UAE to the Philippines
Power of Attorney From the UAE to the Philippines
The UAE issues no apostille, so a deed signed here travels on its Arabic text and its own wording. This page is written around the person who will have to stand at a counter and use it.
- Written for your agent
- Arabic, with certified translation
- Limits written in
Start from who will use it
A power of attorney from the UAE to the Philippines is drafted in Arabic, ratified before a notary public, then attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There is no apostille on it, because the UAE is not a party to the Apostille Convention.
The agent
Named exactly as their ID reads
Apostille
None, the UAE issues none
MOFAIC fee
AED 150 individual, AED 2,000 commercial
Written for the person who has to use it
Every other page here speaks to the person giving the authority. On this corridor the authority usually goes to a relative at the far end, who will walk into an office alone, be identified against their own papers, and be believed or not on the strength of a document that arrived from another country. Write the deed for them, not for yourself.
How identity gets checked at the signing
Federal Decree-Law 20 of 2022 requires the notary to verify the identity of the persons concerned by reviewing the ID card, passport or any other official document issued by the State, to verify capacity and consent, and to read out the content of the transaction and reveal its effects.
Moving a power of attorney from the UAE to the Philippines
Four stages, and the last one is not ours to decide. No apostille appears anywhere in it, because the UAE is not a contracting party to the Apostille Convention.
1
Decide what your agent may do
Start with the act, then the person. Under the Civil Transactions Law an agency may be general, special, conditional, or deferred to a future time, and anything beyond management and preservation needs a special agency naming the type of act. We write that list before we write anything else.
2
Arabic text, and the translation with it
In Dubai, notarial instruments are in Arabic. A document in another language is accepted only with an Arabic translation by a certified translator, and both versions are signed by the parties, under Article 27 of Dubai Law 4 of 2013. Documents going to the Dubai Courts power of attorney service must be translated by a legal translator registered with the UAE Ministry of Justice.
3
The notary’s part, and your agent’s details
Ratification is the notary’s act, never ours. The notary checks your identity from an Emirates ID or passport, checks capacity and consent, and reads the content out to you before you sign. Dubai Courts also records the agent, by Emirates ID number or by an uploaded Emirates ID or passport, so send their papers ahead.
4
MOFAIC, then whatever the receiving office asks
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs attests the signatures and seals under the service it names Attestation of Official Documents and Certificates. The original must be in Arabic or English, or carry a legally certified translation, and must not be laminated. What is wanted after that is set by the office in the Philippines who will receive it, so ask them first.
Our part in the process
We provide notary services, and we are not qualified in Philippine law. Our lawyers and legal consultants draft the deed, arrange the legal translation, check the file and attend the appointment with you. The ratification itself happens before a notary public. In Dubai those notaries sit under Dubai Law 4 of 2013 and Dubai Courts, and on the federal system the duty belongs to public notaries, private notaries and accredited UAE consuls.
Nothing on this page tells you what the Philippine side requires, and that is deliberate. We have no sourced statement about any Philippine office, form, fee or timescale, so we will not invent one. Ask the office in the Philippines who will receive the deed what it needs to see, in writing if you can. We write the wording to match it.
How your agent should appear on the deed
They will be identified against their own document, not against your description of them. Get these right and the counter has nothing to argue with.
- Their full name exactly as the identity document they will present reads it, same spelling, on both language versions.
- The number of that document written into the deed, so the person reading it is matching a number and not a name alone.
- Every further agent given the same treatment, because each extra name is another person holding your authority.
- The act named in the words the law uses, since anything past management and preservation needs a special agency specifying the type of act and the dispositions it entails.
- Sub-agency decided on the page, allowed or shut off, rather than left silent for someone to read whichever way suits them.
- A term written in, because UAE law sets no general fixed validity period and an agency runs until its work is done or its term expires.
The two lists your agent needs in hand
Article 870 is as much a warning as a checklist. A general wording quietly fails to reach the acts people most often send a relative to do.
What your agent may do
Only what the deed writes out
If the agency is expressed in general terms without specifying what is intended, it grants the agent the power to perform acts of management, and no more.
What they may not
Anything a special agency should have named
Donations, sale, settlement, mortgage, acknowledgment, arbitration, administering and accepting an oath, and pleading before the court each need a special agency naming that act.
The file we open before anything is drafted
Two people’s identity details, and the papers behind the matter. Scans first, then the appointment is booked.
