NOTARY & ATTESTATION SERVICES

Online & Remote Notary Services in Dubai & the UAE

Online notarization in the UAE is not one national service. Dubai Courts, the federal Ministry of Justice and the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department each run their own digital notary platform, with their own sign-in, identity rules and limits. This page sets out what each official service says it covers, what it asks you to upload, how its remote step works, and where it still stops short.

LAST REVIEWED 30 SEPTEMBER 2026

Three Official Platforms, Three Rulebooks

The three platforms belong to three different authorities. The UAE Government portal names the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, Dubai Courts and RAK Courts as independent local judicial departments, while the E-Notary System belongs to the federal Ministry of Justice. The three remote routes covered here are the Smart Electronic Notary of Dubai Courts, the E-Notary System of the Ministry of Justice, and the online notary portal of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD), including its English-language Notary Services Bureau. Ras Al Khaimah Courts is outside the scope of this page.

Their own descriptions of who they serve are broad. Dubai Courts presents its Smart Electronic Notary as a service for all segments of society. When the Ministry of Justice launched its digital power of attorney, it said the country’s remote litigation system lets customers complete transactions such as powers of attorney whether they live inside or outside the country, without visiting a notary public in person. ADJD describes its English-language bureau as reachable from anywhere in the world, at any time. Each platform then sets its own conditions, covered below.

At federal level, the Ministry of Justice lists Federal Decree-Law No. (20) of 2022 on Regulating the Profession of Notary Public on its notary legislation page, and its online service card makes compliance with the notary public law, its executive regulations and related laws a condition of use. In Abu Dhabi, ADJD’s notary page cites Law No. 11 of 2017 on the notary public in the Emirate: a document must not breach the law or public order, fall within the competence of another entity, or fall within the notary public’s restrictions.

Dubai Courts: The Smart Electronic Notary

Dubai Courts describes its Smart Electronic Notary as a system that includes all notary public services, among them powers of attorney, acknowledgments and legal warnings, without asking customers to visit a notary public branch. Its main listed service is the attestation of powers of attorney. Applications can be made 24 hours a day from Windows, iOS or Android devices, and are audited during official working hours.

Dubai Courts says each step is handled electronically. You register (a client with a digital identity receives a username and password), choose the service type, enter the parties’ data and ID numbers, select the clauses, attach the supporting documents and pay electronically. The system then decides, from the service settings and the details entered, whether the transaction can be scrutinised without the parties, or needs their virtual or personal presence. Each party signs electronically with an OTP code. An auditor reviews the entries, fees, text and attachments, then approves, asks for changes (a new OTP is sent after any amendment) or rejects with reasons. After the service provider signs and approves, the notary public communicates with the client, virtually or in person, and the attested power of attorney arrives by email.

Besides individual accounts with Dubai Courts, the listed channels are private notaries, public notaries, authorized employees of government entities, practitioners of the profession such as law firms, and government service centres.

Dubai Courts: Who Can Sign Without Attending

The Dubai Courts card for power of attorney ratification sets the identity rule plainly: online attestation is for parties who hold a valid Emirates ID, and a party with a passport but no Emirates ID must appear in person before the Notary Public. The same card sets age thresholds of 21 lunar years for principal and attorney on a civil power of attorney, and 18 years on a commercial one. Where a party is legally incapacitated, the legal guardian may appear for them after approval from the competent authority.

Uploads are PDFs: proof of identity for each party, proof of identity for the attorney and of any conferred powers, and the paper that matches the subject of the power of attorney — a title deed for property, a valid trade licence for a company, a vehicle possession certificate for a car, a determination of heirs or death certificate for an estate. Documents not in Arabic need a legal translation certified by the Ministry of Justice, and documents issued abroad must already be attested before upload. The card lists a fee of AED 100 per party to the document, plus AED 20 for Knowledge and Innovation.

Ministry of Justice: The E-Notary System

The Ministry of Justice’s E-Notary System is reached from the Ministry’s website, its Unified Gate or its mobile app, with a UAE PASS or Unified Gate login; the Ministry’s E-Notary page also links to a separate search and verification tool. According to the Ministry’s current user manual (fourth edition), the applicant first picks one of five document types — power of attorney, endorsement, waiver, contract and Digital Power of Attorney — then a template and the document’s duration, either permanent or between two dates.

