School documents in the UAE: attestation and the transfer certificate

Documents are the part of admission where families lose the most time. Not because there are many of them, but because half have to be attested, and attestation takes anything from a week to a month or more. It is better started before the move than after the offer.

What the school asks for

The standard pack for a private school in Dubai:

• photos of the child and the parents;
• copies of passports and Emirates IDs, both sides;
• the child’s birth certificate — attested, with a translation into English or Arabic;
• the vaccination record, translated into English;
• a nursery report, if there was one;
• school reports for the last two years and a reference from the previous school — translated;
• the transfer certificate — attested and translated.

Attestation is not an apostille

The one thing to know: the UAE does not accept the apostille. A document with an apostille that works perfectly well across Europe is of no use to a Dubai school or to the immigration authorities. What is needed is consular attestation — a chain of certifications that ends with the stamp of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In principle, documents issued outside the UAE are certified in the issuing country (or through its consulate in the UAE) and then stamped by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The exact chain depends on the country. For documents issued in Russia, for example, two routes worked in the 2023/24 school year:

• Full attestation in the issuing country. A notarised translation, then three stamps at home — the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UAE embassy — and one more in the UAE, from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Time: a month or more.
• A shorter route inside the UAE. A translation and two stamps in the UAE: the issuing country’s consulate general in Dubai and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Time: about ten days, and at the time both schools and the immigration authorities accepted documents attested this way.

The procedure changes, so check it with the consulate and with the school itself before you submit anything.

The transfer certificate

The transfer certificate (TC) is a document from the previous school confirming that the child studied there and has left. It is not the same as a school report: it states the year group, the dates and that the school has no outstanding claims. Schools in many countries do not issue one as a matter of course, so you may have to request it and have it drawn up in free form.

The transfer certificate does not need attesting if the child studied in Europe, the US, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. For other countries it does.

What can follow later

The child’s Emirates ID and the attested transfer certificate can usually be supplied within 45 days of the start of term. That is a valuable grace period: your child can start school while the paperwork is still in transit. But it applies to those two documents, not to the whole pack.

Vaccinations

The vaccination record is part of the required pack and is translated into English. If some vaccinations are missing, that does not block admission: the parents sign a declaration to that effect.

How not to lose a month

• Ask the previous school for the reports, the reference and the transfer certificate early — schools close for the summer.
• Attest the birth certificate straight away: you will need it both for the school and for the child’s visa.
• Use a translator whose translations are accepted in the UAE — a second translation costs you another week.
• Keep scans of the whole pack in one folder: the school, the visa centre and the bank all ask for the same papers.

The same documents are needed for the family’s residence visas, including a visa obtained through buying property. The admission process itself is described in getting into a Dubai school.

The full “Schools in Dubai” series

• Schools in Dubai: how the system works
• KHDA school ratings in Dubai: how to read them
• Getting into a Dubai school: the five steps
• Dubai school fees and how to pay less
• The school day in Dubai and the costs on top of fees
• The Dubai school year, holidays and starting age
• British, American or IB: choosing a curriculum in Dubai
• IB Diploma vs A-levels: what each gives a school leaver
• British schools in Dubai: twelve strong options
• American schools in Dubai
• IB schools in Dubai: seven international-curriculum schools
• Dubai school entrance assessments and the CAT4 test
• The Dubai school tour: what to ask and what to watch for
• A child with no English at a Dubai school
• School first, home second: where to live near a Dubai school