Last reviewed: August 2026 · Prepared by the Taw-Theeq legal services team, Deira, Dubai
Almost every foreign document you present to a UAE authority — a degree certificate for a work permit, a marriage certificate for a spouse visa, a power of attorney from abroad, a parent company’s incorporation documents — has to be attested before it will be accepted. This guide sets out the chain in the order it actually happens, what MOFA does at the end of it, and the two requirements applicants most often discover too late.
Before anything else: the UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention. As of the HCCH status table updated 30 June 2026, the United Arab Emirates does not appear among the Contracting Parties. An apostille alone will not make a foreign document usable here — the full consular legalisation chain is required.
The attestation chain for a document issued outside the UAE
- Notarisation or issuing-authority certification in the country of origin. A private document (an affidavit, a power of attorney, a company resolution) is notarised first. A public document (a degree, a birth or marriage certificate) is certified by the issuing body or the relevant ministry.
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country of origin. That ministry authenticates the notary’s or authority’s seal.
- UAE Embassy or Consulate in that country. The UAE mission attests the foreign ministry’s seal. This is the step an apostille cannot replace.
- UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), inside the UAE. The final attestation, which is what the local authority actually looks for.
- Legal translation into Arabic. Where the receiving authority requires Arabic — courts, notary public, most government departments — the attested document is translated by a translator licensed by the UAE Ministry of Justice.
For documents issued inside the UAE and intended for use abroad, the chain runs in the opposite direction: the issuing UAE authority, then MOFA, then the destination country’s embassy in the UAE.
What MOFA charges and how long it takes
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Personal-status documents | AED 150 per document (per the MOFA attestation guide) |
| Commercial documents | AED 2,000 per document (per the MOFA attestation guide) |
| Digital attestation | Completed within 2 hours during official working hours |
| Courier-based attestation | 1–3 business days depending on the courier and location |
| Channels | MOFA website, the UAE MOFA smartphone application, approved couriers, and UAE missions abroad |
Fee schedules are set by the Ministry and change from time to time. Confirm the current amount on the official MOFA service page before you budget, and note that these figures cover the UAE-side step only — origin-country notary, foreign ministry and UAE mission fees are additional and vary by country.
The two mistakes that cost the most time
Translating before attesting
The chain authenticates seals and signatures on the original. If you translate first and then attest, the attestation stamps land on the wrong document and the file is returned. Attest first; translate the attested original afterwards. See certified legal translation in Dubai for what the receiving authority means by “certified”.
Skipping a link in the chain
Each step verifies the seal added by the previous one. A document that goes from a foreign notary straight to the UAE mission, without the origin-country foreign ministry in between, has nothing for the mission to verify. There is no way to add a missing link retrospectively other than starting that stage again.
Documents that most commonly need attestation
- Degree and educational certificates — required for many work permits and professional licences.
- Marriage certificates — for family and spouse residence applications.
- Birth certificates — for dependant visas and school enrolment.
- Commercial documents — incorporation certificates, board resolutions, powers of attorney, certificates of good standing.
- Police clearance certificates, medical reports and experience letters, depending on the requesting authority.
A practical sequence
- Ask the receiving authority exactly what it needs — original or copy, Arabic or bilingual, and whether an expiry window applies.
- Complete the attestation chain in the country of origin before the document leaves it. Restarting from abroad is slow and expensive.
- Complete MOFA attestation in the UAE.
- Have the attested document translated into Arabic by a Ministry of Justice–licensed translator, keeping the attestation stamps visible in the translated set.
- Submit, and keep a scanned copy of every stamped page — re-attestation is far more painful than re-printing.
Need attestation and certified translation handled together?
We manage MOFA and embassy attestation alongside Ministry of Justice–certified Arabic translation, so the document arrives at the receiving authority complete. Office in Deira, Dubai, opposite the RDC building.