Looking for a free public notary in Melbourne?
Unfortunately, there are no free public notary services in Melbourne. Whilst Justice of the Peace (JP) provide free witnessing of documents, they only witness documents for use in the State of Victoria rather than for use in another country. You can find a list of JPs here
You will need to pay a notary public in Melbourne if you need to notarise documents for use in another country. A notary public is qualified to witness your signature or certify documents for overseas use. In general, a notary public in Melbourne is a senior lawyer who has practised in law extensively before obtaining their notary public license through further study. In this respect, each public notary charges different rates and generally does not notarise documents pro-bono. Just like any service you provide, the notary public is providing a service by utilising their professional experience and time. Discounts may be provided but this usually is for when there are multiple documents that are notarised.
Before looking for a public notary to notarise your documents, you should first find out whether you need a public notary. The best source of information about notarisation requirements is from your lawyer overseas. If you are dealing directly with a government authority, educational institution or private organisation, you can find out if you need a notarised document or whether they have their own rules for verifying documents or people. In this respect, it is the global norm that a public notary’s stamp or seal is a trusted way to witness documents for use in different countries. Moreover, different countries have different rates for notarisation of documents, but nearly all countries’ notaries attract a fee rather than notarise documents for free.
To save you money, you can do as many steps in the notarisation process prior to the appointment. For example, you can print all the copies of documents you need and communicate directly with DFAT and the local consulates or embassies, noting that you will need to bring copies of your identity documents to any notary public appointment. It is important to copy all pages of the documents. You can also research how the notarisation process works before booking an appointment with our notary public in Melbourne.
Our public notary Kin Wee Chua has decades of experience with notarising documents for use in many countries. Our public notary applies discounts if you are notarising multiple documents and the fees are reasonable.Please call our office on 03 9602 3988 for a quote. Alternatively, please send us an email at chuatan@tpg.com.au. You can read more about what we do here.