Marrying in Australia
Marrying in Australia with foreign documents
If you were born overseas, or a previous marriage ended overseas, the papers that go with your Notice of Intended Marriage may not be in English. We translate them in full — birth certificates, passports, divorce and death certificates — and deliver digitally, with a NAATI certification option at checkout where your state’s wording points to it.
Marrying in Australia: does your document need translating?
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Where it is asked for
What New South Wales and Queensland say
Marriage is registered state by state. We have verified the wording for New South Wales and Queensland only, quoted here from the governments themselves. Other states and territories publish their own rules, and we do not assume they match.
New South Wales
The NSW Government’s page on getting married says “foreign language certificates and documents must be translated into English by a National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters accredited translator.” That wording speaks of certificates and documents generally, not just the birth certificate — so a divorce order or death certificate in another language reads as falling under it too.
Queensland
Queensland’s guidance on documents in other languages names two things to provide: “a certified copy of the original document” and “a translation by a translator certified by the National Accreditation Authority”. The certified copy is something you arrange locally. The translation is what we prepare.
Other states and territories
Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory each publish their own guidance. We have not verified it, so read your own registry’s page or ask your celebrant before you order. If it names a NAATI translator, the NAATI certification option is the one to choose. Our NAATI translation page explains what you receive.
What to have translated
The documents that usually go with the notice
Your celebrant will tell you exactly which papers they need to sight. These are the ones that most often arrive in a language other than English.
Birth certificate
Evidence of your date and place of birth. Have the whole certificate translated, including the parents’ names, the registration number and any note added in the margin later. More on birth certificate translation.
Passport
If your passport is used instead of, or as well as, a birth certificate, the identity page is the part to translate. Some passports already print that page in English, so check with your celebrant before ordering a translation you may not need.
Divorce or death certificate
If you have been married before, expect to be asked for the document that shows how that marriage ended. A foreign divorce order, decree or certificate, or a former spouse’s death certificate, is translated in full. More on divorce certificate translation.
What a careful job includes
How a full translation is prepared
The whole page, in order
Every field, heading, stamp, seal and handwritten note is rendered in English in the order it appears on the original, so a celebrant can hold the two side by side and compare them field by field.
Names spelt one way
A wedding brings several documents together. Tell us how your name appears in your passport and we keep that spelling across the birth certificate, divorce papers and anything else, so nothing reads as a different person.
Translator details with NAATI certification
With the NAATI certification option, the translation is prepared by a NAATI-certified translator and carries their name, practitioner number, certification statement and digital stamp with its QR code. The Standard option carries no statement or stamp.
Marrying in New South Wales or Queensland? Both governments’ wording points to a NAATI translator — choose the NAATI certification option at checkout. Using the same documents for a partner visa or citizenship application? Home Affairs’ wording also points to a NAATI-accredited translator for translations done in Australia, so the same option applies. See what the partner visa checklist asks for.
Pricing
The full price on screen before you order
Translation is $39.99 per page into English, delivered digitally. Add NAATI certification for $59.99 per page, prepared by a NAATI-certified translator with a digital stamp carrying a scannable QR code. Each side that carries text, a stamp or a seal counts as a page, so a certificate printed on one side is one page and a back with a registration stamp makes two; for a passport, you choose the pages that need translating.
Already married overseas and need that certificate in English?
Questions
What people ask about marrying in Australia with foreign documents
Yes. The Attorney-General’s Department says you do not have to be an Australian citizen or a permanent resident to marry here. Check two things first. The department’s guidelines for celebrants recommend that foreign nationals ask the authorities in their own country, because some countries do not recognise a marriage made in Australia unless another step, such as permission from their embassy, came first. And if either of you wants to live in Australia afterwards, the department says to find out about getting a visa.
The same as for anyone else, because citizenship is not one of them. The Attorney-General’s Department says you must not already be married, must not be marrying a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother or sister, and must be at least 18, unless a court has approved a marriage where one of you is 16 to 18. You must both understand what marriage means and freely agree to it, use specific words during the ceremony, and be married by an authorised celebrant. Your Notice of Intended Marriage must reach that celebrant at least one month, and no more than 18 months, before the wedding.
Besides the Notice of Intended Marriage, the Attorney-General’s Department says your celebrant needs evidence of your date and place of birth (a birth certificate or passport), proof of identity (a driver’s licence or passport), and proof that any previous marriage has ended. Two details catch out people born overseas. The department’s guidelines for celebrants say an overseas passport that does not show your place of birth cannot be used as evidence of it; the celebrant will then ask for a birth certificate or, where appropriate, a statutory declaration. And the celebrant must see the originals before the ceremony, not just copies.
