Fees and steps checked on
Mauritania certificate attestation is a short chain with both ends in Nouakchott. Your diploma, birth record or marriage certificate is legalised by the Mauritanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Mauritanians Abroad, then attested by the UAE Embassy in Nouakchott, and finally receives MOFA attestation for use in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or any other emirate. Neither country uses the apostille, so there is no shortcut stamp to confuse things.
Price: send a copy on WhatsApp and you get the total price plus VAT, all official fees included, before any work starts. See attestation fees.
Bilingual paperwork works in your favour
Mauritanian documents are commonly issued in Arabic, French or both. For the UAE that is good news: MOFA accepts Arabic directly, so a bilingual Arabic and French certificate usually needs no translation at all. A diploma or transcript issued only in French needs a certified translation into Arabic or English. We check this on the copy you send, so you do not pay for a translation you do not need. When a UAE court asks for its own Arabic version, we arrange legal translation in Dubai.
The Nouakchott chain
- Issuing office. University, baccalauréat authority, civil registry (état civil) or court.
- Ministry concerned. Where a sector ministry must confirm the document first, for example for higher education, we tell you when you send a copy.
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Mauritanians Abroad. Legalisation for use abroad, on Avenue Moustapha Ould Mohamed Saleck.
- UAE Embassy in Nouakchott. Attests the ministry stamp.
- MOFA in the UAE. The final stamp.
Documents from Mauritania
| Document | Usual language | Main use in the UAE |
|---|---|---|
| University degree, licence or master | Arabic or French | Work permit, degree certificate attestation |
| Baccalauréat | Arabic or French | Admission to a UAE university |
| Birth certificate (extrait d'acte de naissance) | Arabic, often with French | Child residence visa, birth certificate attestation |
| Marriage certificate | Arabic | Spouse visa |
| Power of attorney | Arabic | Property, family or company matters |
Pitfalls specific to Mauritanian documents
- Incomplete documents. Legalisation offices expect the full original with every annex it refers to. A page missing from a marriage record or a transcript can stop the file.
- Two spellings of one name. Arabic and French versions of the same name often differ, for example in how "Ould" or "Mohamed" is written. The English on your UAE file should follow your passport.
- Going via Morocco. Neighbouring embassies do not take Mauritanian documents. MOFA's Rabat page limits that embassy to Moroccan and UAE documents; see Morocco certificate attestation only if you hold Moroccan papers.
- Lamination. MOFA refuses laminated originals.
While you are in the UAE
You do not need to fly to Nouakchott. A relative can request a fresh certificate and take it to the ministry, and the embassy step follows in the same city. Because the ministry and the UAE Embassy are both in Nouakchott, the document does not need to cross a border between those two stamps, unlike countries where the UAE mission sits next door. The attested original then comes to the UAE for MOFA and back to you.
