricing section.
Authentifier’s services come with the following features:
- 100% money back guarantee on our Processing Fee
- Express processing capability and fast turnaround times
- Lower cost than the recommended Notary Public fee scale and competitors
- Experienced Australian Notary Public team
- Best value and proven solutions
- Save time and money
- Easy online ordering system
- Free progress reports
- Free Express postage (within Australia)
- Free online document storage for document safekeeping
Getting started
To get started, simply complete the Get Started form.
