MOFA attestation Dubai

In short: MOFA attestation is the final UAE stamp on a document, applied by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For a foreign document it comes after the issuing country's foreign ministry and the UAE Embassy there have attested it. MOFA charges AED 150 per personal document, such as a degree or marriage certificate, and AED 2,000 per commercial document, such as a company power of attorney. There is no paper form: you apply on the MOFA website or app, signed in with UAE PASS, and an approved courier collects the original. Inside the UAE a courier application takes 1 to 3 business days, and an eligible UAE-issued digital document is attested within 2 hours in working hours.

MOFA is the last link in a chain that began in the country that issued your certificate. People arrive expecting it to be the whole process and discover it is the final five per cent: the part that takes days rather than the part that takes weeks. If the earlier stages are not done yet, our document attestation service handles the whole chain from the issuing country.

Which stamps must a document have before MOFA?

Documents issued in the UAE follow a shorter route. MOFA requires them to be attested first by the UAE authority that issued them, for example the Ministry of Health and Prevention for a birth certificate, unless they are digital documents issued by a government entity. Every document must be in Arabic or English or carry an official translation.

How much does MOFA attestation cost?

MOFA charges AED 150 per personal document and AED 2,000 per commercial document. The fees are set by Cabinet Resolution No. 38 of 2022 and listed in MOFA's own FAQs. A degree certificate and its transcript are two documents, so they cost AED 300 at MOFA. Our service charge is AED 250 per attestation on top of MOFA's fee, so one personal document costs AED 400 in total with us (AED 2,250 for a commercial document).

The UAE Embassy stamp abroad is a separate fee set by that mission; it is not part of the AED 150. The costs that matter are incurred abroad and differ by country, broken down in our attestation cost guide.

How do you apply for MOFA attestation online?

MOFA attestation is online only. MOFA states that it has no customer happiness centres and offers its services through its website and the UAE MOFA app.

1. Sign in on mofa.gov.ae or in the UAE MOFA app with UAE PASS. Companies sign in with their MOFA account.
2. Choose attestation inside the UAE, then the document type, the issuing country and the number of documents.
3. Pick the completion option: digital attestation for an eligible UAE-issued digital document, or an approved courier for a paper original.
4. Pay online. The total is shown before payment and depends on the number of documents, the option chosen and whether each document is personal or commercial.
5. Hand the original to the courier in an envelope, never laminated. You receive a tracking link by email or WhatsApp, and the courier returns the attested original.

Is there a MOFA attestation form?

Not on paper. The "form" is the online application you open with Start Service on MOFA's attestation page. It asks for your contact and delivery details, the document details and the destination, and MOFA publishes a user guide PDF for applicants inside and outside the UAE.

How long does it take, and what are MOFA's timings?

Inside the UAE, MOFA attests an eligible digital document within 2 hours in official working hours, and a courier application takes 1 to 3 business days. An application made from outside the UAE takes up to 7 business days by courier. The online service is open 24 hours a day. MOFA's FAQs list the Dubai office's hours as 8 am to 3 pm, but there is no walk-in attestation counter.

Which documents need MOFA attestation?

• Degree and diploma certificates, for employment and, where required, MoHESR degree recognition
• Marriage certificates, for spouse sponsorship
• Birth certificates, for child sponsorship and school admission
• Police clearance certificates, where an employer or authority requires one
• Commercial documents: powers of attorney, board resolutions, incorporation papers (AED 2,000 each)
• Medical and death certificates, for specific legal purposes

Apostilled documents still need MOFA. The UAE is not a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille alone does not make a foreign document usable here. Our apostille vs attestation guide explains the rule country by country.

Why does MOFA reject documents?

• Missing the preceding stamp. The most common refusal by a wide margin.
• Laminated originals. MOFA states that laminated documents are rejected.
• Damaged or illegible earlier stamps.
• Name inconsistency between the document and the passport.
• Missing translation where the document is in neither Arabic nor English.
• Photocopies. Attestation is applied to originals.

What we do

MIRDXB PRO is a private PRO and visa services company in Al Barsha 1, Dubai. We are not part of MOFA. We check the document before it is lodged, confirming the earlier stamps are present, legible and in the right order, that the name matches the passport, and that translation is in place where needed. Then we submit the application through MOFA's official channel and return the completed document. Where the chain is incomplete we will tell you which stage is missing rather than lodging a submission that will be refused.

MOFA attestation questions