About Seal & Signature Business Services
Seal & Signature Business Services LLC is a Dubai-based certificate attestation company. We handle the full legalisation chain for documents issued in more than 120 countries — home-country authentication, UAE Embassy legalisation, and the final Ministry of Foreign Affairs stamp that makes a foreign document legally usable in the UAE. We work with educational, personal, civil and commercial documents, for individuals and for companies. Our clients come to us because the chain is fragmented, the requirements differ by issuing country, and a single wrong step sends a document back to the beginning.
Dubai, UAE · 120+ countries · MOFA · UAE Embassy · Apostille route
How a foreign document becomes valid in the UAE
What we do
End-to-end document attestation and legalisation, managed as one process rather than a series of errands you run yourself:
- Educational document attestation — degrees, diplomas, transcripts and school certificates for employment visas and university admission
- Personal and civil document legalisation — birth, marriage and death certificates, police clearance and affidavits
- Commercial and corporate document authentication — trade licences, memoranda of association, board resolutions, invoices and certificates of origin
- Embassy and consulate attestation — inbound for documents issued abroad, outbound for UAE documents going overseas
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) attestation — the final UAE-side stamp
- Apostille and non-Hague legalisation — including the cases where an apostille is not enough
- Certified legal translation and certificate equivalency, where the receiving authority requires them
We collect the document, run the chain, and return it. In the ordinary case there is no government office you need to visit yourself.
Why an apostille alone is not enough for the UAE
This is the single most common and most expensive misunderstanding we see, so it is worth stating plainly: the United Arab Emirates is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention. An apostille issued by your home country does not, on its own, make a document valid here.
For most countries the document still needs UAE Embassy legalisation in the country of issue, followed by MOFA attestation inside the UAE. Some UAE authorities apply this even to documents from Hague member states. The exact route depends on the issuing country, the type of document and the authority that will receive it — which is why we confirm the route before starting rather than assuming one.
How the chain actually works
The sequence varies by country, but the shape is consistent:
- Notarisation or issuing-authority certification in the country of origin, carried out by the competent local authority
- Home-country authentication — typically the foreign ministry or designated department
- UAE Embassy legalisation in that country
- MOFA attestation in the UAE
- Certified legal translation into Arabic, where the receiving authority requires it
Each stage has its own format rules. A certificate that is laminated, a name that does not match the passport, a missing prior stamp, or a translation done at the wrong stage will all cause a rejection — and a rejection usually means starting again.
Where we work
We manage legalisation for documents issued across Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Australia, through an established network of local partners and correspondents. Whatever the country of origin, the test is the same: the document has to satisfy the specific requirements of the UAE body that will receive it — an employer, a university, a free-zone authority, a court, a bank or a government department. You can check the route for a specific country on our attestation by country pages.
Who we are
We are a team of attestation specialists based in Dubai, working day to day with embassies, ministries, foreign-affairs departments and authorised legal bodies. The work is procedural rather than glamorous: knowing which counter, in which order, with which supporting document, and what the current turnaround actually is rather than what it was last year.
Our clients range from individuals moving to the UAE for a job, to families arranging dependants’ visas, to companies legalising corporate paperwork for a licence application or a tender.
Note: we do not provide notary services, true-copy certification or sick-leave certificate attestation. Notarisation is a step in the chain performed by a notary public — we handle the attestation chain that follows it. If you need a notary, we will tell you so rather than take the file.
How we work
- We confirm the route before we start. Issuing country, document type, receiving authority.
- One point of contact. You are not handed between departments.
- We handle collection and return, so in the ordinary case you make no government office visits.
- Documents are handled confidentially. Most of what we carry — degrees, marriage certificates, a company’s constitutional documents — is irreplaceable or sensitive.
- We tell you when something will take longer. Timelines depend on the issuing country and on the ministries involved, and we would rather give you a real range than a comfortable one.
Why clients choose Seal & Signature
- Coverage across 120+ countries, including jurisdictions where the route is unclear
- Regulatory expertise in both apostille and non-apostille jurisdictions
- End-to-end management under a single service framework
- Secure and confidential handling of original documents
- Dedicated account handling for corporate and high-volume work
- Predictable processing aligned to visa and business timelines
Frequently asked questions
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. We serve clients across the UAE, and handle documents issued in more than 120 countries.
No. Notarisation is performed by a notary public and is a step in the chain before attestation. We handle the attestation and legalisation chain that follows. We also do not offer true-copy certification or sick-leave certificate attestation.
No. The UAE is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille alone is not accepted. UAE Embassy legalisation and MOFA attestation are normally required as well. We confirm the exact route for your document before starting.
In the ordinary case, no. We collect the document, run the chain and return it to you.
Educational certificates, personal and civil documents, and commercial or corporate documents — including degrees, birth and marriage certificates, police clearance, trade licences and board resolutions.
It depends on the issuing country and the authorities involved. MOFA attestation inside the UAE is usually quick; the home-country and embassy stages are what vary. We give you a realistic range for your specific document rather than a single headline figure.
Send us the document type and the country that issued it on WhatsApp and we will confirm the route and a quote.
Talk to our team about your document
Tell us the document type and the country that issued it. We will confirm the exact route and what it costs before anything starts.
