Attesting Indian Documents for the UAE

Most Indian documents will need to go through an initial stage of certification. Typically this is the process whereby a Notary Public certifies the original document. Unlike other countries, it is most common for an original document rather than a certified copy to be processed. Certain documents may require verification from another government body. This step in the process is not usually required in the case of government-issued documents such as birth, marriage or death certificates, unless the original document is not in English as therefore needs translation.

Most documents will need to be legalised by the Home Department in India before being presented to the Ministry of External Affairs. During this stage, the seal (in the case of government-issued documents) or signature of the person that certified the document is checked for its validity by a judge, magistrate or registrar.

Once the document has been legalised by the Home Department, it can be presented to the Ministry of External Affairs for their legalisation stamp. During this stage, the Ministry is checking that the Home Department stamps have been correctly applied.

The final step in India is to have the document stamped, known as attested, by either the UAE Embassy in New Delhi or the Consulate in Mumbai. During this stage an official UAE-government sticker and seal is applied to the document. This confirms to the authorities in the UAE that the document has completed all the required steps in India.

Once the document has reached the UAE, it requires a further attestation stamp by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the UAE which validates that your document has been processed correctly in India. Some employers make arrangements to handle this for you, so you should check whether this needs completing by you or not.

In certain circumstances, your document may also require translation into Arabic. Again, your employer may handle this for you so best to check. If required, the whole document and its relevant stamps are translated from English into Arabic by a recognised certified translator. Once the translation has been done, then everything has been completed to make it fully useable within the UAE.