Saudi Able Link is an extension of Rapid Visas Ltd, specialising in GCC visa services for UK citizens. Since 2007, our visa agency has served numerous individual citizens, Fortune 500 companies and international law firms in matters related to travel and corporate immigration. Our clients trust our visa consultants for their extensive knowledge, confidentiality, diligent paperwork and pre-checking, prompt customer support and valuable relationships with consular officials and government agencies, all of which guarantee a high rate of visa approval.
GCC or the Gulf Cooperation Council is an economic and political union of six nations, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar. The UK has extensive bilateral relations with the GCC nations, in areas of trade, investment, culture and military. Our company has huge experience in matters pertaining to visa policies of these Middle Eastern nations, which are becoming prominent destinations for UK citizens for the purposes of tourism, business and leisure.
Document legalisation by the Qatar Embassy is an important step for all Qatar visa applications, including those for tourist, business visit, family visit, employment or official purposes. Any document issued in the UK, such as personal status documents, commercial documents or educational documents, need to be legalised for use in Qatar.
The legalisation process involves several steps. Some UK documents also need Apostille certificates issued to them, so that stamps, seals and signatures on the document are accepted in an official capacity, when presented to an individual, company or government in the State of Qatar. THe Apostille stamp is issued by the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO), before the documents can proceed for Qatar Embassy legalisation.
Qatar Document Legalisation: Who Needs It and Why?
To work or study in the State of Qatar, you need your professional and educational documents to be legalised by the Qatar Embassy in London. This is to verify your educational qualifications and proof of your professional capacity. Employers or universities in Qatar also need verification of your criminal background checks, which is why UK Police Clearance Certificates, including ACPO, ACRO, Police letters and disclosures, must also be legalised.
The reasons why you might need Qatar document legalisation include the following:
- If you are travelling to Qatar for employment purposes, your educational documents, such as secondary education certificates ,degree certificates, diploma certificates, higher education certificates, such as A-Level, BTECH, NVQ, HNC, HND and Level 1-3, must be submitted for legalisation.
- In case you are sponsoring your spouse and dependents to accompany you to Qatar and stay there, you will need to legalise their documents, which could include birth certificates, marriage certificates, personal power of attorney, medical reports and change of name notifications.
- To conduct business dealings with a Qatari corporate entity, or to engage in any legal matters in Qatar, your business documents will need legalisation by the Embassy of Qatar in London. This might include Power of Attorney, Certificates of Registration and Incorporation, Memorandum and Articles of Association, company financial reports, product certificates, commercial invoices and so on.
Overview of Qatar Document Legalisation Process
Qatar does not belong to the Hague Convention of 1962, where member countries agreed to accept Apostille certificates in place of consular legalisation, to simplify cross border movement. However, Qatar still requires that documents to be used within its borders be issued with an Apostille and additionally obtain Qatar Embassy legalisation in the country of their origin.
All educational, personal and business documents have to be stamped with the apostille of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London, before they are submitted to the Embassy of Qatar in London.
From December 2016, the Embassy of Qatar in London has mandated that all educational certificates must be submitted, along with a covering letter from the academic provider and an academic transcript. The covering letter should include:
- The place of study and examinations
- Duration of the course
- Mode of study (full-time, part-time, distance learning, onsite learning)
- Authenticity of the awarded title of the certificate
The academic transcript should list:
- Modules and subjects studied each term
- Marks or grades awarded in examinations
- Level and credit value of each module
All commercial documents issued in the UK need to be submitted through the relevant local chamber of commerce, such as Arab British Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) for the UK and Arab Irish Chamber of Commerce for the Republic of Ireland. Once all your documents have been stamped by the FCO and the Qatar Embassy, they can be attested by the Consular Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in Doha.
Saudi Able Link can assist you with all your Apostille, legalisation and document attestation needs. Our services include:
- Apostille: The stamp issued to provide authenticity of UK-issued documents by the FCO.
- Legalisation: For consular legalisation of documents, to be used in countries that have not signed the Apostille Treaty.
- Translations: Document translation services by experts, for embassies of certain countries, which require documents to be translated in their official language, before legalisation.
- Notarisation: The FCO might require certain documents to be certified, signed or dated by a solicitor or notary public in the UK. We take care of that as well.
We conduct Qatar document legalisation in three steps:
Step 1: Each document is taken to an accredited solicitor to be certified individually. However, certain documents, such as UK birth and death certificates and police clearance certificates, do not need to be stamped by the solicitor.
Step 2: The documents are then taken to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for the apostille certificate.
Step 3: After the apostille stamp from the FCO, the documents are submitted to the Embassy of Qatar in London for legalisation.
Qatar Embassy address and contact details are:
Embassy of the State of Qatar
Legalization Department
South Audley Street
London W1K 1NB
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7493 2200
Email: london@mofa.gov.qa
Documents That Need Qatar Embassy Legalisation
All documents pertaining to work, business and employment visas need to be legalised. The most common documents for this purpose include:
- Employment Contracts: To verify the job role mentioned by the Qatari sponsor entity in its letter of invitation for a work visa. This has to be attested by the Qatar MOFA.
- Qatar Visa Medical: The Embassy requires you to undergo all requisite medical tests, to prove that you are free of any contagious diseases, before entering the country.
- Educational Certificates: All certificates submitted to the Embassy need to be in accordance with your job role, research work or further studies that you would like to pursue in Qatar.
Qatar Document Legalisation for Other Types of Documents
There are several documents that need Qatar Embassy legalisation, based on your purpose of entering the country.
Personal documents:
- Birth and death certificates
- Marriage certificates and divorce decrees
- Copy of passports
- Driver’s license
- Court order
- Inheritance will
- Medical certificates
- Police clearance certificates
Educational documents:
- College certificates
- Diplomas
- Higher education certificates
- Primary school certificates (to sponsor primary school-age children)
- GCSE Secondary education certificates
- A-Level, BTECH, NVQ, HNC, HND, Level 1-3 certificates
Commercial and Legal Documents
- Certificates of Registration or Incorporation
- Goods and Commercial Product Health Certificate
- Power of Attorney
- Memorandum and Articles of Association
- Company financial reports
- Certificate of Free Sale
- Certificate of Goods Standing
- Product certificates
Conclusion
Visa consultants at Saudi Able Link treat all document legalisation requests on a case to case basis. We carry out detailed analysis of your visa needs and the requisite documents you will need to get attested and legalised, for use in Qatar. Based on that, we offer advice on the next steps, and form a detailed plan to get in touch with the authorities to initiate the process. Our service package will be based on the number of documents to be legalised and complexities involved.
For all your queries, please email us at support@saudiarabiavisa.co.uk. You can also call us at 02070961985.
The Embassy of Qatar Legalisation department in London can be contacted via this link
