Fees and steps checked on
Thousands of Zimbabwean teachers, accountants, nurses and engineers work in the Emirates, and each one eventually needs a stamped certificate. The key stamp is authentication by Zimbabwe's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, done in Harare and nowhere else. After it, the UAE Embassy in Harare attests the paper and MOFA gives the final seal. Zimbabwe sits outside the apostille convention, as does the UAE, so there is no shorter way.
We are a private document service, not MOFA, an embassy or a government office. We manage the Harare and Emirati stages, and include free document pickup and delivery anywhere in Dubai.
Price: There is no fixed price for Zimbabwe. Send a copy on WhatsApp and you get the total price plus VAT, all official fees included, before any work starts. Read our fees explainer for what is inside.
Why it has to happen in Harare
Zimbabwean embassies in Washington and New Delhi publish the same message: they cannot authenticate government documents. The ministry in Harare does that, certifying a paper as a genuine document of the Republic of Zimbabwe. An embassy abroad can at best issue a letter confirming who issued the certificate. So someone has to stand at the ministry counter with your original, which is where we, a relative or a courier come in.
First signatures by document
- Degree or diploma. University of Zimbabwe, NUST, Midlands State or the awarding college confirms it.
- O and A level results. ZIMSEC is the issuing body.
- Birth, marriage or death certificate. The Registrar General's office. Ask for the full birth certificate, since some offices refuse the short form.
- Affidavit or power of attorney. Signed before a notary public in Zimbabwe.
- Company certificate or CR forms. The companies registry. MOFA bills these as commercial.
The UAE Embassy in Harare
The UAE has a resident embassy at Boscobel Drive West, Harare. Once the ministry has authenticated the paper, the embassy attests it, with the application filed on the MOFA portal and UAE fees paid there. The last seal comes from MOFA in the Emirates, or inside a digital attestation where the embassy issues one.
A note on English and on names
Zimbabwean documents are in English, so MOFA reads them without translation. The trap is the name. A certificate may show a maiden name, a middle name or a different order from the passport that sponsors your visa. Bring the passport copy and any marriage certificate that explains a change.
Planning the time
The Harare ministry queue and the courier legs to and from Zimbabwe set most of the timeline. The embassy and MOFA stages follow on. If your employer or a visa officer has given you a deadline, tell us when you send the photo, and we build the estimate in the quote around your actual document and the current Harare situation rather than a generic figure.
While you work in the UAE
You can stay put. The original moves to Harare and back, and an authorised person can file at the UAE end. For a dependant visa, see the marriage record guide and the birth record guide.
Many Zimbabweans studied in South Africa. That degree needs the South Africa route, since the Harare embassy only takes Zimbabwean papers.
Zimbabwean files that come back
- Short birth certificate sent instead of the full one.
- A Zimbabwean embassy letter offered instead of the Harare authentication.
- A ZIMSEC slip rather than the final certificate.
- A laminated diploma, which MOFA will not touch.
For the employment side, our degree guide explains what UAE employers expect.
