The notion of trading the rainy, wind-battered coasts of Éire to the sun-soaked, sandy beaches of the UAE is a pretty appealing one. Who wouldn’t take that trade if they could? The problem is, it’s not as simple as get up and go. You need to find a job, get your affairs in order at home, find a moving company. And you need to attest your documents.

Attest? What does that mean?

Attestation is a legal process that ensures that a document issued in one country is ready for use in another. If you’ve already moved from Ireland to the UAE, you’ll have come across this process. It basically involves sending your document to the relevant government department in the country of origin – for a document issued in Ireland, that would be the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) – and having an ‘Apostille’ applied to it the prove its authenticity.

Okay, so how do I go about attesting Irish documents for the UAE?

1. Notarial Certification – While this step isn’t always necessary, there may be times when your document needs to be notarised by a notary public. This is usually the case for commercial documents like Certificates of Incorporation and Powers of Attorney. In such cases, you can ask the notary to take a copy of your document and notarise that instead, so your original remains unblemished.
2. Apostille Legalisation in Ireland – The first step for most documents is to get them legalised by the DFA in Dublin. They’ll attach a piece of A5 paper to the front known as an ‘Apostille’ which confirms that the document is genuine.
3. Attestation by the UAE Embassy – The next step is to get the document attested by the UAE Embassy. Irish documents can often be attested at both the UAE Embassy in Dublin and the UAE Embassy in London. The only exceptions are documents not written in English and commercial documents. During this process, the UAE Embassy will attach a seal next to the previously applied Apostille, which confirms it’s authenticity to UAE authorities, and means its ready for the final step!
4. MoFA Attestation – Your document will have to be sent to the UAE to be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). This is the final part of the attestation process and ensures your documents are ready to use in the UAE for whatever purpose you require. Sometimes this process is handled by your employer, so make sure you check exactly what you need with them to avoid paying for a process you don’t need!

Do my Irish Documents have to be translated?

While the UAE generally accepts any document issued in English for attestation purposes, there may be times where your documents need to be translated into Arabic. This step may also be handled by your employer, so I would again recommend checking with them to make sure you present the documents to them as expected. If the process is required, it will take place after the previous steps so the entire document (stamps, Apostille and all) can be translated into Arabic. Luckily, Vital can take care of the translation process for you as well!

That sounds like a doddle! How do I get started?

Hold your horses! It’s not all fun and games. For one, it’s hard to know if the documents you need to attest need to be notarised or not, because the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland (DFA) have different rules for different documents. You could find yourself taking a document to the DFA and it being rejected because you had to have it notarised and you didn’t realise. That would lead to delays, as you’d then need to find a notary to handle the process for you.

Now everything’s delayed because you need to find a notary that’ll handle the process for you. And for certain document types, only a DFA-registered notary will do, further adding to the complication.

Assuming you know exactly which documents you need to attest and the exact requirements for each one, you’ll then need to send them to the UAE Embassy in either Dublin or London, and then find a way to send the documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the UAE. Between transporting your documents back and forth and finding a DFA-registered notary, you’re not really saving yourself time or money. And considering that attestation is usually pretty time sensitive, and getting it wrong could even lead to job offers being rescinded (it’s happened before, trust me), is it really worth the trouble?

You’re right. I need help!

Don’t worry, you’re in the right place! Vital Certificates have been attesting documents from all over the world since 2006, so we have the knowledge and the experience to help, whatever your circumstance. Our 100% Guarantee ensures your documents will be attested first time, so you never have to worry, so you never have to worry about which notary to pick or which document type you have.

Get in touch using one of the methods below, and we’ll advise you on how to move forward. Or if you want a deeper dive into the intricacies of attesting an Irish document for the UAE, check out our dedicated page here.