UAE Legalisation Update: Combined Consular and MOFA Attestation

UAE Consulates abroad have recently introduced a new legalisation page format, which is now issued electronically. In certain cases, this new format appears to incorporate the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) attestation as part of the consular legalisation process. The legalisation page expressly reflects both UAE Consulate and MOFA attestations, meaning that a further MOFA attestation step in the UAE may no longer be required.

Where this combined legalisation applies, the remaining steps are limited to translation of the document into Arabic and attestation of the Arabic translation by the Ministry of Justice. Notably, the official fees remain unchanged for the combined legalisation and do not exceed AED 2,300. Previously, the total cost depended on the fees paid in the country where the document was legalised. Under the new combined legalisation process, no additional MOFA fee is payable in the UAE.

This development is particularly relevant to intellectual property (IP) practice, where legalised documents form a core component of many procedures. These include Powers of Attorney for filings, renewals, oppositions and enforcement actions; recordals of assignments, mergers and changes of name; submission of evidence in opposition, cancellation and enforcement proceedings; as well as cross-border IP portfolio management and regional filings.

For IP matters, the new process offers increased operational efficiency, improved cost predictability and smoother execution of client work. In particular, the availability of combined legalisation may facilitate faster issuance of duly legalised Powers of Attorney, which is especially beneficial where statutory deadlines are tight and timely submission is critical.