Document Authentication - Category B
Before certain New Zealand documents can be used overseas, document authentication may be necessary. It is required where overseas officials are not able to determine on sight the authenticity of New Zealand documents.
The Category B process is as follows:
1. The Authentication Unit authenticates your documents and sends them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade processes your documents and forwards your documents to a New Zealand overseas mission where there is also a foreign mission of the country in which the document is to be used.
3. The New Zealand overseas mission verifies the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's signature and seal and forwards the documents to the foreign mission.
4. The foreign mission verifies the New Zealand overseas mission's signature and seal and returns the authenticated documents to you.
For foreign mission contact details refer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade website. You should contact the foreign mission to find out their requirements and to arrange payment and the return of the documents to you before sending your document to us.
Click here for application form (.pdf) 55k*
*This document is in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. You need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download a free version from the Adobe site.
Send us your documents for authentication:
By courier:
Authentication Unit, Level 13, Prime Property Tower, 86-90 Lambton Quay, Wellington 6011
Or by post:
Authentication Unit, Department of Internal Affairs, PO Box 805, Wellington 6140
Other contact details:
email: authentication@egs.govt.nz
Phone: (04) 470-2928 Freephone: 0800 872 675 Fax: (04) 470-2921
Authentication Officers: Carlee Reid, Shannan Wong, Rita Foaese
Make sure you have enclosed:
The document/s to authenticate. If you have more than one document to authenticate, you may need to check with the end-user whether the documents can be processed as a set or authenticated separately. Documents in a set will be joined together. Documents with different seals from different issuing authorities can be authenticated as one set.
Please indicate clearly which documents belong together, and the order of each set, when you submit more than one set of documents.
You should paper clip or staple each set together.
You need to enclose a covering letter for the foreign mission, as well as their payment so we can pass this along.
FEES:
$195 NZD (incl. GST) for one authentication certificate (we can attach any number of documents to one certificate)
$61 NZD for each additional authentication certificate submitted at the same time.
1 authentication certificate = $195
2 authentication certificates = $256
3 authentication certificates = $317
All fees are paid to the Department of Internal Affairs.
The fee includes payment for Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the New Zealand overseas post.
HOW TO PAY:
You can pay by:
- One cheque or money order made out to The Department of Internal Affairs; or
- VISA, Mastercard or American Express details (card number, expiry date and name of cardholder); or
- Invoice - available for New Zealand based corporate customers; or
- Cash or EFTPOS - if you visit our office.
Your documents need to meet certain requirements before you send them to us:
1. A birth, marriage**, death or change of name certificate issued in New Zealand:
Send the original document to us if it has the round seal of the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages (or the Registrar-General). Some older documents do not have either seal and so new certificates need to be ordered from Births Deaths and Marriages. You can call them on 0800 22 52 52 (from overseas +64 4 463 9362) or download their application forms at www.bdm.govt.nz
** We cannot authenticate the marriage document that you signed on your wedding day (the Copy of Particulars of Marriage). We can only authenticate an official marriage certificate ordered after the wedding.
2. A document bearing the seal and/or signature of an approved GOVERNMENT agency such as a Court, a Police station, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA), the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), etc.
Please send the original to us.
Passports/Driver Licences
We cannot authenticate an original Passport or Driver Licence. You must provide a copy that has been certified by the issuing office or notarised by a Notary Public.
Criminal Conviction Letters from the Ministry of Justice:
When ordering these please ask the Ministry of Justice to print the Criminal Conviction Letter on their blue logo paper with an ink signature. We cannot authenticate black and white letters. Please follow the instructions on their website (these apply for all countries):
Companies Office documents:
The Companies Offices generates Certificates of Incorporation, Certificates of Registration and Company Extracts which you can download or email from their website. You can send these to us by email or in hardcopy.
To order these documents please go to:
Syrian Visa applications
You must apply for a Letter Confirming the Details of your Passport from the Business Support team at the Passport Office.
You must provide a photocopy of the biodata page of your passport, your full address and phone number, and a request for a Letter Confirming the Details of your Passport for use in obtaining a Syrian visa. You should request that the Letter be forwarded to The Authentication Unit. The authentication will cost $65. You can contact us directly to make the payment, advise credit card details on your request, or send your payment to the Passport Office for them to forward on to us with the Letter.
We will send you the authenticated Letter so that you can send it with your visa application to the Syrian Embassy.
Send your request, either:
By post to: Passport Office, Business Support, PO Box 10526, Wellington 6143
Or fax to: Attention Business Support, 04 382 3403
Or email it to: passport.correspondence@dia.govt.nz or passports.nz@dia.govt.nz
3. Documents that are not issued by the government:
Documents such as contracts, references, powers of attorney, academic documents***, Chamber of Commerce certificates and any other document not issued by the government needs to be notarised by a Notary Public in New Zealand before you send them to our office. The Notary Public will sign the document and affix his/her seal to it. You can find a list of Notaries Public for your area in the Yellow Pages of your telephone book. The Notary Public will charge a fee.
You then need to send us only the notarised document, not the original.
We cannot authenticate documents certified by a solicitor or a Justice of the Peace.
***All documents issued by a school or university will need to be notarised before you send them to us. We cannot authenticate original documents issued by schools or universities. We can only authenticate original documents issued by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and the Ministry of Education.
Links to further information
The Translation Service - the Department of Internal Affairs translation service.
