Attesting Netherlands Documents for the UAE

Most Dutch documents will need to go through an initial stage of certification. This is the process to make a certified and notarised copy of the original documents, the certified copy being the document that the attestation is processed on This step in the process is not however needed in the case of government-issued documents such as birth, marriage or death certificates.

For some documents, prior to translation and legalisation, they will need to be certified by the relevant government ministry. In the case of an educational qualification, this is the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap). During this stage, the Ministry will confirm that the document is valid.

As the UAE Embassy only accepts documents written in either English or Arabic, any documents, and their supporting ministerial certifications, that are not already in English will need to be translated. The original documents are translated from Dutch to English, then the translator will make an affidavit to swear that the translation is accurate. The original document and its translation are then bound together to then be certified by the Ministry of Justice and Security (Ministerie van Justitie en Veiligheid). It is this certified bundle that is attested.

Check out our translations page to learn more about the different types of translations, and what they're used for.

Once a document has been certified by the relevant parties, and translated where required, it can then be presented to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken) for legalisation. During this process, the officials will add a legalisation stamp to the document which is their validation that the necessary certification has been completed correctly.

The final step in the Netherlands is to have the document stamped, known as attested, by the UAE Embassy in The Hague (Den Haag). 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 the Netherlands.

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 the Netherlands. 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.