Fees and steps checked on
We prepare every type of power of attorney for the UAE: personal, company, property, car, court and bank, plus POAs signed abroad for use here and UAE POAs for use in another country. That covers drafting, the Arabic legal translation, notarisation, MOFA attestation and embassy legalisation. You get one total price before you pay.
Total: from AED 250 per POA attested by MOFA, VAT and all official fees included.
This covers:
- the MOFA UAE fee (AED 150 for a personal POA, AED 2,000 for a commercial or general POA, paid to the UAE government)
- our service, courier and VAT
AED 250 is a personal POA made in the UAE. A commercial or general POA is from AED 2,600. A UK power of attorney or board resolution, attested for use in the UAE, is from AED 5,200 all in, about 24 working days. Drafting, Arabic translation, the notary booking and other countries are priced from your details as one total before you pay.
Which POA do you need for your situation?
Match the POA to the office that will receive it: land office, RTA, bank, court or company registry. Each one checks different wording.
| Your situation | POA to ask for | What the text must name | Who receives it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Someone handles your papers, visa or tenancy while you travel | Special personal POA | Each task, one by one | Typing centres, landlords, schools, utilities |
| Selling, buying or renting out a property | Special property POA | Unit, plot or title deed number and each act (sign, transfer, receive the price) | Land Department trustee offices, developers |
| Selling, transferring or exporting a car | Special vehicle POA | Plate, chassis number and the acts allowed | RTA and other emirates' traffic departments |
| A lawyer runs a case for you | Litigation POA | Court, case type and any power to settle, waive or appeal | UAE courts and the lawyer's firm |
| Someone operates your account or closes it | Bank POA (or the bank's own form) | Bank, account number and the exact operations | The bank branch |
| A manager signs for a company | Company POA with a board resolution | Company, signatory authority and the acts allowed | Free zones, DED, ministries, banks, clients |
| You sign abroad, the POA is used in the UAE | Foreign POA, attested | As above, plus the full attestation chain | Any UAE office |
| You sign in the UAE, the POA is used abroad | UAE POA, legalised | Wording the foreign office expects | Foreign land registries, banks, courts |
What does a personal power of attorney cover?
A personal POA lets a relative or friend act for you in private matters, such as documents, a tenancy, a school or a visa file.
Most people need it when they leave the UAE for a while, or when they cannot take time off to stand in a queue. The safest version lists each task: collect a passport from a typing centre, sign a tenancy renewal, pay and cancel utilities, deal with a child's school.
MOFA treats a personal POA as a personal document, which keeps the attestation cost low if it later has to travel. A general POA that hands over all your affairs sits in the commercial category at MOFA, so it costs more to attest and gives your agent wide power. We usually advise a special personal POA unless you really need the agent to manage everything.
How do you give a POA to sell or buy property in Dubai?
Name the property by unit and title deed number, then list every act: sign the sale contract, transfer, receive payment, pay fees.
Property POAs fail most often on one missing act. A POA that lets the agent "sell" but not "receive the sale price" or "sign the transfer at the trustee office" can stop a deal on transfer day. If the buyer is paying by cheque or bank transfer, say who may receive it.
The Land Department and the trustee offices check the POA against the title deed, so names, unit numbers and the owner's passport details must match exactly. Owners abroad usually sign before a notary in their own country and send the POA through the attestation chain first. Start this early: a UK POA alone takes about 24 working days to reach the UAE fully attested. Send us the title deed and say if you are selling, buying or leasing out. We confirm the trustee office's current POA rules before you sign.
Which POA is needed to sell or transfer a car?
A special vehicle POA that names the plate and chassis number and allows the sale, transfer or export of that car.
Owners who have left the UAE often need a friend to sell the car, cancel the registration or export it. RTA looks for wording that allows these acts for the specific vehicle. "Manage my affairs" is not enough. If there is a bank loan on the car, the POA should also let the agent deal with the bank for the clearance letter.
A POA signed outside the UAE for a car must be attested by MOFA before RTA will look at it. One POA per car keeps each transaction simple.
What POA does a lawyer need for a UAE court case?
A notarised litigation POA in the lawyer's name, naming the case or dispute, with any power to settle, waive or appeal written out.
UAE procedure rules let a lawyer appear for you under a general power to litigate, but acts such as settling, admitting a claim, waiving a right or going to arbitration must be stated expressly in the POA. If they are missing, the lawyer cannot accept a settlement on your behalf without a new POA.
Rental disputes, labour claims, debt cases, inheritance and family matters all start with this document. If you are abroad, the POA is signed there and attested, then translated into Arabic for the court. We prepare the draft with your lawyer's details, or send it to your lawyer to check before you sign.
Will a UAE bank accept a power of attorney?
Usually, if it is a special POA naming the bank, the account and the exact operations. Some banks only accept their own mandate form.
Ask your bank first. Some banks accept a notarised special POA. Others want you to sign their internal mandate in a branch, or want the notarised POA to follow their own template. A general POA is often refused for account operations because it does not name the account.
Write out each operation the agent may do: view statements, withdraw, transfer, close the account, collect a cheque book, deal with a loan or a card. For a bank abroad (in India, the UK or the Philippines, for example) the POA is made in the UAE and then legalised for that country; see the section on UAE POAs used abroad below.
