Attestation: the step that delays everything, done in the wrong country

Almost every delay in a family relocation traces back to one thing: a document issued abroad that has not been legalised. The requirement is not obscure and the process is not difficult. It is simply carried out in the country that issued the document — which is the country you have usually already left.

What needs it

• A marriage certificate, to sponsor a spouse.
• Birth certificates, to sponsor children and to enrol them in school.
• Degrees and professional qualifications, for certain visa categories, for professional licensing, and for some employers.
• Powers of attorney used in property or company matters.
• Death certificates and probate documents, when an estate involves assets in more than one country.

How the chain works

The Emirates are not party to the Hague apostille convention for these purposes, so an apostille alone is generally not enough. The chain runs through the issuing country's own authorities, then its foreign ministry, then the UAE mission in that country, and finally the UAE foreign ministry after arrival. Translation into Arabic by an approved translator sits inside that chain.

Each link has its own queue. The total is measured in weeks in a straightforward case and in months where an intermediate authority is slow or a document has to be reissued first.

Where it goes wrong

• Doing it after arrival. The steps in the issuing country cannot be performed from here, and delegating them requires a power of attorney which itself needs legalising.
• A name that does not match. A maiden name on a degree, a transliteration that differs from the passport, a middle name present on one document and absent on another. Each is fixable and each costs weeks.
• An old copy. Some authorities will only legalise a recently issued extract, not the certificate you have kept since the event.
• Assuming a translation is enough. A translation is one step in the chain, not a substitute for it.
• A document from a third country. Where a marriage took place somewhere neither spouse is from, the chain runs through that third country and nobody is on the ground there.

The instruction

Make the list before you move, not after. Marriage certificate, every child's birth certificate, the degrees you might need, and a general power of attorney for whoever stays behind. Have them legalised while you are still in the country that issued them and while you can walk into the offices yourself.

It is an afternoon of dull administration done early, against a family sitting in a hotel later waiting for an envelope from another continent.