Fees and steps checked on
Australia birth certificate attestation is required before your child can be sponsored on a UAE residence visa. The full certificate from the state or territory Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages is authenticated by DFAT, attested by the UAE Embassy in Canberra and then by MOFA. The same attested certificate can then be shown to a school.
Price: send a copy on WhatsApp and you get the total price, all official fees included, before any work starts. See attestation fees.
Full certificate or extract
Each state and territory runs its own BDM, from Victoria to Western Australia, and most issue more than one format. Choose the full birth certificate with both parents listed. A version without parents' names cannot prove the parent and child link, and the visa file may stall even after every stamp has been paid for.
Damaged, laminated or missing? Order a new full certificate from the BDM of the place of birth before starting.
Where the attested certificate is used
| Purpose | Who asks | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Child residence visa | GDRFA in Dubai, ICP in the other emirates | proves the sponsor is the parent |
| School enrolment | some schools in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah | proof of age and identity |
| Family file | visa officers | read together with the parents' marriage certificate |
More detail: attestation for school admission and documents to attest for a UAE family visa.
How the attestation works
- Order the full certificate from the BDM where the child was born.
- Notary, if required. Some documents go through an Australian notary first; we check yours from the copy you send.
- DFAT authentication. DFAT issues an authentication certificate rather than an apostille, because the UAE is not an Apostille Convention member.
- UAE Embassy Canberra. The embassy attests the certificate.
- MOFA in the UAE. Applied for online. The MOFA attestation is the stamp schools and visa officers look for.
All of these official fees and courier are inside our quote. Australian degrees and other papers follow the chain on Australia certificate attestation.
Already holding an apostille?
Some parents order an apostille from DFAT before they know the document is for the UAE. Australia is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, but the UAE is not, so the apostille cannot be passed to the UAE Embassy in Canberra on its own. Send us a photo of what you have: we tell you whether a fresh DFAT authentication is needed before the embassy stage, and what the total will be.
Avoid these mistakes
Ordering the extract. It looks official but may leave out the parents. Check before ordering.
Asking DFAT for an apostille. The UAE needs the authentication certificate.
A child born in the UAE. A birth in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah produces a UAE certificate with its own route, covered under birth certificate attestation.
Spelling. The child's and parents' names on the certificate should match their passports exactly.
Several children. Each certificate is a separate document with its own fees. Send them in one batch so they finish together.
