Identity documents you need

This page covers the documents you'll need to prove your identity for an Australian passport. You don't need to provide identity documents if you're eligible to renew your passport.

The documents you need depend on when and where you were born.

Born in Australia

• your full, original Australian birth certificate
• documents to prove your Australian citizenship (if you were born on or after 20 August 1986)
• supporting identity documents showing your photo, current address and signature.

Born outside Australia

• your Australian citizenship certificate
• evidence of your gender and place of birth, unless both are shown on your citizenship certificate
• supporting identity documents showing your photo, current address and signature.

For most people, the easiest way to provide supporting identity documents is one Category A document and one Category B document. 

All documents must be in English or translated in full by an approved translation service.

Born in Australia

You must provide:

• your full, original Australian birth certificate
• supporting identity documents showing your photo, current address and signature.

If you were born on or after 20 August 1986, you'll need extra documents to prove your Australian citizenship. See Australian citizenship to check which documents you can use.

If your name or gender has changed, you may need extra documents. See Change of name or gender.

Australian birth certificate

Your birth certificate must be a full, original Australian birth certificate issued by your state or territory Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (RBDM). We don’t accept ceremonial birth certificates or birth extracts.

If you don’t have an acceptable birth certificate, contact the RBDM in the state or territory where your birth was registered to order one:

• Australian Capital Territory(Opens in a new tab/window)
• New South Wales(Opens in a new tab/window)
• Northern Territory(Opens in a new tab/window)
• Queensland(Opens in a new tab/window)
• South Australia(Opens in a new tab/window)
• Tasmania(Opens in a new tab/window)
• Victoria(Opens in a new tab/window)
• Western Australia(Opens in a new tab/window).

Birth not registered

If your birth wasn't registered, contact your state or territory RBDM at the link above. Ask them about a late registration of birth. You'll then need one of the following:

• a full, original Australian birth certificate
• a certificate that says your birth is listed in the Northern Territory Aboriginal Population Records
• an Australian citizenship certificate from the Department of Home Affairs(Opens in a new tab/window).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants

If you were born in Australia and identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, you don't need to apply for a citizenship certificate. Instead, if you can't provide any of the above documents, you can provide a completed B19 form.

Born outside Australia

You must provide:

• your Australian citizenship certificate
• evidence of your gender and place of birth
• supporting identity documents showing your photo, current address and signature.

Evidence of gender and place of birth

Adult applicants

If you're an adult who was born overseas, and you're applying for a passport for yourself, you need to provide evidence of your gender and place of birth. You can use one of the following:

• your Australian citizenship certificate that shows your gender and place of birth
• your original foreign birth certificate  translated into English
• a foreign passport or other official documents that show your gender and place of birth
• a full, original Australian birth certificate issued post-adoption, if you were born overseas and adopted in Australia.

Child applicants

If you're applying for a passport for a child who was born overseas, provide the child's birth certificate if you can. We use this to help confirm the child's parents and who has parental responsibility.

If the child doesn't have a birth certificate, try to get one before applying for a passport. If getting a birth certificate is genuinely impossible, you'll need to get each person with parental responsibility for the child to complete a B6 form explaining why you can't get a birth certificate.

You'll also need to provide supporting documents showing that the people named on the B6 form are the child's parents. These can include:

• travel document(s) on which the family travelled to Australia
• the child’s name on a parent’s citizenship certificate
• the child’s name on a parent’s passport
• the child’s name on the full birth certificate of a younger sibling
• baptismal or other religious certificates connecting the child with the parent
• a hospital record showing both parents’ names
• a family book that links the child to the parents
• Medicare card or Health Care Card
• 2 letters stating the child’s and the parents’ names, from the child’s school (if applicable) and the child’s doctor or a religious leader.

Supporting identity documents

Use the tables below to check which Category A, B and C documents you can provide. The documents you can use depend on whether you're applying within or outside Australia.

For most people, the easiest way to provide your supporting identity documents is to give us:

• one Category A document
• one Category B document.

At least one of these documents must show your current address. If neither document shows your current address, you must also provide one Category C document.

If you can't provide a Category A or B document, see other document options.

Applying in Australia

Applying outside Australia

If you can't provide Category A or B documents

The options below explain other ways to meet the supporting identity document requirement.

If you can't provide a Category A document, then provide:

• 2 documents from Category B
• one other official document that includes your photo
• if none of these documents show your current address, one document from Category C showing your current address.

If you can't provide any Category A or Category B documents, provide:

• at least 3 documents from Category C showing your name and current address
• one official document that includes your photo and signature, such as a workplace identity card or student card.