Quick summary: No. NAATI states that a translation from a credentialed translator remains valid indefinitely. The "valid to" date on a physical stamp is the expiry of the translator's credential, not of your translation. Where the translation was completed while the credential was current, NAATI's stated opinion is that the translation must be accepted — unless there is some reason other than the date for not accepting it.
Someone looks at a translation done three years ago, sees a date on the stamp that has passed, and concludes the document is stale.
It is one of the most common misreadings in this area, and NAATI has published a direct answer to it — partly because the confusion was widespread enough to influence how it designed its digital stamps.
The short answer
Translations do not expire.
NAATI's practitioner identification guidance states that a translation from a NAATI-credentialed translator should include the date at which the translation was completed, and that the translation remains valid indefinitely.
What the date on the stamp actually is
A physical NAATI translator stamp carries a "valid to" date. NAATI explains what it refers to: the recertification or potential expiry date of the practitioner's credential, as at the time the stamp was issued.
And it says explicitly what the date does not mean — it does not reflect a date after which a translation is invalid or unacceptable.
NAATI puts the point in a single sentence worth quoting to anyone who queries your document: the expiry date on the translation stamp relates to the translator's credential, not the validity of the translation.
The rule for a translation done in the credential's lifetime
NAATI goes one step further and states a position on acceptance.
Where the translation date shown falls within the period of validity of the credential — that is, before the "valid to" date — NAATI's opinion is that the translation must be accepted where it has been presented, unless there are reasons other than the date for it not to be accepted.
That final clause is doing honest work. NAATI is not claiming a translation is immune from all objection. It is saying the date is not a valid objection.
Why the two dates are separate at all
Certification is attached to a person and is time-limited. Under the current NAATI Certification System, practitioners must recertify every three years by demonstrating continuing work practice and professional development, and a credential expires after three years if the translator does not recertify.
So the credential has a life cycle. The translation is a completed piece of work, produced at a point when that credential was live. Nothing that happens to the translator afterwards reaches back and changes the document.
This is also why the verification tool can return "expired credentials" alongside a valid digital stamp — the stamp was generated while the credential was active, and NAATI's system reports both facts without treating them as a contradiction.
Old accreditation stamps have no expiry at all
You may come across a NAATI translator stamp with no expiry date printed on it.
Those come from the former accreditation system, which ran from 1977 to 2017 and was replaced by the Certification System in January 2018. Practitioners accredited before 2007 were awarded accreditation for life, and NAATI compares those credentials to a university degree — they did not expire.
Stamps of that kind are no longer issued, but NAATI states that translations containing these stamps remain valid indefinitely.
The one documented exception
There is a real, dated restriction, and it is narrow.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will only legalise translations completed by translators holding NAATI certification under the current system, including Recognised Practising credentials. From 1 July 2018 it stopped accepting translations done by translators holding an accreditation under the former system.
Translations dated before 1 July 2018 are not affected and are still accepted.
Note how specific that is. It is not a general expiry of translations. It is one department's rule about which credential type it will legalise, with a cut-off date and a grandfathering clause.
Digital stamps and dates
NAATI's digital stamps were designed partly around this confusion. NAATI records that the certification expiry printed on the physical stamp caused a lot of confusion among clients who could mistake it for the validity of the translation.
So a digital stamp shows no credential expiry date at all. It can only be downloaded by a practitioner with current credentials, so the absence of a date is the assurance. In its place, a "Stamp generated on" date records when the stamp was produced — which, because the QR codes are day-specific, is effectively the date of the translation work.
When you genuinely do need a new translation
Translations do not age out. Documents and circumstances do. A fresh translation is warranted when:
The underlying document has been reissued
A reissued police certificate, an amended birth certificate, a renewed passport — the translation follows the document it was made from.
You are lodging a different version
A translation of last year's bank statement does not cover this year's.
The authority wants a recent original
This is a rule about the document's currency, not the translation's. If an authority asks for a police check issued within the last twelve months, a perfectly valid translation of a five-year-old certificate does not solve the problem — you need a new certificate, and then a translation of it.
Something other than the date is wrong
An error, a missing page, or a stamp that fails verification.
That last category is the one NAATI's carve-out contemplates: reasons other than the date.
If someone rejects your translation on the date
Three steps, in order.
- Check what they actually objected to. "It's out of date" sometimes means the underlying document is old, not the translation.
- Point them at NAATI's published position on the practitioner identification page, which states the position plainly and can be downloaded on NAATI letterhead for exactly this purpose.
- Verify the stamp and show them the result, so the question moves from the date to the credential.
If you are lodging a birth certificate translation for a visa or a certified translation for a citizenship application, the translation you already hold is very likely still fine — check whether the document underneath it is what needs replacing.
Before you reorder
Do not pay for a re-translation because a stamp date has passed. Establish first whether the objection is to the translation or to the age of the original document, because only one of those is fixed by ordering another translation.
NAATI publishes this guidance and updates it over time, so check the current page if you need to rely on it.