Legalisation of documents
Important Notice: Legalization of documents
In order to improve our consular services, now you can also present your documents to VFS for legalization!
For more information please visit our website or contact VFS Global.
www.unitedarabemirates.diplomatie.belgium.be
www.vfsglobal.com/belgium/UAE
Legalization is a procedure to confirm the validity of the seal and signature on documents issued in the UAE.
Legalization services, provided by the Belgian Embassy in the UAE,concern the legalization of documents issued by entities in the UAE only.
Procedure
1. The document must be legalized (attested) by the Ministry Of Foreign Affairs of UAE - MOFA
2. The document must be legalized by the Belgian Embassy in UAE through VFS Dubai or Abu Dhabi
3. The original document must be included
If the police clearance is digital or electronically legalized, include a print-out of it.
4. If the document is in Arabic, a translation in English, French, Dutch or German must be provided, and both the Arabic and the translation need to be legalized.
If the translation is done by one of our approved translators, then the stamp of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the UAE is no longer required on the translation, but it is still required on the original Arabic document (see list of approved translators on our website).
IMPORTANT
- Documents must not be older than 6 months (to be submitted min. 3 weeks before expiration of the 6 months)
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs seal should not be older than 6 months
- The Police clearance must not be older than 3 months
For documents issued outside the UAE that you want to use in Belgium:
1. The original document must be legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the issuing country or have an Apostille of the issuing country (see list of countries with Apostille on our website).
2. The document can then be legalized by the Belgian Embassy responsible for the issuing country.
General information about legalization
A document that is official and legal in one country is not necessarily official and legal in another. Many documents must therefore be legalised if you wish to use them abroad.
The legalisation process involves checking the origin of the relevant document. Legalisation is official confirmation that the signature of the civil servant that has signed a document, or the seal or stamp on the document, is legitimate.
It is not only the signature of the person that has issued the document that is legalised, the process can also legalise the signature of the legalising registrar. Every signature, every seal and every stamp will be legalised by the person authorised to do so and who is familiar with each signature, seal or stamp. This explains why various legalisations are sometimes required, in a specific order.
A country may have signed up to a legalisation treaty that encompasses agreements about how countries accept one another's official documents. Many countries have signed up to the "Apostille Convention" of The Hague of 5 October 1961. With this, just 1 legalisation is required via an apostille stamp.