UAE and Dubai Document Legalisation: Types of Documents, Procedures and Requirements

UAE and Dubai Document Legalisation: Types of Documents, Procedures and Requirements

Saudi Able Link is a branch of Rapid Visas Ltd., a trusted and renowned visa agency in London since 2007, providing visa services for over 20 countries to UK citizens. For over a decade, our visa consultants have guided a huge range of clients, including individual applicants, international law firms and corporate clients, in obtaining visas from the various Embassies in London. We also provide a range of passport services associated with the HM Passport Office.

Our clients vouch for our prompt customer services, wide experience and knowledge and extensive contacts with consular and government officials, which helps us obtain visas in the shortest time possible. Clients also benefit from our comprehensive pre-checking of documents before visa application submission, which ensures a high visa approval rate.

Saudi Able Link specialises in GCC visas. The GCC or Gulf Cooperation Council is an economic and political union of 6 major Middle Eastern nations, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

We also offer professional legalisation services, such as document attestation, Apostille, FCO legalisation, translation and notarisation of various types of documents, vital for obtaining visas for the GCC nations.

UK citizens, who would like to obtain a visa to enter the UAE, for purposes of tourism, business, employment or education, have to ensure document legalisation by the UAE Embassy in London.

Legalisation is a multi-step procedure. For instance, UK-issued documents have to be first attested by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), which will accept only original documents, signed by the The UK Registrars. These documents include company, birth and death certificates.

Other documents have to be first attested by a solicitor or notarised by a notary public in the UK. Only after FCO legalisation will the UAE Embassy legalisation follow.

UAE or Dubai Document Legalisation: Who Needs it and Why?

Any instance in which you need to submit official documents for use in a foreign country, will require the documents to be given legal status. The process of legalisation is a method of declaring the authenticity of a document by verified personnel. Each country has its own legalisation requirements.

Some examples for when you might need UAE document legalisation are as follows:

• If you are applying for a family visit visa or spouse visa with the Embassy of United Arab Emirates in London, you will need legalised personal documents, such as marriage certificate, birth certificate or adoption papers (in case of dependents) and so on.
• For those applying to study in the UAE or to get a Dubai employment visa, documents such as school transcripts, college degrees, diplomas, research grant papers and more, issued by UK educational institutions, will need legalisation. For instance, UK applicants joining a teaching position in the UAE will require legalisation of their degree certificates, PGCE and QTS certificates. Employee visa applicants need to submit a UK Police Clearance Certificate, legalised by the FCO as well.
• For conducting business dealings or legal matters in the UAE, such as negotiating contracts with a UAE-based entity, or to participate in a corporate seminar or conference, you need to have relevant corporate documents legalised or attested. This may include invoices, certificate of incorporation, power of attorney, memorandum of understanding, affidavits, market research reports and so on.

Overview of the UAE Document Legalisation Process

Over 90 countries are members of the Hague Convention of 1961, which abolished the need for consular document legalisation for documents issued by one member country to be used in another member country. For these countries, Apostille is a form of document authentication, which gives it legal status, to be used in other signatory countries.

However, there are several countries that are not part of the Hague Convention, including the UAE. This means that UK citizens do not require an Apostille for UAE document legalisation. Still, the process of verification is similar, requiring additional consular legalisation of the country where the document is to be used, which in this case is the Embassy of UAE, in London.

Saudi Able Link provides a range of legalisation services:

• postille: Issued by the FCO for documents to be used in countries that are part of the Hague Convention.
• Legalisation: For countries, such as the UAE, that have not signed the Apostille Treaty.
• Translations: For certain countries, such as the Arabic speaking nations, which require documents to be translated into the local language to be used and verified by the relevant Embassy or government agency.
• Notarization: Some government agencies, such as the FCO, require UK-issued documents to be notarissed to check for authenticity, before it legalises them.

There are 3 main steps for UAE or Dubai Document legalisation by the Embassy.

Step 1: Saudi Able Link will get your document stamped by a solicitor. Certain documents issued by UK authorities, such as birth and death certificates, marriage certificates and Police Clearance Certificates (ACRO only) do not require the stamp of a solicitor.

Step 2: The stamped document will be submitted to the FCO for legalisation.

Step 3: After FCO legalisation, the document will be submitted to the United Arab Emirates Embassy in London for consular legalisation. The address of UAE Embassy legalisation department is:

48 Princes Gate
London SW7 2QA
United Kingdom

Opening hours of the legalisation department of the UAE Embassy in London are 09:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., GMT, Monday to Friday. The process may take up to 2 days.

Documents That Need UAE Embassy Legalisation

Typically, all documents needed for UAE visa application for personal, business and employment reasons, need to be legalised. Further, documents required for UAE work visas will need both Apostille and UAE embassy stamps. The most common documents that need to be legalised include:

• UAE visa medical examination reports: To ensure that the applicant is free of contagious diseases before entering the UAE.
• Employment contracts: To verify that the contract matches the job role and salary offered to the applicant, as specified by the UAE sponsor entity in its letter of invitation, which is further attested by the UAE MOFA.

Educational certificates: To authenticate the UK-issued educational certificates and check whether they are applicable to the job description offered by the UAE company.

UAE Document Legalisation for Other Types of Documents

Apart from the aforementioned documents, many other types of documents are legalised by the UAE Embassy in London, to be used for personal or commercial purposes. These include:

• Marriage Certificates
• Birth and Death Certificates
• Power of Attorney( will be treated as a commercial document if it has commercial content)
• Power of Attorney for Registering Trademarks
• Board Resolution or Minutes of Board meetings
• Certificate of Incorporation
• Certificate of Free Sale
• Adoption Papers
• GMO Products Certificates
• Company Profile
• Memorandum of Association or Articles of Association (must be separately attested)
• Company Trade or Financial Reports

Conclusion