Getting married in Australia and planning to live overseas Or flying in from another country to tie the knot here
Your Australian marriage is valid worldwide, but some countries want a little extra proof. Once you receive your official marriage certificate from Births Deaths and Marriages, you may need an apostille stamp from DFAT to make it internationally recognised. It is simple, it is official, and it keeps your love story moving across borders.
Any country that is a signatory to the Hague Apostille Convention requires an apostille stamp on an Australian marriage certificate. This includes more than one hundred and twenty countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, most of Europe including France, Germany and the Netherlands, and also Japan and India. If you want to check the full list, you can find it on the Hague Conference Apostille Section.
If the country you are moving to is not part of the Hague Convention, such as China, the United Arab Emirates or Taiwan, then you will need a different process. These countries require full embassy or consulate legalisation, sometimes called authentication. It is simply a different way of confirming your Australian marriage certificate is genuine.