The parties then appear by role, such as principal and agent. A party’s details can be fetched from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship after a data-sharing consent, extracted from an attached Emirates ID file, or typed in manually where there is no Emirates ID, in which case alternative identification documents must be added with their number, country of issue and expiry date. Every party needs a valid email address and mobile number, because each receives the notifications. The text of the transaction is built from template clauses or uploaded as a PDF, and attachments must be images or PDF files of no more than 10 MB.

Once the request is sent, the parties are notified by email and mobile, and a notary public reviews and audits the transaction. When the notary moves it to the interview stage, the applicant and every party required to sign receive an email and a text message with a link, and the interview screen offers a video call that joins the applicant and all parties with the notary. After verifying the parties’ information, the text and the attachments, the notary approves the request and moves it to payment.

Signing comes after payment. A digital-ID signing link goes to each required signatory in turn, the next link being sent only once the previous party has signed. When every party has signed, the notary adds a digital signature, the transaction is complete and the final document can be downloaded. The manual states that the same procedures apply across all service channels.

The Ministry’s Digital Power of Attorney

The Ministry’s service card for writing and authentication of contracts and deeds describes a shorter route: drafting contracts and documents, such as general and special powers of attorney and sale contracts, without the intervention of a Notary Public. The steps are to register with UAE PASS, submit the application and select “Digital Power of Attorney”, pay the fee, sign with UAE PASS and receive the document electronically. The card gives a service duration of one day, and states that the application is cancelled electronically if the fee is not paid, or the document not signed, within 20 days of the payment link arriving.

The user manual explains how the route works without a notary. It is available for specific predefined templates: the system takes the principal’s details from their UAE PASS account, which verifies their identity digitally, the applicant adds the agent’s details, and the text is the template’s own. After the applicant adds an acknowledgment and pledge agreeing to the content, the request goes straight to payment. Once it is paid, a digital-ID notification prompts the applicant to sign with their UAE PASS account, and the signed request is marked completed and can be received.

The same system issues a narrower instrument, the digital authorization for services, also called digital delegation. It is a special power of attorney that lets another person apply online for a government service on the applicant’s behalf: the applicant chooses the government entity and its service, adds the delegate’s details and pays, and the document, time-bound or open-ended, is issued directly and sent to both of them. It can be received by email, by text message, in the user’s account on the Ministry’s website and in the digital wallet, and the delegate then uses it on that entity’s website or app.

When the Ministry launched the service in September 2022, it said customers could generate digitally ratified powers of attorney in under ten minutes without visiting a notary public office, store them using a blockchain system and a digital wallet, and share them with third parties and competent authorities; the platform works in Arabic and English. Announcing a second phase in June 2023, the Ministry said the platform provides eight types of power of attorney.

Abu Dhabi: Remote Meetings With the Notary

ADJD’s Notarisation & Attestation guidance manual (July 2023 edition) gives one four-step procedure for its power of attorney services: submit the application and documents on the ADJD website, pay the fee once the application is approved, book an appointment to meet the notary public remotely, and receive the digitally attested document after the meeting. The listed completion time is two working days. The required documents are an Emirates ID card and the document to be attested, plus subject-specific papers such as a property title deed or a recent land layout for a real estate power of attorney.

For a general power of attorney, the manual caps validity at three calendar years from the date of notarization and charges AED 100 for each year of validity, with AED 500 more if a signature authorization is added. Some remote meetings name who must attend: the wife for a declaration of dowry payment, and both parties for a declaration of debt. Documents issued outside the UAE must be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and documents in a language other than Arabic need a translation by a certified translator whose valid licence card is attached.

Abu Dhabi: The English-Language Notary Services Bureau

In October 2023, ADJD launched a Notary Services Bureau that notarizes transactions in English, which it describes as the first English-language notary bureau in the region. Its digital service covers all types of contracts, declarations and undertakings, settlement agreements, all types of power of attorney, signature authentication, and board resolutions, meeting minutes and other documents that companies and other legal persons issue in the course of their business.

