MoFA attestation Dubai: price, location and online process

Apply for MoFA attestation Dubai online

Use mofa.gov.ae or the UAE MOFA app and sign in with UAE PASS. Select the issuing authority and document type exactly as printed, pay the fee shown, then follow the digital or courier instructions generated by the service.

MoFA is the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Older guides and stamps may call it MoFAIC, its earlier abbreviation; it is the same attestation service.

This is the same federal service in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. The online application decides whether the document follows a digital or approved-courier route.

MoFA attestation Dubai location and contact number

MoFA’s attestation FAQ says its Customer Happiness Centres are closed. Apply through the official website or UAE MOFA app and follow the assigned digital or courier route. Call 80044444 for service guidance. A general branch address does not establish that documents can be submitted there. Confirm any case-specific instructions directly with MoFA.

Some MoFA pages still mention service centres and phone appointments; these conflict with the FAQ. Call 80044444 before travelling to any address.

Easy Attestation is not MoFA. You can apply directly through the government service; if you ask us for help, we may refer the request to an independent provider.

What the stamp proves

MoFA says attestation certifies the authenticity of the signatures and seals on a document. It does not prove that every statement in the document is true, that a university is recognised, or that the receiving authority will accept it for your purpose.

If the recipient asks for a copy rather than legalisation, use the certified true copy checklist to confirm the accepted certifier, wording and document-specific fee first.

That distinction matters for degrees: attestation and academic recognition are separate checks. It also explains the chain for a foreign-issued document:

issuing authority or notary → home-country foreign ministry → UAE mission in that country → MoFA in the UAE

An apostille does not replace this UAE chain because the UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention. See apostille vs attestation for the exceptions and common mistakes.

MoFA attestation Dubai price

MoFA’s published fee is AED 150 per personal document and AED 2,000 per commercial document, plus its transaction charge. The detailed, itemised figures are in our MoFA attestation cost guide.

Four classifications regularly change the total:

• A degree certificate and transcript count as two documents: AED 300 at the MoFA stage.
• A memorandum and articles of association must be attested separately: AED 4,000 at the commercial rate.
• MoFA lists a power of attorney of personal nature as AED 150. It lists a general power of attorney, and any POA of commercial nature, as commercial (AED 2,000).
• A long commercial contract may be treated as more than one document; MoFA publishes no page-count threshold.

Commercial invoices and certificates of origin use eDAS 2.0, not the ordinary attestation service. MoFA currently publishes conflicting fee information for eDAS, so check the amount shown inside the submission rather than relying on a fixed figure elsewhere.

One application may cover the embassy and MoFA stages

Some UAE missions now publish a combined service (“one service, two attestations”) in which one mofa.gov.ae application covers the mission and MoFA. As at 27 September 2026 this is published for missions in India (New Delhi, Mumbai), Pakistan (Islamabad), the UK (London), Bangladesh (Dhaka), Australia (Canberra), Sri Lanka (Colombo), Nepal (Kathmandu), South Africa (Pretoria) and Lebanon (Beirut), among others. Check your mission’s page before assuming a separate MoFA step. The home-country foreign-ministry step still comes first.

Other missions, including Amman, Muscat, Doha, Manama, Kabul, Nairobi, Abuja and Rabat, also publish it; check your own mission’s page.

For documents submitted through a UAE mission abroad, MoFA’s service page says processing may take up to 15 business days.

The combined service does not clearly publish whether the embassy leg adds another AED 150 for an inbound document. We do not present a guessed total. The embassy attestation guide explains this gap.

Original paper or digital document?

MoFA chooses whether an application follows its digital or courier route. Published processing ranges from within two hours for eligible UAE digital documents to 1–3 business days for courier-based attestation inside the UAE; MoFA says documents submitted through a UAE mission abroad may take up to 15 business days. For route-specific timing, use the attestation timeline guide.

Who needs a MoFA attestation

Verify the attestation

Use verify.mofa.gov.ae with the attestation reference number and issue date. UAE PASS can also verify eligible digitally attested UAE government documents. Our MoFA attestation verification guide shows where to find the details and what to do if the record does not appear.

MoFA says its attestation has no expiry date, although the underlying document may expire. If MoFA or a mission rejects an application, MoFA’s FAQ says the attestation fee is automatically refunded within 14 working days; delivery fees are not refunded. MoFA’s service page now says refund eligibility follows its refund procedures; check the refund status in the application.