Online NAATI Translation: Are Digital Stamps Accepted?

Yes, you can have a NAATI translation done entirely online, and NAATI (the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters) issues digital stamps for exactly that purpose. Whether a particular organisation accepts a digital stamp is a separate question, and the answer is up to that organisation. Before you order, find out whether it wants a PDF with a digital stamp or a printed copy with an ink stamp and signature.

What ordering online changes

Not much about the standard. A NAATI translation depends on the translator's credential and the stamp on the document, and neither depends on whether you met the translator in person. What changes is how the stamp is applied and how the translation reaches you. On the CertifiedWords ordering site, completed translations are delivered by email, with physical delivery available where applicable.

Physical and digital stamps

NAATI-certified translators can use either kind. NAATI has offered the digital stamp since March 2023, mainly so that translators working on a computer no longer have to print, stamp, sign and rescan every page.

Physical stamp

• Form: a square ink stamp on the printed translation
• Date shown: the translation date
• Verification: the practitioner number is checked in NAATI's verification tool
• Signature: handwritten

Digital stamp

• Form: an image file pasted into the digital translation
• Date shown: a "Stamp generated on" date, instead of a translation date
• Verification: scan the QR code, or type the 32-character code into NAATI's verification page
• Signature: the panel reads "Digitally Authenticated by NAATI"

A translator downloads a digital stamp from their myNAATI account after signing in with multi-factor authentication. Each stamp has its own QR code, specific to the day it was generated, and the stamp cannot be generated unless the credential was active that day.

What the sources say about acceptance

It helps to separate three sources, because they don't say the same thing.

NAATI says the authentication panel means a digital stamp can be accepted without a handwritten signature. In a post published roughly two years after the stamp was introduced, it also said that some organisations were unwilling to accept digital stamps, and named ASIC as one it was working with at the time.

Government guidance is mixed. DFAT's staff guidance on foreign-language documents describes both the physical and the digital stamp as ways to recognise a NAATI translation. Home Affairs' general application guidance tells applicants in Australia to include the translator's NAATI practitioner number with translated documents. The Home Affairs guidance we reviewed does not mention digital stamps either way, so the page for your visa subclass is the one to check.

Individual organisations such as universities, employers and professional bodies set their own rules, and they are the ones that decide.

Three situations to check

These are hypothetical, but they cover the usual cases.

• You are uploading documents to an online application. Check which file types the form accepts, and whether it asks for the original document as well as the translation.
• A university, employer or professional body has asked for your translation. Ask whether a PDF is enough, or whether it needs a printed copy with an ink stamp and signature.
• You are handing in or posting documents. Ask whether it will accept a printed copy of a digitally stamped translation.

If a printed copy is needed, say so when you order, because printing and posting add time.

Printing a translation with a digital stamp

Print it at full size. NAATI says the QR code must be at least 2 cm by 2 cm to work, and recommends that the stamp be at least 7 cm wide to stay readable. A shrunken or blurred code may not scan.

Checking the stamp when it arrives

Scan the QR code. NAATI's page shows the translator's credentials and says whether the digital stamp is valid. If it says "Digital Stamp: Invalid", which NAATI uses for stamps that have been disabled or forged, contact the translator before you submit anything. If you cannot scan the code, NAATI explains how to type in the 32-character code printed beneath it. A certified practitioner's number begins with CPN and is nine characters long, and you can look it up in NAATI's verification tool. Our guide to checking whether a translator is NAATI certified covers this in more detail.

Then read the translation itself. Names, dates and places should match your passport and other documents, and stamps, seals and handwritten notes on the original should be translated.

Reading the dates on a stamp

The dates are easy to confuse, so here is an example with made-up dates.

Suppose a translator's physical stamp says "valid to 30 June 2027" and the translation is dated 12 March 2027. The "valid to" date refers to the translator's credential when the stamp was issued, not to the translation. NAATI says translations do not expire, and its view is that a translation dated within the credential's validity period should be accepted unless there is another reason to reject it. DFAT's guidance, in its description of the physical stamp, says translations dated after the "valid to" date are not acceptable. A translation dated 5 July 2027 on the same stamp would therefore be a problem.

A digital stamp works differently. It shows the date it was generated and has no expiry date. If the translator's credential lapses later, NAATI's page will show the credential as expired but will still say that a stamp generated while it was active is valid.

Before you order

Your next step is the receiving organisation's own instructions. If you have questions about how ordering with CertifiedWords works, contact us. We can explain our process, but the organisation receiving your translation decides what it accepts. When you are ready, you can check prices and order online.

Related reading

• What is a NAATI certified translation?
• How to check if a translator is NAATI certified
• How to order a certified translation online