The legalization of Spanish public documents for their use in the  UAE is not a straight forward task.

This is because the UAE is not a sigantory member of the 1961 Hague Convention by which member states are exempted from the below legalizations steps by replacing with a simple apostille the process, hence significantly reducing the formalism required with non-member countries.

The most common legalizations are notarial documents (such powers of attorney); judicial (such as judgments or birth or death certificates); commercial (such as documents relating to companies, certificates of origin or invoices) and academic (such as diplomas or certificates).

Public Notary

Documents attested by a Public Notary must follow the below legalization process:

  • Public Notary;
  • Notarial Colleges;
  • Ministry of Justice;
  • Legalization Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; and
  • The Embassy (in Madrid) or Consulate (Barcelona) of the UAE in Spain.

Judicial Documents

Documentos issued by Spanish Tribunals must follow the below legalization process:

  • The respective Supervening Court;
  • Ministry of Justice;
  • Legalization Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; and
  • The Embassy (in Madrid) or Consulate (Barcelona) of the UAE in Spain.

Commercial

Their legalization path depends on their nature:

Export-related:

  • the Chamber of Commerce of the relevant province; and
  • the Superior Council of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Navigation.

Banking documents:

  • If issued by the Central Bank, at any of its offices.
  • If bank issued by a national bank, at the central office of the bank or at the Central Bank;
  • If issued by a local bank at the provincial delegation of the Central Bank.

Company Registration Documents

  • At the appropriate Commercial Registry.

Upon undertaking the above appropriate steps, all documents must obtain the stamp of the following authorities:

  • the Legalization Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; and
  • The Embassy (in Madrid) or Consulate (Barcelona) of the UAE in Spain.

Academic

Academic Certifications must obtain the approval from the below authorities:

  • the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport
  • the Legalization Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; and
  • The Embassy (in Madrid) or Consulate (Barcelona) of the UAE in Spain.

In all the above instances, documents must, upon arrival to the UAE complete the legalization before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the UAE, completing the process of recognition and validity that each institution confers on the predecessing institution.

After following the legalization (or before starting) documents must be translated into Arabic by a sworn translator in UAE. We tend to recommend that this is underakent on completion of the process to ensure its acceptance by UAE organisms.

The costs of the legalizations vary depending on the nature of the documents. The services of the Legalization Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Spain are offered free of cost; however, at the Embassy (or Consulate) of the UAE in Spain a payment of AED 150 or AED 2,000 will need to be paid depending on the nature (the difference being mainly base don the individual or commercial carácter of the document). Upon arrival to the UAE, the legalization will incur similar fees depending on the same nature of the document.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.