Legitimate Taiwan Notaries per AIT?

AIT in Taiwan says that for them to notorize a document that has been translated into English from Chinese (for purposes of sending to the USA Embassy in Manila), said translated document must be first notarized by a Taiwan notary which is on a list of “approved” companies which perform this service. Does anyone know of such a list? If so, could you please provide a link? Thanks

Here is the list on the Judicial Yuan website.

There are also notaries at all District Courts. They are very busy though.

Here’s one in Taipei that will work for your purpose.

臺灣臺北地方法院所屬律衡公證人事務所
電話:(02)2314-0918 傳真:(02)2314-0943 信箱:noeljou@hotmail.com
地址:
臺北市中正區襄陽路6號6樓

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Why don’t they give you the list they demand you follow?

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Thanks much foc for the link. I made it to the Notary page where it states, “For the contact information of private notaries, refer to the civil notary registry system.” I kept searching the site and can’t for the life of me find this “system”.

Thanks, I’ll contact AIT.

The link I gave goes to the correct page with the database of licensed notaries. It is in Chinese though and there is no English version as far as I know.

Lv Heng public notary is at 6F No. 6 Hengyang Road, Taipei City. Call in advance for an appointment. (02)2314-0918.

ChatGPT could probably have helped you with the Chinese on that page as well as the address I gave you. :slight_smile:

Because the list is only in Chinese and they can’t be bothered. AIT is almost incredibly uninterested in the Americans who actually live here as far as I can tell.

OK, to be fair 95% of the Americans who need notarial services are dual citizens who are literate in Chinese or have family members who are so this is not a common issue.

The issue is they are making a statement that everyone must use their list. Or, the list they approve. they don’t have a list? It seems more like an oxymoron than just simply a shit government.

AIT’s website says:

Second, have this English-language version of the document notarized by a Taiwan notary public. Be sure to inquire whether the notary is registered with AIT. If not, choose a different one.

So I guess if you want to use Lv Heng (see my posts above), you had better check with AIT first to make sure that Lv Heng is registered with AIT. I’m about 99% sure they are but would still check.

What a pain!

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Bold be key. I am not a US citizen, so I can ibly imagine one would ask them first. If they say no, then ask online. There is a big problem. Sometimes people don’t know, are lazy or otherwise. But seems fundamentally retarded if an organization says one must do A according to their very specific list, then not have said list available. It is hard to believe they couldn’t have such list. But in today’s environment, we can easily assume the OP did ask such a basic question and the authorities that be are truly that incompetent :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

That was a little difficult to understand. :slight_smile:

I think what may be going on here is that AIT’s list is in fact the Judicial Yuan’s list of licensed notaries. The JY’s list is in Chinese, so it is possible that AIT just checks that list for Americans who need to get a translated Taiwanese document notarized. It’s a little difficult for me to believe that AIT keep and maintains its own list when the JY is already doing this.

In any event, I will admit that AIT has always been responsive to my email inquiries over the years. So it should be pretty easy for OP to check out the notary he plans to use.

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There is a translation link to English on the JY website, so I was able to see the lengthy list in English.
However, after sending an e-mail to AIT I received this:
We are afraid that we can not provide the list of Notary Public in Taiwan, when you approach them please do ask the Notary Public if they are listed on the Notary Public List of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Taiwan (MOFA) , as long as they are on MOFA’s list then AIT will accept the documents notarized by the listed Notary Public.*
So now I’m being told that the Notary Public used must be on the MOFA list, not the AIT Approved list.
I replied by asking AIT to provide me with this MOFA list being that they must have one in order to be able to check whether documents submitted to them have been notarized by a Notary Public on this “list”. I’d imagine I will need to wait until Monday for a response.

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Excellent.

So now I’m being told that the Notary Public used must be on the MOFA list, not the AIT Approved list.

Not so excellent. This sort of makes sense because MOFA does provide an authentication service for Taiwanese documents that foreign nationals (and Taiwanese) need to use for various purposes. I know that a translated document has to be notarized before MOFA will authenticate the translation.

The problem is, I cannot find a MOFA list of notaries easily.

What I do see is many references to civil notaries and their colleaugues at the district courts. It seems likely to me that MOFA’s list is the JY’s list.

Let’s see what AIT says. They are supposed to know this stuff.

Apologies, raining. Hard to type. Edited my part of the quote for clarity. Bold is edited.

This is my only point really. If an krganization requires its followers to follow “a list”, then they should eb able to provide said list. Or at least a location where it can be found. If they don’t, they deserve public ridicule until they fix their mistake.

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OK, The final results are in!! I didn’t receive an initial response to my query, so I wrote a follow-up this morning and lo & behold I received a PHONE CALL from AIT regarding this issue!! How’s that for service.
After a run around regarding “the List”,…It’s a “paper list” and can’t be sent out via e-mail, I simply asked if Notaries listed on Legislative Yuan website were authorized and was told “Yes, absolutely”. The woman also told me that 99.9% of the notaries in Taiwan are authorized for when one submits documents to AIT.
If there are any cock-ups when I visit AIT Kaohsiung next week, I’ll let you know. Thanks

Unbelievable. Both that you actually received a call from AIT and that this is a paper list that can’t be shared. Have they heard of scan technology?

Just to clarify, the list of notaries that I linked to above is maintained by the Judicial Yuan. The Legislative Yuan is an entirely different branch of government.

In any event it should be easy to Google for a notary in Kaohsiung and check it on the Judicial Yuan list. ChatGpt/Google Translate are your friends.

Good luck!

I hope things have changed since 2017. In 2017 I closed on a house I owned in Virginia. One of the closing documents required a notary seal on each of its 9 pages. AIT was happy to provide that service for a mere USD$50 per signature (notary must sign each notary seal). Yep, total cost was USD$450.

At the time the notary at AIT was the only game in town, so I had no choice. I hope things have improved since.

Do they offer a copy by fax, mail or in person. Glad you got your answer, but that is some bullshit.

Numba 1!

Many times we have had that same BS excuse in Taiwan with government drones

It is still 50 bucks/stamp.