Melbourne Public Notary for Hong Kong Documents (香港墨爾本國際公證/ 香港墨爾本國際公證人)
Do you want your Hong Kong documents notarised by a Public Notary in Melbourne (需要墨爾本公證人公證香港文件)?
Our Melbourne Public Notary Kin Wee Chua can notarise your documents to be used in Hong Kong from our Melbourne CBD office. Our Melbourne Public Notary speaks Cantonese and has been notarising documents for over twenty years. We regularly help clients notarise documents intended for Hong Kong from our Melbourne CBD office and can help you navigate the notarisation process in Melbourne. When coming to appointments, please bring your identity cards including your original Hong Kong Identity Card or your original passport, documents you want notarised which are UNSIGNED, and copies.
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.
Apostille Stamps are generally required unless otherwise stated
Documents intended to be posted and used in Hong Kong generally require an apostille stamp from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) unless otherwise required by the document recipient (see below for examples). Our Melbourne Public Notary regularly notarises documents for Greater China and can help you with the apostille process. Please confirm with the document recipient their requirements for notarisation. You should consult a lawyer in Hong Kong or the relevant Government Office.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THE LEGALISATION PROCESS IS DIFFERENT FOR DOCUMENTS USED IN MAINLAND CHINA THAN IN HONG KONG. China has continued to apply the Apostille Convention to Hong Kong. You should speak to your lawyer, the appropriate Government office or the intended recipient in Hong Kong for their specific notarisation requirements. The Chinese Consulate in Melbourne will confirm that documents Hong Kong only requires an apostille from DFAT if you contact them.
Types of documents commonly notarised in Hong Kong
We often notarise the following documents for Hong Kong:
Signing the Hong Kong Notice of Intended Marriage form (擬結婚通知書) in Melbourne
If you are living in Melbourne and want to marry in Hong Kong, Hong Kong law have a number of requirements to recognise your intended marriage in Hong Kong. Although the process might change, you need to write directly to the Hong Kong Marriage Registration & Records Office to obtain the Notice of Intended Marriage form (擬結婚通知書) then have your signature on the form witnessed by a public notary. You can then post to Hong Kong Marriage Registration & Records Office the notarised form along with payment to the Hong Kong Government as well as the letter requesting an appointment for a marriage ceremony in Hong Kong. If you have previously married or have children then you might need to complete a statutory declaration to be signed in front of a notary public in Melbourne. Our Melbourne Public Notary regularly assists Melbourne residents to complete the Notice of Intended Marriage Form notarisation process and can assist you to obtain an appointment for the marriage ceremony.
Registration applications to practise in Hong Kong for professionals living in Melbourne (註冊申請以專業人士身分在港工作)
Certifying your Hong Kong identity documents (認證香港身分證明文件)
Our Melbourne Public Notary can certify your identity documents for use in Hong Kong and can provide you a notarial certificate to prove your identity. Common reasons to certify your identity documents include if you hold multiple citizen in different countries, are known by different names, you have a married and maiden name, your name has been translated from Chinese to English and there are slight variations in how your name appears in different identification documents. Our Melbourne Public Notary regularly certifies identity documents for use in Hong Kong and can prepare an identification notarial certificate confirming your identity from our Melbourne CBD office if you cannot fly back to Hong Kong to complete the verification process yourself. Please confirm with the document recipient the correct format and content of the certification of identity documents as well as their fee to process the document. Our Melbourne Notary Public is fluent in Chinese Cantonese so he can assist with language requirements of the notarial certificate. We regularly deal with DFAT so can ensure the apostille requirements are correctly met.
Please contact our office if your documents are time sensitive and we can arrange the notarisation and legalisation process with DFAT for you. You will need to present yourself at our Melbourne Notary Public appointment and provide satisfactory photographic and other identification documents to confirm your identity.
Hong Kong property transaction documents notarised in Melbourne (物業買賣)
Our Melbourne Public Notary can notarise your property contracts and transaction documents from our Melbourne CBD office as well as arrange legalisation with DFAT for an apostille stamp. As these matters are time sensitive, we can efficiently complete the process so as to give you peace of mind and ensure the documents are posted to Hong Kong in the most time efficient manner.
Hong Kong Probate and estate matters (遺囑認證及遺產事宜/遺囑認證及遺產事務)
Witnessing power of attorney for Hong Kong (香港授權書)
If you are in Melbourne and want to authorise someone in Hong Kong to act on your behalf, you can have your power of attorney notarised by an Australian Public Notary and post it to Hong Kong. The power of attorney allows the person you appoint in Hong Kong to deal with property, business and other legal or financial proceedings in Hong Kong whilst you remain in Melbourne. Please consult a Hong Kong lawyer as the requirements for a power of attorney varies from each country. The power of attorney should be prepared by someone who is experienced and familiar with Hong Kong procedures. Although you can prepare your own power of attorney for Hong Kong, you should note that the power of attorney you have prepared might contain the wrong information or be in the wrong format which will require you to prepare another power of attorney. You might then need to waste cost and will have lost time to have another power of attorney notarised.
Your HK power of attorney needs to be notarised if you are in Australia when signing it. Our Melbourne Public Notary can confirm your identity, witness your signature then notarise your power of attorney documents. If you want to complete the legalisation process the most efficiently, you can engage us to deal with DFAT on your behalf to obtain apostille.
Withdrawal of Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) benefits (提取強積金權益)
If you live in Melbourne, have worked in Hong Kong and have accumulated MPF benefits when you were employed, you can usually withdraw your MPF benefits after you reach 65 years of age by completing forms and getting a Melbourne Public Notary to notarise them. However, you can also withdraw your MPF benefits before you turn 65 years old if you go into early retirement, if you are permanently departing from Hong Kong, you are left totally incapacitated, suffer a terminal illness, have a small balance or have died.
Early Retirement
You can withdraw your MPF benefits if you are at least 60 years old and are no longer working. To support your application for early withdrawal, you must submit an application and make a statutory declaration declaring you have no intention of working and you can receive the MPF benefits as a lump sum or by instalments. Please note that Hong Kong authorities conduct random checks and can take enforcement action against individuals who make false statutory declarations.
You can find a copy of the relevant application form here or by searching online “CLAIM FORM FOR PAYMENT OF MPF ACCRUED BENEFITS (BENEFITS) ON GROUNDS OF ATTAINING THE RETIREMENT AGE OF 65 OR EARLY RETIREMENT”. You can find the relevant statutory declaration form here or by searching online “STATUTORY DECLARATION FOR CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT OF MPF ACCRUED BENEFITS ON GROUNDS OF EARLY RETIREMENT”. The statutory declaration must be witnessed by a notary public if you are in Melbourne. These forms usually need to be posted to Hong Kong and do not generally need an apostille stamp. Please confirm the notarisation requirements with your MPF trustee prior to booking your appointment with our Melbourne Public Notary. Our Melbourne Public Notary will identify you and witness your signature at the appointment. He will then notarise your document i.e. sign, stamp and seal.
