Certificate Attestation — frequently asked questions

It's the official chain of stamps that makes a document issued in one country legally valid in another. UAE authorities — immigration, MOHRE, courts — only accept foreign certificates that carry the full attestation chain.

Four stages: notarisation or authentication in the issuing country, that country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UAE Embassy there, and finally MOFAIC in the UAE. We manage all four stages without you leaving the UAE.

The UAE-side MOFAIC stamp is AED 150 per personal document (AED 2,000 for commercial documents). Home-country steps vary by country — we quote the full chain per document before starting.

No. The UAE is not part of the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille alone is rejected — documents need full embassy legalisation plus the MOFAIC stamp.

Usually 2–8 weeks end to end depending on the issuing country — UK and US documents are often done in 2–4 weeks, India around 4–6 weeks, and some countries take longer. The final MOFAIC step takes only a day or two and is now digital.

Yes — employment visas for skilled roles require the degree certificate attested through the full chain, and some roles need additional verification of the university. Start early; this is one of the most common causes of onboarding delays.

The marriage certificate to sponsor a spouse, and birth certificates to sponsor children. If they are not in Arabic or English, they will also need legal translation after attestation — we handle both together.

Yes — this is our standard service. Your documents are processed in the issuing country through our partners and couriered back, and the final MOFAIC step happens here in the UAE.

The chain reverses: the UAE issuing authority, then MOFAIC (AED 150), then the destination country's embassy in the UAE, and that country's foreign ministry on arrival if required.

The attestation itself doesn't expire, but some authorities want recently issued documents — police clearance certificates, for example, are typically accepted only for 3–6 months. We'll tell you if a document needs re-issuing rather than re-attesting.