How does a company give a power of attorney in the UAE?
The authorised signatory or the board signs it, backed by a board resolution, and it names the manager and the acts allowed.
Company POAs appoint a general manager, let a PRO deal with government offices, let someone sign a contract or tender, or let a representative open a bank account. The person signing must have that authority under the memorandum of association or the articles, so we check the company documents before drafting.
A foreign parent company that appoints a manager in the UAE signs a board resolution and a POA at home, then sends both through notarisation, its foreign ministry, the UAE embassy and MOFA. MOFA charges company POAs at the commercial rate. See company documents attestation and certificate of incorporation attestation for the papers that usually travel with it.
How do you use a POA signed abroad in the UAE?
Sign before a notary in your country, then get your foreign ministry's legalisation, the UAE embassy stamp and MOFA attestation in the UAE.
The UAE does not accept an apostille alone, so every POA coming from abroad needs the UAE embassy and MOFA steps. Most authorities then want an Arabic legal translation. The exact chain changes by country:
- United Kingdom: UK notary or solicitor, the FCDO, the UAE Embassy London, MOFA. See UK POA attestation.
- United States: notary, the state Secretary of State, the US Department of State, the UAE Embassy in Washington, MOFA. See USA POA attestation.
- Canada: notary, the competent authority, the UAE Embassy in Ottawa, MOFA. See Canada POA attestation.
- Other countries: see attestation by country and send us a copy.
We write the POA before you sign it, so the wording already fits the UAE office that will receive it. This step saves the most time. A POA rejected in Dubai after six weeks of stamps has to start again from the notary.
How do you use a UAE power of attorney in another country?
A UAE notary signs it, MOFA attests it, then the destination country's embassy in the UAE legalises it, usually with a translation.
Expats in the UAE use this to sell a house back home, manage a bank account, run a family business or handle an inheritance. The foreign office decides the wording, so we ask what its land registry, bank or court expects before drafting.
Some countries use their own consulate instead. An Indian POA is usually signed before the Indian consular officer (see Indian embassy POA attestation), and a Philippine SPA is notarised at the Philippine consulate (see Philippine SPA in Dubai). For everything else, see UAE documents for use abroad and UAE embassy attestation.
Which documents should you send for your POA?
Passport or Emirates ID copies of both people, plus the paper that proves what the POA is about.
- Every POA: passport copy of the person giving the power, passport or Emirates ID copy of the agent, and a phone number for each.
- Property: title deed or sale contract, and the unit or plot number.
- Car: registration card (mulkiya) and any bank loan details.
- Court: case number if one exists, the lawyer's name and firm.
- Bank: bank name, account number and the operations needed.
- Company: trade licence, memorandum of association, board resolution and the signatory's ID.
- POA going abroad: the foreign office's own template or wording, if it has one.
Why do POAs get refused, and how do we prevent it?
Most refusals come from wording that misses one act, names that differ from the passport, or a missing stamp in the attestation chain.
| Reason for refusal | Where it happens | What we do before you sign |
|---|---|---|
| A needed act is missing (receive payment, settle, export) | Land offices, courts, RTA | Write the act list from the transaction, step by step |
| Name or ID number differs from the passport | Every office | Copy every name and number from the ID itself |
| General POA where a special one is expected | Banks, RTA | Draft one special POA per asset or task |
| Apostille only, no UAE embassy or MOFA stamp | Any UAE office | Plan the full chain before the notary appointment |
| English only, no Arabic text | Courts, land offices | Bilingual text by a licensed legal translator |
| Signatory had no authority to sign for the company | Free zones, banks | Check the memorandum and the board resolution first |
| Laminated or altered original | MOFA | Keep the original clean and send it flat |
More rejection cases are on why attestation gets rejected.
How long does a power of attorney take?
A POA made and used in the UAE can be ready within days. A POA crossing a border takes from a few days to several weeks.
- Made in the UAE, used in the UAE: drafting, translation and the notary appointment, usually a few working days once you approve the draft.
- Made in the UAE, used abroad: add MOFA, usually 2 to 3 working days, then the foreign embassy, which varies by country.
- Made in the UK, used in the UAE: about 24 working days in total.
- Made in the USA, used in the UAE: about 7 weeks.
- Made in Canada, used in the UAE: 4 to 6 weeks.
Can a power of attorney be cancelled or replaced?
Yes. The person who gave it cancels it before a notary and then tells the agent and every office holding a copy.
You may want to cancel when the sale is done, when you change lawyer, or when you no longer trust the agent. A notarised cancellation does not reach banks, RTA or the land office by itself, so send each of them a copy. If you only need to add a missing power, a fresh special POA is often faster than amending the old one. We prepare cancellations and replacement POAs in the same way as new ones.
Why use us for your POA?
We see which wording the land offices, RTA, banks and courts accept, and we write the POA for the office that will receive it, not from a generic template. One person follows your POA from the draft to the last stamp, and you see the total price before anything is paid. For a POA made only inside Dubai, see also power of attorney in Dubai; for the stamps alone, see power of attorney attestation and legal translation in Dubai.
