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Notaries in Taiwan

22 district-court areas, 254 active private notaries, on one page

The Judicial Yuan's official register mixes active and revoked notaries and has no filters or map. This guide explains what a notarization is and how to find a notary; the register itself is organised into pages by area, keeping only active notaries, and those pages are in Chinese. No matchmaking, no commission, no recommendations of individual notaries.

Data updated: 2026-08-03 (date the Judicial Yuan register was scraped)

Taiwan at a glance

254

Active private notaries

199

Full-time · notarization and authentication

Part-time · authentication only

49.6%

Greater Taipei share (126)

Note: the official register holds 518 records in total as a cumulative history. 264 of them are marked "revoked" (no longer in practice) and are never shown here. Greater Taipei means the Taipei, Shilin and New Taipei court areas combined. All 22 areas have at least one active notary, offshore islands included.

First, what a notarization is (and is not)

Notarization (公證) and authentication (認證) sound alike but carry very different weight. Going to the wrong person or asking for the wrong service costs you a wasted trip at best, and protection you thought you had at worst:

	Authentication (認證)	Notarization (公證)
What it certifies	That the document or signature is genuine in form; it does not vouch for the contents	A notarial deed about the legal act or private-law fact itself
Evidential weight	The signature is presumed genuine	A public document, presumed genuine; courts generally accept it directly
Enforceability	None	Legally permitted matters can state direct enforceability (逕受強制執行): if the other side breaches, you apply for enforcement without a lawsuit
Typical items	Study and immigration documents, translations, certificates of single status, authentication of self-written wills	Notarial wills, leases, loans, gifts with conditions, agreements on future guardianship

When you would need one

Almost always triggered by a specific life event, and most people use a notary once or twice in a lifetime:

Long-term lease

For a commercial or multi-year lease, a deed that states it may be enforced directly lets you apply for enforcement over unpaid rent or a tenant who will not leave, without suing first.

What you need: Notarization (needs a full-time notary)
Loans and promissory notes

For private loans or loans between companies, turn the loan agreement or promissory note into a notarial deed that states direct enforceability, and a breach goes straight to enforcement.

What you need: Notarization (needs a full-time notary)
Notarial will

Of the five kinds of will, the most robust and least open to dispute: it is drawn up by the notary, who confirms the testator's true intent.

What you need: Notarization (needs a full-time notary)
Gift with conditions

When a home is transferred to a child on conditions such as providing care or not selling it, writing the conditions into a notarial deed with an enforcement clause gives them teeth.

What you need: Notarization (needs a full-time notary)
Documents for use abroad

Documents and translations for study, immigration, cross-border marriage or setting up abroad: get them authenticated first, then have them verified by the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

What you need: Authentication (full-time or part-time notary)

Private notary or the court's notary office?

The fees are exactly the same: notary fees are a nationwide statutory price, identical at court notary offices and private notaries. Private notaries are appointed by the district courts and belong to a district-court area (254 active in Taiwan); the notary offices of the district courts also still operate. In practice the differences are mostly location, appointments and opening hours, not fees or legal effect.

Among private notaries, the register's "scope of duties" column already states what each may handle. This is a difference in legal scope, not in quality of service:

Full-time (notarization and authentication) · 199

Can do both. If what you need is a notarization (a notarial will, a lease or loan that can be enforced directly, a gift with conditions), only a full-time notary can do it.

Part-time (authentication only) · 55

Authentication only, such as study or immigration documents, translations and authentication of a self-written will. They cannot do notarizations, so bringing a lease that needs direct enforceability to one is a wasted trip.

What "English level 1" means in the register

The register's "approved foreign languages" column lists English level 1 or 2, which looks like a rating of ability. It is not. Like full-time versus part-time, it is a legal scope set by Article 5 of the Enforcement Rules of the Notary Act: the level decides how far this notary may go in that language, not whose English is better.

English level 1 · 121

May draw up notarial deeds and their translations in English, add foreign-language notes to notarial documents, and authenticate English documents and translations. For an English notarial deed (other than a marriage document), you need level 1.

English level 2 · 96

Only English notarial deeds for marriage documents and their translations, necessary English notes, and authentication of English documents and translations. Authenticating study or immigration documents is within level 2.

Note: languages other than English are not graded (Japanese: 18, French: 3, and others) and are treated like level 1. 37 notaries have no approved foreign language listed; Chinese-language matters are not affected. The levels reflect different thresholds for approval and say nothing about quality of service; this site does not compare or recommend notaries.

Fees: one national statutory price

Notary fees are a statutory price, the same nationwide, set by the Notary Act: the same at court notary offices and at private notaries, and the same for every private notary, rising in tiers with the value involved. So this site has no price-comparison feature: there is no price difference to compare.