The agent who will use it
They do not travel here
- A clean PDF of the document they will present
- Their full name spelled exactly as that document shows it
- Their Emirates ID number, only if they hold one
- A phone number we can reach them on
You, the principal
You attend the ratification
- Emirates ID
- Passport, or another official document issued by the State
- Your signature, given in front of the notary
- The act you need done, written out in plain words
The matter behind it
This is what fixes the wording
- The document identifying the property, account or case
- The Arabic text, or a certified translation beside it
- Both language versions, signed by the parties
- Clean PDF scans, and nothing laminated
Where an agent gets turned away
Most of this is decided on the day the deed is written, not the day it is used. The first list is what goes wrong, the second is what we check.
- A name on the deed that does not match the document the agent hands over
- A general wording sent to do an act that needed a special agency
- A sub-agent using a deed the principal never knew had been passed on
- That the act you need is written in the words the law uses, and that the limits are written too
- That names and numbers read the same on both language versions
- That the law relied on is current, since the 1985 Civil Code was repealed by Federal Decree-Law 25 of 2025 and Article 955 no longer applies
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often on this one.
Does my agent need to be here when I sign?
No. You attend the ratification and your agent does not. What is needed from them is their identity, and Dubai Courts records the agent by Emirates ID number, or by an uploaded Emirates ID or passport. Send us their document before the appointment so the name written on the deed matches it exactly.
Can the person I name hand it to a cousin instead?
Only if the deed allows it, and you should settle that deliberately rather than leave it silent. Under the Civil Transactions Law, where the principal agency is revoked, all sub-agencies derived from it are deemed revoked by law. A sub-agency lives and dies with the agency it came from, and whoever holds it was never chosen by you.
Should I send my agent a copy of the deed?
Yes, and explain what it says. A person holding a document they have not read is in a poor position at a counter, and worse if they are asked what they are authorised to do. Send both language versions, tell them which acts are named and which are not, and tell them the term you wrote in.
What happens to the deed if I die while my agent still holds it?
It ends. Under the Civil Transactions Law an agency is extinguished on completion of the work entrusted to the agent, on expiry of the term specified for it, and on the death or loss of legal capacity of either the principal or the agent. Your agent should know that, because they are the one standing at the counter.
What happens if my agent acts after I have revoked it?
The principal may revoke or restrict the agent’s authority at any time, unless the agency involves the right of a third party or was issued in the agent’s interest. An agent authorised for litigation who acts after learning of their dismissal is liable, while acts done before they knew remain effective. So tell them, and be able to show you told them.
My agent does not read Arabic either. Does that matter?
Two separate things cover this. The notary is required to read out the content of the transaction and reveal its effects before you sign, and where the notary is unfamiliar with your language they engage an interpreter from the Ministry’s Interpreter Register. That is separate from the written translation, which is done by a certified legal translator.
How many agents can I name?
As many as the matter needs, but each one is a person holding your authority, and each needs the same treatment: full name exactly as their identity document reads it, the document itself, and the acts they are allowed to do. Naming a spare relative you have not spoken to is how a deed ends up used by someone you never chose.
Which fees on the UAE side are official?
The federal schedule sets AED 100 per party for executing or notarising a general or special power of attorney, AED 50 per page for notarising a translation in the instrument, AED 200 per party for authenticating signatures in an instrument of unspecified value and AED 300 for an affidavit. A private notary adds 30 per cent, making AED 130. Dubai Courts sits outside it, under Dubai Law 4 of 2013.
Start here
Tell us who will be holding it
Start with the person, then the act. Tell us who in the Philippines will use the deed, exactly as their identity document names them, what they must do with it, and which office will receive it. We draft, translate, check the file and attend the notary appointment with you.
Tell us what the document has to do
Say who will receive it and what you need it to allow, and you will get a straight answer on the wording, the government fees and what to bring. You can also send it through the contact form.
Call us
Speak to the person who will handle your file and get an answer on the same call.
Send photographs of your passport, your Emirates ID and anything the matter attaches to.
Best for a company matter, or anything that runs to several documents.
Visit the office
Jebel Ali area, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai. Come in, or have it handled remotely and only turn up to sign.
Opening hours. Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 18:00. Friday, 9:00 to 12:00. Saturday, 9:00 to 18:00. Sunday, closed.