Fees and steps checked on
Certificate attestation by country follows one chain for the UAE: the document is certified in the issuing country where needed, legalised or apostilled by that country's foreign ministry, attested by the UAE embassy there, and finally attested by MOFA attestation in the UAE. Only the authorities, fees and timings change from country to country. The table below gives the route for each country we cover.
Price: UK and USA personal documents from AED 1,025 plus VAT, Canada from AED 1,900 plus VAT, all official fees included. For every other country, send a copy on WhatsApp and you get the total price, all official fees included, before any work starts. See attestation fees.
The general attestation chain
- Issuing authority or notary. Some documents need a notary or solicitor to certify them first, or an education ministry to verify a degree.
- Home foreign ministry. It legalises the document, or adds an apostille if the country is an Apostille Convention member.
- UAE embassy or consulate in that country attests it, now mostly through the MOFA portal and VFS Global, MOFA's attestation service provider.
- MOFA in the UAE adds the final attestation, or it is already included on the digital route.
The UAE is not in the Apostille Convention, so an apostille never replaces steps 3 and 4. See attestation vs apostille.
Attestation routes by country
| Country | Route in one line | Our price |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Solicitor or notary, FCDO legalisation, UAE Embassy London (digital), MOFA included | from AED 985 plus VAT |
| United States | Notary and Secretary of State where needed, US State Department, UAE Embassy (digital), MOFA included | from AED 1,025 plus VAT |
| Canada | Notary, Global Affairs Canada or the province, UAE Embassy Ottawa, MOFA | from AED 1,900 plus VAT |
| Australia | Notary, university check for degrees, DFAT authentication, UAE Embassy Canberra, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| Ireland | Department of Foreign Affairs apostille or authentication, UAE embassy, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| New Zealand | Notary, education ministry for degrees, NZ authentication, UAE Embassy, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| South Africa | Notary, SAQA for degrees, DIRCO legalisation, UAE Embassy Pretoria, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| Philippines | Notary, CHED, DepEd or TESDA for education, DFA apostille, UAE Embassy Manila, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| Germany | University true copy, issuing authority, Federal Office of Administration, UAE Embassy Berlin, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| France | Notary, chamber of commerce for company papers, French foreign ministry, UAE Embassy Paris, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| Italy | Notary and translation, Prefecture legalisation, UAE Embassy Rome, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| Spain | Notary, translation, Education Ministry for degrees, foreign ministry, UAE Embassy Madrid, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| Netherlands | DUO for education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UAE Embassy The Hague, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| Russia | Notary and translation, Ministry of Justice, foreign ministry, UAE Embassy Moscow, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| Ukraine | State body certification, Ukrainian foreign ministry legalisation, UAE step confirmed on a copy, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| Egypt | University and Ministry of Education for degrees, Egyptian foreign ministry, UAE Embassy Cairo, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| Lebanon | Route confirmed when you send a copy | quoted on a copy |
| Jordan | Ministry of Education for degrees, Jordanian foreign ministry, UAE Embassy Amman (digital), MOFA included | quoted on a copy |
| Nigeria | Federal Ministry of Education for degrees, Nigerian foreign ministry, UAE Embassy Abuja (digital), MOFA included | quoted on a copy |
| Kenya | Notary and verification, registry office, Kenyan foreign ministry, UAE Embassy Nairobi, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
| China | Notary, home foreign ministry step, UAE embassy, MOFA, confirmed on a copy | quoted on a copy |
| Saudi Arabia | Saudi apostille, UAE embassy, MOFA | quoted on a copy |
More countries
We also attest documents from these countries. Each page explains that country's route to the UAE:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Caribbean, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Death attestation, Denmark, Divorce attestation, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Experience attestation, Fiji, Finland, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire), Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Salary certificate, Samoa, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Korea, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Document pages by country
For the most requested pairs, each page explains the exact first step for that document:
The digital attestation route
For documents issued abroad, several UAE missions now run digital attestation. The MOFA pages for the missions in London, New York, Amman and Abuja describe it, and other missions offer it too. The route for your country is confirmed when you send a copy.
- Apply on the MOFA website with UAE PASS and choose the issuing country.
- Pay online. The UAE mission and MOFA fees are paid on the MOFA website.
- Hand over the original. A MOFA-approved provider collects it. The original physical document is still required.
- Receive it by email, digitally attested by both the UAE embassy and MOFA, ready for use in the UAE, usually 2 to 3 working days for that stage.
- Get the original back by courier.
On this route, no separate MOFA stamp is needed after the document reaches the UAE. If the application is rejected, the attestation fee is refunded automatically, but the service and delivery fee is not. Some countries still use the paper route, where MOFA attests the embassy-stamped original inside the UAE.
Fees and times in the home country
Home country fees are paid before the UAE steps. They are already included in our totals. The full list is on attestation fees in the UAE, and timings by step are in how long attestation takes.
Using a UAE document abroad
The chain also runs the other way. A UAE-issued document is attested by MOFA and then usually by the destination country's embassy in the UAE. See UAE documents for use abroad.
All countries in one sheet
The UAE certificate attestation by country sheet links the degree, marriage and birth certificate route for every country we cover. It is a free Google Sheet you can open and share. How we collected the data is set out in our research report on Zenodo (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23732299).
