UAE: Attested Certificates Required for OFWs/Expats
Fresh
graduates, students, and families from different countries worldwide are flying
to the United Arab Emirates because of the quality of living – good governance,
transportation system, safe streets, impressive skyline, authentic food, and
better job opportunities with good salaries. However, the UAE needs attestation
of educational, personal, and commercial documents to consider your records
genuine. There are a lot of fake documents issued worldwide, and some expats
are still unaware that this is required.
Attestation of documents proves the authenticity of the document or
certificate and helps with an individual’s proof of identity. As
aforementioned, fake documents are spreading worldwide, and having attested
certificates gives you all the power and rights to certificate ownership. On
the other hand, apostille is another type of documentation
procedure wherein you can use specific certificates or documents internationally
within 113 Apostille member countries of the Hague Convention. If your home
country does not participate in the Hague Convention, you will indeed have your
Attestation stamping, like the Philippines’ Red Ribbon Attestation, before May
2019.
A list of some certificates that require attestation
in UAE:
- Marriage Certificate –
for married couples that are expecting a child to be born in UAE, parents
who will sponsor their children’s visa, and for those wives that require
their Husband’s visa
- Birth Certificate –
apply for family visas, planning to get married in UAE, etc.
- Educational Degree - expats
that are planning to work in UAE. Transcript of Records’ attestation
depends on which country it was issued – e.g., Philippines.
- Police Clearance – only
for those individuals who are required to do so
- Certificate of No Marriage/Singleness – For couples that are planning to
get married in UAE, to prove that they have not been married yet back in
their home country or abroad
- Death Certificate – for
individuals or families who want to name their property after their
deceased loved ones
- Power of Attorney – to
legalize an official authorization letter from a specific individual or
company.
For Filipinos: Do you have Apostille already or
Red-ribbon attestation with UAE Embassy stamps?
The Philippines became an Apostille country last May
2019. They declared Red Ribbon as an ‘invalid’ attestation already, even if it
says it’s valid for five years unless you already have stamps from UAE Embassy
in Manila. Renewal of red ribbon to Apostille is required if it’s the only
attestation you have.
Suppose you have an attested certificate from the
UAE Embassy in Manila. In that case, you can directly proceed to the last step,
which is to get an attestation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dubai.
Procedure for Philippine document Attestation if you
have DFA Apostille:
- Apostille should be valid as
UAE only accepts Apostille issued within a year.
- Attestation from UAE Embassy
in Manila
- Attestation from the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs in Dubai.
It is within the Philippines’ standard process to
only require ORIGINAL certificates during attestation.
For Other Expats: Procedure for CertificateAttestation
- Apostille should be valid as
UAE only accepts Apostille issued within a year.
- Attestation from your issuing
country’s UAE Embassy
- Attestation from the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs in Dubai.
It depends on the country if they will require an
ORIGINAL certificate or allow a Certified True Copy.
Here are the steps in Certificate Attestation for
UAE use:
- Notary/Solicitor/True Copy
Stamping
- Issuing-country’s Foreign Affairs Department
- Issuing-country’s UAE Embassy
- Attestation from Ministry of
Foreign Affairs in Dubai.
How long does the Attestation process usually take?
Certificate Attestation process may take time,
depending on the issuing country of the certificate. Some may take days, weeks,
or months.
For example, in the Philippines, certificate
attestation usually takes around five to six weeks before completion. Because
of the pandemic, the Department of Foreign Affairs only accepts appointments
through their website – with the earliest appointment date from December 2021.
Appointments from January 2022 cannot be selected by clients yet as of this
time. (https://consular.dfa.gov.ph/services/authentication/authentication-general-info)
Expats are having a hard time because of the
timeframe, especially those to submit attested certificates for their employers
– for promotion, visa renewal, new employment visa purposes; hospitals –
attested marriage certificates before giving birth; Church – attested
singleness certificate before marriage, etc.
Processing your certificate attestation may consume
a lot of time and money, from the courier’s back and forth service charges and
attestation charges from different Governmental Departments, especially when
your home country is far from UAE. You can process your certificate attestation
online now. Search ‘Benchmark
Attestation Services’ in Google.
Company name: Benchmark Attestation Services
Landline: +971 4 396 1284
Mobile: +971 54 701 5931
Website: https://www.onlineattestation.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benchmark_attestation/
Benchmark Attestation Services, a top-ranked Attestation and Apostille company in UAE with the
highest Google Reviews helps in processing certificates issued from anywhere in
the world.