Yes. The Attorney-General’s Department says you can complete the Notice of Intended Marriage while you are overseas. Signed outside Australia, it must be witnessed by someone the form lists, such as an Australian consular or diplomatic officer or a notary public, and it must still reach your celebrant at least one month before the wedding. The celebrant guidelines let you send copies of the notice and your documents at that stage, but the celebrant needs the signed original notice and your original documents before the ceremony. Since 12 June 2024 the celebrant must also meet each of you separately and in person, so arrive with time to spare.
Yes. The Attorney-General’s Department says the right to marry in Australia “is no longer determined by sex or gender”, and the Marriage Act has provided for marriage equality since 9 December 2017. The steps are the same as for any couple: the notice at least one month ahead, and the same evidence of birth, identity and the end of any earlier marriage. On the notice each of you decides whether to be described as partner, bride or groom, and the gender question is optional. Before you rely on the marriage at home, check whether your own country recognises it.
No. The Attorney-General’s Department says two witnesses over 18 must sign the marriage certificates on the day, along with the two of you and your celebrant, and its guidelines make finding them your job, not the celebrant’s. Language matters too: the NSW Government says your witnesses need to speak and understand English. If you, a witness or the celebrant does not understand the language of the ceremony, the guidelines leave it to the celebrant to decide whether an interpreter is needed, and the interpreter cannot be either of you. We translate documents; we do not supply interpreters.
Divorce documents from the country that granted the divorce, and only for your most recent marriage. That is the Attorney-General’s guidance to celebrants, which adds that a divorce granted by a church is not a court divorce order and does not show you are free to marry. The department cannot verify foreign divorce papers, so a celebrant with doubts may ask you to get written confirmation from your country’s embassy or high commission. If your notice says divorce pending, the divorce must take effect before the wedding. Divorce certificate translation covers the translation itself.
Start with the national guidance, because every celebrant in Australia works under the same Marriage Act. The Attorney-General’s guidelines for celebrants note that the Marriage Regulations do not insist on an accredited translator, except for a minor’s consent to marry. The same guidelines then tell a celebrant, even one who reads the language, that they “should ask the couple to seek an official NAATI certified translation of the document”. Ask your state registry and your celebrant what they need before you order. Where they follow that guidance, the NAATI certification option is the one that matches it.
The national guidance for celebrants points away from it, for a reason that has nothing to do with language skills. The Attorney-General’s guidelines describe marriage documents as part of a chain a person uses for life to prove identity, and say an accredited translation preserves a name in full, especially where a document uses non-alphabetic characters. Celebrants copy names from your documents onto the marriage certificates, and the guidelines warn that a mismatch with your birth certificate may cause problems if you later apply for an Australian passport in a married name. Which spelling of your name goes on the translation explains how we handle names.
Ideally before you give the notice. The notice must reach your celebrant at least one month before the wedding, and the Attorney-General’s guidelines encourage couples to bring their evidence of birth, identity and any divorce at the same time. They also say a formal translation is how the celebrant knows how to write a name in English. Normal delivery is within 3 days, included in the price, and every delivery window is an estimate. We do not deliver on Sundays: a delivery that would fall on a Sunday arrives on the Monday. If your notice date is close, contact us before you order and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet it.
It depends on the page count. A birth certificate and a divorce certificate of one page each come to $79.98 as Standard translations, or $199.96 with NAATI certification, with Normal delivery included, and we add nothing at checkout. Any side carrying text, a stamp or a seal counts as a page, including the back. If one of you is in Australia on permanent residence or an eligible visa granted in the past two years, check the free government translating service first, allowing up to 30 days after approval. Tourist visa holders are not eligible.
No, and you cannot. The Attorney-General’s Department says overseas marriages cannot be registered in Australia, and the NSW Government adds that you cannot be issued an Australian marriage certificate for one. NSW says you need to have registered the marriage in the country where it took place. The department’s celebrant guidelines call that overseas certificate the only evidence of the marriage, so keep it safe, and the department notes that some states and territories will not accept it to change your name. Marriage certificate translation covers getting it into English.
Usually, yes. The Attorney-General’s Department says an overseas marriage is generally recognised if it was valid in the country where it took place and would have been valid here. The NSW Government lists the exceptions: one of you was already married, was not of marriageable age in Australia, or did not truly consent, or you are too closely related. If yours is not recognised, NSW says you will generally need to consider legal advice, give a statutory declaration about the marriage, and have an official ceremony in Australia as if you were not already married. That starts with a Notice of Intended Marriage and the usual documents.
Your celebrant registers it for you. The Attorney-General’s Department says the celebrant must send the paperwork to the births, deaths and marriages registry in the state or territory where you married within 14 days. The certificate handed to you on the day is ceremonial. The official marriage certificate comes from that registry, and your celebrant can apply for it for you, generally at a cost. If your home country wants that certificate in its own language, ask its embassy what kind of translation it accepts before you order. Our order page takes English into another language as well as into English.
Sources: Attorney-General’s Department, Get married, and its Guidelines on the Marriage Act 1961 for authorised celebrants; NSW Government, getting married in NSW. Checked 18 September 2026.