Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

I am moving out to AD soon and have just been told I need to get my degree certificate attested by the Ministry of Education in the UK followed by Foreign Affairs and then by the UAE Embassy in the UK.

I also need to get my marriage certificate notarised by a public notary and attested by the UK Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then the UAE Embassy. Same with the kids birth certificates.

I need to get this sorted as quickly as possible but cant find out the best way of achieving this. Is it a case of making a trip to London and just calling in at these various government departments or do you need to make an appointment or what??!! Also do they charge?

Help!!!!!

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

f'ing nightmare is an understatement!!!! I have spent the whole day on the telephone trying to get mine sorted out! Following the instruction of some non helpful people and their website a solicitor has to certify the qualification as a true original, basically a letter saying they think it is true! THEN you send or take it to the London office who charge you £27 per document and have a 4 week turn around for post!

I got married abroad and have spent the whole day trying to speak to someone at the Cypriot high commission - still got no where!

BTW this is all before i have looked into what exactly the UAE Embassy place has to do with it! www.fco.gov.uk/legalisation is as far as i have got!

Estimate time of departure, 5 weeks and counting! Stressed is again an understatement!

I look forward to replys here!

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

Thanks for the link.

So if the Foreign & Commonwealth Office can legalise the documents and stamp them for authenticity - why do you need to get a further attestation from the Ministry of Education and the UAE Embassy?? Have I been misinformed because this just seems pointless?

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

Sounds like you're having a hard time - maybe I was just lucky.
All I did was call up a few local solicitors and find out which one was recognised as a notary signator etc. I then arranged for them to come to my house. They checked all my certificates there and then. I had to show them my birth certificate and passport. They then signed them and took them away with them.
THEY arranged the signing in the British Embassy in London and then the UAE one. Was great, meant I didn't need to go and spend all day in London queuing up and waiting. I ended up with the signed attested certificates back in my hand 3 days later :thumbup:

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

yeah chris...that's defo the way to do it...

MM, xx

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

Ok I will make a few calls - thanks

How much did they charge?

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

We had all of ours done through the various embassies in AD (had birth certs from 4 different countries!!!) Plus side of that is that you know it is done to the UAE standard/ format. One bit of advice - take a PDF scan of each document and bring it with you, as well as about 50 passport photos - on a WHITE background!!

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

unfortunately the rules have just changed - have to do the attestation thing in the uk before moving out there

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

normally you just have to get it signed by a solicitor (was easy for me as I worked for a law firm at the time) and then send it to the FCO and UAE embassy.

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

It cost me 334 english pounds to do everything. I had 4 certificates attested.
Good Luck :thumbup:

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

I may be coming out there (UAE) soon, so I approached the British High Commission here in Malaysia to get the docs (marriage and one birth cert are Malaysian) attested here. This is what they told me: 1. Get a 'commissioner for oaths' (in Malaysia) to certify them as 'true'. 2. Take them to the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who will then certify them on the basis of the 'commissioner for oaths' signature. 3. Take them to the Brit High Com who will then certify that the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs signature is genuine!
Is this horse s*** or what?

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

Nope, it sounds about right..... It's crap, I know, but the UAE loves beaurocracy....

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

some info in the wiki for some of this...

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

yes your right
Chris sounds like he did it a great way - i havent heard of that service before... but you can do it yourself in a day if your in London. I did it a week ago and it was a day spent in queues but as long as you have everything you need its not so bad.

You can get them attested easily by either a solicitor or a notary - both are acceptable (the FCO will need to check your solicitor on the database so make sure you know their full name).

Get to the FCO by 9.30 (thats when they open) - it will take them about 2 hours to turn around so take a book.

Get a bus/taxi/tube over to South Ken and get to the UAE embassy by 1pm - they will take them off you (go for some lunch) and then you can pick them up at 2pm and its all done...

Was a bit of a pain but the postage thing can take a long time so i just took the day off and did it.... and if your waiting around you can spend some time getting your passport photos (currently 16 needed for your visa application!!) done...

ps: another new rule is you need to provide proof of all your marks throughout your course from your degree (or whatever you are providing as your education certificate)

Re: Attestation of Degree, Marriage & Kids Birth Certificates
 

oh and its £27 per document for the FCO and £30 per doc at UAE embassy