What this is
Getting foreign corporate and personal documents into a form a UAE authority will accept, and UAE documents into a form a foreign authority will accept.
Why it derails timelines
Because it is the longest lead item in most incorporations and the one nobody plans for. A certificate of incorporation that has to be notarised, legalised in its home country, attested by the UAE mission there and then by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here is a multi-week chain, and a single rejection restarts a leg of it.
The route differs by country. It differs again depending on whether the country of origin is party to the Hague Apostille Convention, which the UAE acceded to in 2023.
What the work involves
Identifying the correct chain for each document and each country of origin before anything is sent. Handling notarisation, legalisation and Ministry attestation. Arranging certified legal translation. Assembling the set so the submission is complete the first time.
Both directions
We also run the outbound chain: UAE documents attested for use abroad, which comes up whenever a UAE entity opens an account or incorporates a subsidiary outside the country.
Reguladores
Preguntas frecuentes
Does the apostille replace attestation?
Where both countries are party to the Convention and the document type is covered, it shortens the chain considerably. Whether it applies to your document and your country is the question to answer before you send anything.
Fuentes
- Scope of work described here reflects our practice, not a regulatory requirement — Regulatory statements on these pages carry the same review status as elsewhere on the site