Fees and steps checked on
To legalise a document for use in the UAE, take it through four steps in order: certification by the issuing authority or a notary, legalisation or apostille by the issuing country's foreign ministry, attestation by the UAE embassy in that country, and attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An apostille does not end the chain, because the UAE is not on the Hague Apostille Convention status table. In the UAE the whole chain is called attestation and legalisation, spelt with an s or a z, is one stage inside it. Both words lead to the same result: a document that a UAE authority, bank or buyer accepts.
Total: from AED 985 per foreign personal document, VAT and all official fees included.
This covers:
- certification by the issuing authority or a notary
- legalisation or apostille by the issuing country's foreign ministry
- the UAE embassy in the issuing country
- the MOFA UAE fee (AED 150 per personal document, AED 2,000 per commercial document, paid to the UAE government)
- our service, courier and VAT
No other charges. UK personal from AED 985, USA personal from AED 1,025, UK company documents from AED 4,200, USA company documents from AED 4,000, all. Canada AED 1,900, all included. Other countries are quoted from a copy before you pay. See attestation fees.
What does document legalisation mean in the UAE?
In the UAE, legalisation is called attestation.
| Word | Where you hear it | What it points to |
|---|---|---|
| Legalisation or legalization | Foreign ministries and embassies abroad | The foreign ministry stamp, then the embassy stamp |
| Apostille | Hague Convention member countries | A single certificate that replaces the foreign ministry step |
| Attestation | The UAE, including MOFA | The whole chain, ending with MOFA |
| Authentication | The USA and some other countries | The state or federal stamp before the embassy |
So when a UK solicitor says "your document has been legalised", the work is only partly done for the UAE. For the full difference between an apostille and the rest, read attestation vs apostille.
Why is legalisation at home not enough for the UAE?
The UAE is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention. A document legalised or apostilled at home is therefore not enough. It still needs the UAE embassy in the country of issue and then MOFA attestation in the UAE. For the UK and the USA the embassy and MOFA stages are added together on a digital route.
Does a personal or commercial document cost more to legalise?
Yes, a commercial document costs more. MOFA keeps a personal list and a commercial list, and the commercial fee is much higher. Commercial contracts can count as several documents. The same chain of stamps applies, but the classification changes the official cost, so check which side your paper falls on.
- Personal: degrees, marriage and birth certificates, police certificates, personal powers of attorney.
- Commercial: company papers, trade documents, board resolutions and anything issued by or for a business.
Which legalisation route does your document need?
Find your document type below.
| Your document | Go to |
|---|---|
| University degree or diploma | Degree certificate attestation |
| Marriage certificate | Marriage certificate attestation |
| Birth certificate | Birth certificate attestation |
| Company papers from a foreign parent | Company documents attestation |
| Certificate of incorporation, MOA, board resolution | Incorporation, MOA and board resolution |
| Commercial invoice or certificate of origin | MOFA invoice attestation and eDAS |
| Other trade documents | Commercial document attestation |
| Documents from the UK or USA | UK certificate attestation, USA certificate attestation |
| Any other country | Attestation by country |
How do foreign companies legalise documents for the UAE?
A company that wants a UAE branch, subsidiary, bank account or tender usually needs its certificate of incorporation, memorandum and articles, a board resolution and sometimes a certificate of good standing legalised. Which ones, and in what form, is decided by the licensing authority or bank. We attest only what they ask for, because each document carries its own MOFA fee.
Going the other way, a UAE company sending documents abroad uses the chamber of commerce for company-issued papers, then MOFA, then the destination embassy. See chamber of commerce attestation and embassy attestation in the UAE.
What should you send for a legalisation quote?
- A clear photo or scan of the document, with any stamps already on it
- The country that issued it
- Whether it is for a person or a company
- What it is for, and the authority that asked for it
Which languages does MOFA accept for legalisation?
MOFA accepts Arabic or English. Many UAE authorities still ask for Arabic, so a legal translation is often added after the stamps.
