Questions About Notarising Documents in Dubai

A private notary is a lawyer licensed to perform notarial acts in the Emirate of Dubai under Law No. 26 of 2021. The acts have the same legal effect as those performed at a public notary counter in Dubai Courts, and the document is registered in the same Dubai Courts system.

The legal effect is the same. The difference is in how you are served. A private notary practice prepares the drafting and translation, will attend at your location, and can take an appointment outside standard counter hours. A public notary counter does none of those things.

Within the UAE, yes. It is registered by Dubai Courts and issued with a verification barcode, and it is accepted by the same government departments, courts, banks and free zone authorities that accept any notarised document. For use outside the UAE, additional steps usually apply and they depend on the destination country.

Every document issued through this process carries a Dubai Courts verification barcode. Anyone who receives the document can check it against the Dubai Courts system. If you are receiving a notarised document from someone else, check the barcode rather than the signature.

No. This is a notary practice, so the work is notarial: drafting, executing, notarising, certifying signatures and certifying true copies. If your matter needs representation in a dispute we will tell you at the first conversation rather than after you have paid.

Arabic and English. Documents notarised in Dubai must be bilingual, and preparing the Arabic and English text is part of the service.

It is better to have one, because it lets us confirm what you need to bring before you travel. Same day appointments are often possible. Call or send a message on WhatsApp.

Yes. Remote notarisation through the official E-Notary portal using UAE PASS is available anywhere in the UAE, and clients in other emirates use it routinely.

Tell us the task rather than the document name. A special power of attorney limited to one named act is usually safer than a general one, but the right instrument depends on what your agent actually has to do. Getting this wrong is the most common reason a power of attorney is refused at the counter.

That depends on the type of power of attorney and on what the document itself says, because many powers of attorney state their own duration or a completion event. Send us the document, or tell us what it needs to cover, and we will confirm the position for your specific instrument rather than give you a number that may not apply to it.

Yes. Revoking a power of attorney is itself a notarial act. Tell us which instrument you want revoked and we will tell you what is needed, including how the person holding the authority has to be notified.

Usually not. The grantor has to attend and be identified. We normally need a copy of the passport of the person receiving the authority, but not their presence. Confirm for your matter when you call, because some instruments differ.

Yes, this is routine. We need the passport copy of the person receiving the authority. If the document will also be used outside the UAE, tell us the destination country before we draft, because the wording depends on it.

Yes. We need the trade licence, the memorandum of association, identification for the signatory, and evidence that the signatory is authorised to bind the company. That last item is the one most often missing.

A general or special power of attorney is AED 100 per party on the federal schedule, and electronic registration is AED 100 per party under Dubai Courts Decision No. 312 of 2025. Our professional fee for drafting and translation is quoted separately and in writing. See the fees page.

Your original Emirates ID and your original passport, every time. Copies are not sufficient for identity verification. Beyond that it depends on the act: the original document for a true copy, a passport copy for a power of attorney, the title deed for a property matter, the trade licence and memorandum for a company matter.

No. A certified true copy is the notary’s certification that the copy matches an original that was present. A copy cannot be certified from another copy, from a scan, or from a photograph. This is the single most common reason a true copy appointment has to be repeated.

No, and this distinction matters. Certifying a copy of a degree certificate says the copy matches the certificate. It says nothing about whether the degree was awarded. That is established by attestation from the issuing authority and, where required, the relevant embassy.

We draft. Documents notarised in Dubai must be bilingual, and preparing the Arabic and English draft is part of the service rather than something you arrange separately.

Yes, after reading it. A translation that is wrong in Arabic becomes a problem at the counter rather than in your inbox. Notarising a translation included in an instrument is charged at AED 50 per page in any case.

Tell us who rejected it and why. If the fault is in the drafting we correct it. An application to correct incorrect data in an instrument is AED 300 on the federal schedule.

It depends on the instrument. Some require the parties to be before the notary together, others do not. Tell us who has to sign and where they are and we will tell you what is possible.

A verified UAE PASS account, your Emirates ID, a device with a working camera and microphone, and a stable connection. We confirm the document and the fee before the appointment is booked.

No. Some acts require attendance. Send us the document or describe it and we will tell you plainly which route applies, before you make arrangements around it.

Yes. A notary attending outside the office is AED 1,000 under Dubai Courts Decision No. 312 of 2025. That is a single government fee for the attendance rather than a charge per signature.

Ask when you call. Attendance at a location of that kind is possible but needs arranging in advance with the institution as well as with us, so it is not a same day request.

Dubai Courts issues the notarised document electronically. It reaches you by secure link with the verification barcode on it.

No. It is registered in the same system and carries the same verification barcode as a document notarised in person.

Dubai Courts sets them. Fees for private notaries in Dubai are set by Dubai Courts Decision No. 312 of 2025, published in the Official Gazette of the Government of Dubai, Issue No. 752, in force from 2 January 2026. Value based fees come from the federal schedule in Cabinet Resolution No. 19 of 2024.

The government fee is prescribed and is the same at any private notary in Dubai. Our professional fee covers drafting, translation, identity verification and attendance, and it is quoted to you separately and in writing before work starts.

There is no useful average, because the fee depends on the act, the number of parties and whether the document states a value. The fees page publishes the whole schedule with worked examples so you can calculate the government fee yourself.

Because instruments that state a value are charged as a percentage of that value. A document that states no value is charged a flat fee per party. Both rules are in the tables on the fees page.

Execution of an instrument is capped at AED 15,000. Notarisation is capped at AED 30,000, under item 7 of the annexed table to Cabinet Resolution No. 19 of 2024. Most published summaries give only the first figure.

No. Identifying the instrument you need, telling you what to bring and giving you the fee is not billable work.

Yes, and it is routine work here, including statutory declarations for Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. Tell us the destination country before we draft.

Usually not. What follows notarisation depends on the destination country and on the authority that will receive the document. Bring their written requirement if you have one.

We can tell you what the document needs from us. What the receiving authority requires beyond that is set by them, and the reliable source is the authority itself or the relevant embassy.

Send it over. If the wording works under UAE notarial procedure we will prepare it bilingually. If it does not, we will tell you what has to change and why.

Documents notarised in Dubai are bilingual. That Arabic text is part of the instrument, and notarising a translation included in an instrument is charged at AED 50 per page.

Memorandums of association and their addenda, board resolutions, share sale and share waiver contracts, minutes of general assemblies, minutes of dissolution and liquidation, local service agent contracts, legal and eviction notices, and terminations of partnership.

Yes, as well as mainland entities including full foreign ownership structures.

The trade licence, the memorandum of association, identification for every signatory, and evidence that the person signing is authorised to bind the company. That last document is the one most often missing and it is the usual reason a corporate signing is rescheduled.

Yes. Attendance outside the office is AED 1,000 as a government fee. We prepare the bilingual draft in advance so the meeting is a signature rather than a drafting session.

It depends on whether the document states a value. A share transfer stating a consideration is charged as a percentage of it. A board resolution stating no sum is charged per party. The fees page sets out both.