Why your UAE contact is asking for this
Most people reach us after an employer, a free zone authority or a school in the UAE sends a short message: "please get your certificates attested." Behind that request is usually one of these situations.
- Employment visa or work permit where the job title depends on your degree
- Family residence visa, where the sponsor shows a marriage certificate
- Children's residence visa and school admission, using birth certificates
- Degree equivalency with the UAE education ministry
- Professional licensing for doctors, nurses, engineers and teachers
- Opening a branch, registering an agency or signing with a distributor
Ask your contact in the UAE exactly which documents they need. A family visa often needs both the marriage certificate and the children's birth certificates, and it is easier to send them in one batch.
Three routes, by type of document
The MEA and UAE Embassy steps are the same for everyone. What changes is the first step, which depends on what the document is.
Education
Degree, diploma, marksheets
The education department of the state where the university sits verifies the document. Some states also ask for marksheets with the degree.
Personal
Birth, marriage and similar
Verified by the State Home Department, or by Notary and SDM, depending on the document and the state that issued it.
Commercial
Invoices, certificates of origin, company papers
The Chamber of Commerce attests first. This route suits exporters, and companies sending a power of attorney or board resolution.
The step that happens in the UAE
Once the UAE Embassy in India has stamped your document, our part is complete and we send it back to you. The UAE then wants one more attestation from its own Ministry of Foreign Affairs, usually called MOFA attestation. This is done inside the UAE, so you, your employer or your sponsor arranges it there.
Plan for it: carry the attested original with you, or courier it to the person in the UAE who will take it to MOFA. Do not travel with only a scan. MOFA works with the original that carries the UAE Embassy stamp.
Many employers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi handle the MOFA step through their HR team. If you are moving on your own, ask your sponsor how they want to do it before you fly.
Getting your papers ready
- The original document, not laminated
- Passport copy, front and back pages
- For the State HRD route: marksheets if your state asks for them
- For marriage certificates: passport copies of both spouses
- For company documents: a covering letter on letterhead
- The checklist from your UAE employer or authority, if you have one
Delhi clients can drop the originals at our New Ashok Nagar office and collect them there. From other cities, courier them to us. We return them by Blue Dart or another secure courier and share the tracking number. If a document is in Hindi or a regional language, we arrange the Arabic or English translation the receiving office asks for.
Questions about UAE attestation
Will an apostille work for the UAE?
No. The UAE expects the UAE Embassy stamp on Indian documents, followed by MOFA in the UAE. An apostille does not replace either step.
Can you do the MOFA attestation for me?
No. MOFA attestation is carried out in the UAE. We complete everything up to the UAE Embassy in India, and you or your employer finish the MOFA step there.
My degree is from a university in another state. Does that matter?
The State HRD step is done by the education department of the state where the university is located. We arrange it from Delhi, and we tell you if that state needs any extra papers.
I need my marriage certificate attested for my wife's visa. Does she need to send anything?
Send copies of both passports with the original certificate. If the certificate was issued in another state, we confirm the route for that state first.
Our company is exporting to Dubai. Can you attest the invoice and certificate of origin?
Yes. Commercial documents go through the Chamber of Commerce, then the MEA, then the UAE Embassy. Send us the documents and we quote per document.