The United Arab Emirates (UAE) remains one of the most popular destinations for many Nigerian immigrants and travelers – including people who intend to take up job opportunities, apply for study, obtain residency, or explore business opportunities in the UAE. Regardless of the purpose for traveling, a major requirement is that documents issued in Nigeria (such as academic qualifications, birth certificates, marriage certificates, company registration documents, and other personal or business documents) must be duly attested and legalized in order to be valid for use in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and other parts of the UAE.
The concepts of attestation and legalization may sound unfamiliar to a first timer, so it is necessary to explain them briefly. Attestation, also known as authentication or apostille, means getting the Ministry of Foreign affairs (MoFA) to endorse a specific document as valid and legitimate. This is often needed when such a document needs to be submitted to an embassy, consular authority or other foreign immigration authorities as part of the process for applying for a visa, permit or other similar application abroad.
In some cases, such as in the case of the UAE, attestation if followed by the procedure known as legalization, which is done by the UAE embassy in Nigeria. Legalization simply means that the UAE embassy has endorsed a particular document (depicted in the form of a seal appended on the back of the document) after the embassy confirms that the document is legitimate, having been already attested by Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
See below image for an example of what the back of your document would like after it is attested or authenticated by Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and legalized by the UAE embassy in Nigeria.
Accordingly, when your document obtained in Nigeria has been stamped and signed (i.e. attested) by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nigeria, and subsequently legalized by the UAE embassy in Nigeria, such a document becomes completely valid and acceptable for use in the UAE for immigration purposes – including for work visa, study or other applications.
For many Nigerians already living in the UAE or those living in other countries but who intend to relocate to the UAE for work, study or other purposes, getting their documents attested and legalized can be a herculean task due to the logistical challenges involved. You will need to worry about how to get your school results, birth certificate, marriage certificate or other documents attested by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the UAE embassy in Abuja as the case may be. This can be problematic particularly for individuals already living in the UAE or another foreign country who obviously can’t travel to Nigeria to handle this attestation and legalization procedure by themselves.
Antarch Consulting exists to help bridge this gap and simplify the process. For years, we have helped Nigerians and foreigners deal with challenges associated with obtaining and processing important documents, and have facilitated attestation, authentication and legalization of a variety of personal and corporate documents at the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the UAE embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.
Feel free to contact us with inquiries about how we might assist you with attestation or legalization of your documents for use the UAE and for other countries.
