Notaries Public

A Notary Public is an appointed official who notarises or authenticates documents for use out of jurisdiction. Notarised documents are typically used to conduct business overseas, or for applications to overseas organisations. Once the documents are verified by the Notary Public in Singapore, the Notary Public will issue a signed and sealed notarial certificate, which serves as an indication to the overseas organisation(s) receiving the said documents that they have been properly authenticated and verified.

The role of a Notary Public includes administering oaths and affirmations, witnessing the execution (i.e. signing) of documents, certifying true copies of documents and verifying of identities, among others. All these are done to prevent fraud.

Notarised documents refer to documents that have been authenticated by a Notary Public. Before documents are notarised, the Notary Public will first need to verify the identities of the involved parties and ensure all parties signing the documents understand the contents, after which the Notary Public witnesses the signing.  

For Certifying of True Copies of documents, the Notary Public will have to compare the original documents with the copies to ensure that they are identical, before proceeding with the certification.

Notarised documents in Singapore will have a notarial certificate affixed to them, which will bear the signature and stamp of the Notary Public, as well as a Notarial Seal.

Once the Notary Public notarises the documents, they are submitted to the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) for further authentication and legalisation (if necessary). Certain documents may also have to be verified by the relevant Embassy, Consulate or High Commission.