UAE deed, UK destination
Power of Attorney From the UAE to the UK
What we draft here is a UAE deed, not a power of attorney made under UK law. If you need the UK instrument itself, you need someone qualified there, not us.
- A UAE deed
- Arabic with certified translation
- Ratified before a notary
Read this first if you searched for gov uk
What we draft is a UAE deed: an instrument prepared, translated and ratified here, authorising someone to act for you. It is not a UK power of attorney, and if a UK power of attorney is what you need, you need someone qualified in the UK rather than us.
What we draft
A UAE deed, in Arabic
What we cannot draft
Any instrument made under UK law
Apostille
None, the UAE issues no apostille
This is a UAE deed, not a UK one
A power of attorney belongs to the legal system that makes it. What we prepare is made in the UAE, drafted in Arabic, ratified before a notary public here and attested here. It is not, and cannot be turned into, a UK power of attorney. People often reach this page after searching for gov uk power of attorney, and if that is what you were told to get, speak to someone qualified in the UK instead.
What makes it a UAE instrument
Under Dubai Law No. 4 of 2013 concerning Notaries Public in the Emirate of Dubai, instruments are drafted in Arabic. A document in another language is accepted only when it comes with a translation by a certified translator, and both versions are signed by the parties. Article 27.
How the deed gets made
Four stages, all of them here in the UAE. What happens once the deed reaches the body or person in the UK who will receive it is for them, not for us.
1
Ask the receiving side first
Before a word is drafted, ask the body or person in the UK who will receive it what they need to see. They set that, not us and not UAE law. Their answer decides the wording, the language versions, and whether a UAE deed is any use to them at all.
2
Drafting the deed in Arabic
We write the deed around the exact act you need done, then produce it in Arabic. In Dubai, notarial instruments are in Arabic, and a document in another language is accepted only with a translation by a certified translator, with both versions signed by the parties.
3
Translation by a registered legal translator
The translation is not a formality. Documents going to the Dubai Courts power of attorney service are translated into Arabic as legal translation approved by the UAE Ministry of Justice, so we use a translator on that register and keep both versions in step with each other.
4
Ratification before a notary, then attestation
Ratification is the notary’s act, never ours. The notary verifies identity from an ID card, passport or other official document issued by the State, checks capacity and consent, and reads the content out and explains its effects before you sign. Attestation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs follows, under the service it names Attestation of Official Documents and Certificates. No apostille is issued at any stage.
Our part in the process
We provide notary services, and we are not qualified in UK law. Our lawyers and legal consultants draft the deed, arrange the legal translation, check the file and attend the appointment with you. Ratification happens before a notary public, because that duty belongs to a notary. Notarial duties are performed only by public notaries, private notaries and accredited consuls of the State, and in Dubai notaries public sit under Dubai Law 4 of 2013.
The second half of that first sentence matters as much as the first. Nothing on this page tells you what UK law requires, what any UK body accepts, or what any office there charges, because we are not the people to tell you. If what you need is an instrument made under UK law, find someone qualified in the UK. We will draft the UAE side, and we will say so plainly rather than take work that is not ours.
The words that decide what your agent can do
UAE law, not the title on the front page, sets the limits. A deed written loosely does far less than most people expect, and that is a common reason one is handed back.
- An agency expressed in general terms, without specifying what is intended, grants only the power to perform acts of management.
- Anything that is not an act of management and preservation requires a special agency specifying the type of act and the dispositions it entails.
- The law names donations, sale, settlement, mortgage, acknowledgment, arbitration, administering and accepting an oath, and pleading before the court as needing that special agency.
- An agency may be general, special, conditional, or deferred to a future time, so a trigger or a start date can be written in.
- A term belongs in the deed, because the agency is extinguished on completion of the work, expiry of the term specified, or the death or loss of legal capacity of either party.
- You may revoke or restrict your agent’s authority at any time, unless the agency involves a third party’s right or was issued in the agent’s interest.
Two jobs, two different professions
One of these is ours. The other is not, and no amount of drafting here turns one into the other.