The practical difference is language: the Bureau accepts English documents as they are, so documents and attachments do not need an Arabic translation. ADJD says the Bureau serves individuals, businesses and government agencies, names expatriates, international companies and anyone in cross-border transactions among the English-speaking customers its services are designed for, and directs them to the Department’s online notary portal. For powers of attorney it publishes English forms, which are filled in, printed, signed on every page, scanned clearly and attached to the online application as a PDF.

Where the Remote Route Stops

The official cards name the edges. In Dubai, a party without an Emirates ID attends before the Notary Public in person. Personal status certifications, such as the authentication of marriage contracts, are handled by the Dubai Personal Status Court under their own card, which requires personal attendance, or a representative holding a certified private power of attorney, with the original ID presented. In Abu Dhabi, a true copy of a notarized record and information about a notarial record follow a different step, identity verification before the officer in charge, while some family affirmations, such as custody, support and social status, are issued digitally with no meeting at all.

We confirm current eligibility for your specific document at intake, and which path applies, before you begin, rather than assuming everything can be done remotely. Where a step still needs local presence or a locally appointed representative, we can also help arrange that.

Taking a Remotely Notarized Document Abroad

Where a document notarized online in the UAE needs attestation for use in another country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) runs a Digital Attestation service for UAE-issued digital documents intended for use outside the UAE, and its list of document types processed exclusively through the digital pathway includes powers of attorney and authorization documents, and legal and court documents. The route, digital or through an approved courier, is set automatically from the issuing authority and document type, and the digital route is limited to supported document types from approved UAE government entities, which the application displays.

The upload must be the original digital PDF issued by the authority: MOFA does not accept a scanned copy, a photograph or a manually created copy, and the file must open correctly, must not be password-protected and must carry a verification mechanism such as a QR code, barcode, electronic link or reference number. Sign-in is by UAE PASS, which MOFA says non-residents can create at uaepass.ae. The destination country cannot be changed once the application is submitted, and one application takes up to five documents. MOFA gives a completion time of within two hours during official working hours; the attestation then appears on the document’s last page with its reference number, date, amount paid and a verification element, and MOFA lists its MOFA Verify service for checking digital documents.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Online & Remote Notary Services

No. They are separate systems run by separate authorities. The UAE Government portal lists Dubai Courts as an independent local judicial department, while the E-Notary belongs to the federal Ministry of Justice. The Ministry’s E-Notary uses a UAE PASS or Unified Gate login; the Dubai Courts service needs prior registration on the Dubai Courts website.

No. The Dubai Courts ratification card limits online attestation to parties holding a valid Emirates ID; a party with only a passport appears in person before the Notary Public. Even with an Emirates ID, the Smart Electronic Notary decides from the details entered whether review needs the parties’ virtual or personal presence.

Yes. The Ministry’s user manual describes an interview stage: after the notary’s review, every party required to sign receives a link by email and text message, and the interview screen offers a video call with the notary. After approval, the fee is paid, each party signs in turn through a digital-ID link, and the notary signs last.

The Ministry’s service card for writing and authentication of contracts and deeds states that the application is cancelled electronically if the fee is not paid, or the document not signed, within 20 days of the payment link arriving. The same card lists a service duration of one day for the Digital Power of Attorney route.

No. ADJD states that its Notary Services Bureau in English accepts English documents as they are, so documents and attachments do not need translating into Arabic. The Bureau covers contracts, declarations and undertakings, settlement agreements, powers of attorney, signature authentication, and company resolutions and minutes.

ADJD’s July 2023 guidance manual lists a completion time of two working days for its power of attorney services. The procedure is to apply on the ADJD website, pay once the application is approved, meet the notary public remotely at a booked appointment, and receive the digitally attested document after the meeting.

Where the issuing authority and document type are supported, yes. MOFA processes powers of attorney and authorization documents exclusively through its Digital Attestation pathway, which needs the original digital PDF with a verification mechanism, a UAE PASS login and a destination country, and lists completion within two hours during official working hours.

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