Value involved	Notarization fee	Authentication fee
NT$200,000 or less	NT$1,000	NT$500
Over NT$200,000 up to NT$500,000	NT$2,000	NT$1,000
Over NT$500,000 up to NT$1,000,000	NT$3,000	NT$1,500
Over NT$1,000,000 up to NT$2,000,000	NT$4,000	NT$2,000
Over NT$2,000,000 up to NT$5,000,000	NT$5,000	NT$2,500
Over NT$5,000,000 up to NT$10,000,000	NT$6,000	NT$3,000
Over NT$10,000,000 up to NT$50,000,000	For the excess, NT$2,000 added per NT$10,000,000	Half the notarization fee
Over NT$50,000,000	For the excess, NT$1,000 added per NT$10,000,000	Half the notarization fee

A deed stating direct enforceability costs an extra one half (Article 119).
Authentication of a document is charged at half the notarization fee (Article 120).
Matters not involving property (marriage, acknowledgement of a child, adoption and the like) or where the value cannot be determined are a flat NT$1,000 (Articles 112 and 113).
Extra charges apply for evenings, public holidays, or attending at a sickbed (Articles 122 and 123).

Chapter 5 of the Notary Act, on the Judicial Yuan's law database (in Chinese) ↗

How to find a notary: browse by district-court area

Private notaries belong to a district court and its area. Pick the area where the notary's office is, then read each active notary's office name, address, phone number and scope of duties. Each area's page is a listing in Chinese; addresses are in Chinese as published, which is also what a taxi driver needs. The areas follow the register's order, not headcount or any rating:

Want the whole dataset? /notary/data.json is a machine-readable register (254 notaries, official register fields plus area and coordinates; no ratings or rankings).

FAQ

What is the difference between notarization and authentication?

Authentication certifies that a document or signature is genuine in form; it does not vouch for whether the contents are true. Notarization is a notary drawing up a notarial deed about a legal act or a private-law fact itself. A notarial deed is a public document, presumed genuine, and courts generally accept it directly. The key difference is enforceability: authentication has none, while a notarial deed can state that it may be enforced directly ("逕受強制執行"), so if the other side breaches, you can apply for compulsory enforcement without first suing.

How are notary fees calculated? Is one notary cheaper than another?

No. Notary fees are fixed by law (Chapter 5 of the Notary Act) and are the same nationwide. Court notary offices and private notaries charge the same, and every private notary charges the same. Fees rise in tiers with the value involved: NT$1,000 for up to NT$200,000, NT$2,000 for over NT$200,000 up to NT$500,000, and so on. Authentication of a document costs half the notarization fee, and a deed stating it may be enforced directly costs an extra one half. Because there is no price difference to compare, this site has no price-comparison feature.

What is the difference between full-time and part-time private notaries, and which one do I need?

The "scope of duties" column in the Judicial Yuan register states what each private notary may handle. This is a difference in legal scope, not in quality of service. Full-time notaries (notarization and authentication): 199; they can do both. Part-time notaries: 55; they may only authenticate documents and cannot do notarizations. For a notarial will, a lease or loan agreement that can be enforced directly, or a gift with conditions attached, you need a full-time notary.

How many private notaries are there in Taiwan, and where do I look them up?

According to the Judicial Yuan register as scraped on 2026-08-03, there are 254 active private notaries in Taiwan (199 full-time and 55 part-time), spread over 22 district-court areas. Greater Taipei (the Taipei, Shilin and New Taipei areas) accounts for 126 of them, or 49.6%. The official register lists 518 records in total; that is a cumulative historical list that includes 264 notaries whose licences have been revoked, while tools.joelin.cc/notary shows only the active ones.

What do "English level 1" and "English level 2" in the register mean?

They are differences in legal scope set by Article 5 of the Enforcement Rules of the Notary Act, not a rating of English ability. A notary approved for English level 1 (121 in Taiwan) may draw up notarial deeds and their translations in English, add foreign-language notes to notarial documents, and authenticate English documents and translations. A notary approved for level 2 (96) may only draw up marriage-document notarial deeds and their translations in English, add necessary English text, and authenticate English documents and translations. So for an English notarial deed other than a marriage document, you need a level-1 notary; for authenticating documents for study or immigration, level 2 is enough. Other foreign languages are not graded and are treated like level 1.

Is there a difference between a private notary and the notary office at a court?

The fees are exactly the same: notary fees are a nationwide statutory price, identical at court notary offices and private notaries. Private notaries are appointed by the district courts and belong to a district-court area; there are 254 active ones. The notary offices of the district courts also still operate. In practice the differences are mostly location, appointments and opening hours, not fees or legal effect.

Source and disclaimer

Source: the Judicial Yuan register of private notaries (official register ↗, in Chinese), scraped on 2026-08-03. Changes are governed by the Judicial Yuan register itself. This site only organises the register's public fields; it does not add, delete or alter content, and does not rate, recommend or rank anyone.

If something is out of date: the register is re-scraped once a quarter, so for changes in between please check the official register. This page only organises public information and is not legal advice.

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