What we can do here
Draft, translate, take it through
Write a UAE deed around the act you need done, put it into Arabic with a certified translation, and take it through ratification and attestation here in the UAE.
What belongs in the UK
Anything made under UK law
An instrument made under UK law is made there, by someone qualified there. We do not draft it, advise on it, or predict how it will be treated.
The papers we ask for before drafting
Send clean scans first. We read them against the act you need and against the answer you get from the receiving side, then book the appointment.
From you, the principal
You attend the ratification
- Emirates ID
- Passport, or another official State document
- Your signature, given before the notary
- What the receiving side has said it needs
About the agent you name
They do not travel here
- Full name as the passport spells it
- Passport copy as a PDF
- Emirates ID number, where they hold one
- The same again for every further agent
About the matter it is for
This is what shapes the wording
- The document identifying the property, account or case
- The Arabic text and its certified translation
- Both language versions signed by the parties
- Clean PDF scans, and nothing laminated
Where these deeds go wrong on this route
Most of these are settled on the day the deed is written. Left alone, they send the file back to the start.
- Asking us for an instrument made under UK law, which we are not qualified to draft
- Waiting on an apostille that no authority in the UAE can issue
- A deed in general terms used for an act that needed a special agency
- That the body or person in the UK who will receive it has said what it wants, before anything is drafted
- That names, numbers and the description of the matter 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.
Is a deed signed in Dubai the same as a power of attorney made under UK law?
No. What we prepare is a UAE instrument, drafted in Arabic, ratified before a notary public here and attested here. An instrument made under UK law is a separate thing, made in the UK by people qualified there. If that is what you were told to get, this page is not it.
Can you prepare the UK instrument for me instead?
No. We are lawyers and legal consultants in the UAE and we are not qualified in UK law, so we do not draft, advise on or file anything that belongs to that system. We say so plainly rather than take the work and hand you something the receiving side will not use.
Will the body or person in the UK accept what we draft here?
That is their decision, not ours and not a matter of UAE law. We do not know their rules and we will not guess at them, so ask them first and send us the answer. We then draft the UAE deed to match, and tell you if what they want is not a UAE deed at all.
Why can no authority here put an apostille on it?
Because the UAE is not a contracting party to the 1961 Apostille Convention. It does not appear on the status table published by the Hague Conference, which listed 130 contracting parties when it was last updated on 30 June 2026. Nothing leaving the UAE carries an apostille, whatever a typing centre tells you.
Will I get a version in English as well as Arabic?
The instrument itself is in Arabic. In Dubai, a document in another language is accepted only with a translation by a certified translator, and both versions are signed by the parties, so where an English text is used it is signed too. Documents going to the Dubai Courts power of attorney service are translated by a legal translator approved by the UAE Ministry of Justice.
What does the notary actually do at the appointment?
Federal law sets out the duties. The notary verifies identity from an ID card, passport or any other official document issued by the State, checks capacity and consent, and reads the content of the transaction out to you and reveals its effects before you sign. If the notary does not speak your language, an interpreter from the Ministry’s register is engaged.
Which notary fees are published?
The federal schedule sets AED 100 per party for executing or notarising a general or special power of attorney, and AED 50 per page for notarising a translation included in the instrument. A private notary charges those fees plus 30 per cent, so AED 130 per party. Dubai Courts sits outside that schedule under Dubai Law 4 of 2013 and publishes its own, which we check first.
What is published for the attestation stage?
MOFAIC publishes AED 150 for Individual Affairs documents and AED 2,000 for Commercial documents, so the category your deed falls into matters a great deal. On the federal notary schedule, authenticating signatures in an instrument with unspecified value is AED 200 per party, and executing and notarising an affidavit is AED 300. None of these is a fee of ours.
Start here
Start with the act, not the document
Tell us what the person in the UK actually has to do, who will receive the deed, and what they have said they need to see. If the answer is an instrument made under UK law, we will tell you so, and you should go to someone qualified there. If it is a UAE deed, we draft it, translate it and take it through ratification 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.