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A POA in the UAE is a unilateral legal instrument that authorises one person (the attorney-in-fact) to act on behalf of another (the principal). It only becomes legally binding once it is registered with a notary public — known in Arabic as kateb al adl (كاتب العدل) — at Dubai Courts or with an accredited private notary.
The notary will not even read your document if it is not in Arabic. Arabic is the official language of UAE courts (Article 7 of the Constitution; Article 5 of Federal Decree-Law 42 of 2022 on Civil Procedure), so every document presented at the notary must be in Arabic or accompanied by a certified Arabic translation. Only translators licensed under Federal Decree-Law 22 of 2022 and listed on the UAE Ministry of Justice register may produce that translation. An office translation, a friend’s translation, Google Translate — all rejected at the counter.
The biggest mistake we see is people asking for a “general” POA when what they need is a special one.
A special power of attorney Dubai authorises one defined act — sell apartment 1204 in Marina Heights, represent the principal in case 2026/CC/1827, withdraw a specific bank account balance. Narrow scope, lower fees, faster turnaround.
A general power of attorney UAE grants broad authority across categories — banking, administration, commercial signing. More expensive to draft, more expensive to notarise (more enumerated powers means more per-signature fees), and since mid-2025 it cannot be used for property transactions at all.
DLD Circular 29/R/2025, issued by the Dubai Land Department on 16 July 2025, made special POAs with transaction-specific wording mandatory for any property sale or transfer. Generic management POAs are now refused at the DLD trustee office. If you are selling a Dubai property, you need a special POA naming the property by title deed number — nothing else gets you past the trustee.
Don’t want to figure this out alone? Sarmat is a KHDA-certified training provider and registered typing centre in Deira, Dubai. Message us on WhatsApp — we answer questions like this every day.
A typing centre drafts the POA in the legal format the notary expects — identification of principal and attorney, enumerated scope of powers, jurisdiction, expiry, signature blocks. Sarmat POA typing services dubai use the legal wording templates Dubai Courts clerks recognise on sight.
Why your downloaded template fails: scope language is wrong (American “general durable” wording does not map onto UAE law), tenses are wrong in translation, and formatting is wrong (no Emirates ID number, no place for the kateb al adl stamp).
The drafted POA, if in English, must be translated into Arabic by a translator licensed by the UAE Ministry of Justice. The translator stamps every page, certifies accuracy, and signs the back. Without that stamp the document is invisible to the notary. POA arabic translation dubai sits at AED 80–200 per page; property and litigation POAs land at the upper end because the terminology is specialised.
Get your POA drafted, translated and notarised in one visit — see our typing services
Two options in 2026:
Both the principal and the attorney must attend in person with original Emirates IDs and passports. Most POAs are stamped and released the same day.
If the POA is for use outside the UAE, you need attestation on top of notarisation: MOFAIC attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, followed by consular legalisation at the destination country’s embassy in the UAE. The UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille alone is not enough in either direction — outbound or inbound. The full consular chain is always required.
Here is the all-in for the two most common scenarios, via the private-notary path that Sarmat coordinates under Decree 312 of 2025:
| Item | Special POA (one property sale) | General POA (non-property) |
|---|---|---|
| Typing centre drafting | AED 200–400 | AED 300–500 |
| Certified Arabic translation | AED 80–200 | AED 160–400 |
| Notary electronic registration (per party) | AED 100 | AED 100 |
| Notary per-signature fees | AED 100–300 | AED 300–500 |
| Subtotal (UAE use only) | AED 600–900 | AED 800–1,200 |
| MOFAIC + consular chain (for use abroad) | AED 300–450 | AED 300–450 |
| All-in (use abroad) | AED 900–1,400 | AED 1,100–1,650 |
Per-signature fees scale with the number of signatures and parties: Decree 312 of 2025 fixes the rate at AED 100 per signature, so a special POA with one signing principal sits at the AED 100 end of the range while a general POA with multiple enumerated powers and two parties (principal + attorney) lands closer to the AED 300–500 upper bound.
For comparison, the Dubai Courts public notary under Cabinet Resolution 19 of 2024 charges AED 200–320 per signature on instruments under AED 100,000 in value, scaling up to 0.5% of value (capped at AED 15,000) for higher-value documents. Private-notary visits under Decree 312 add a flat AED 1,000 for home or hospital appointments on top of per-signature fees.
Each one is fixable at the typing centre — but only if you catch it before the appointment.
Translator wrote in past tense for an act not yet performed — “the attorney sold the property” instead of “is authorised to sell.” The notary spots it in seconds. Fix: use only MoJ-licensed translators experienced with POA clauses.
“To handle all my affairs in the UAE.” No longer acceptable. The Executive Regulations of Federal Decree-Law 20 of 2022 on the Notary Profession (Cabinet Resolution 16 of 2024) and DLD Circular 29/R/2025 push toward enumerated, specific powers. Each act must be listed — “to receive funds from Account No. XXX at Emirates NBD,” “to sign on behalf of [Company] in connection with trade licence renewal.”
The POA spells the principal “Mohammed Al Hosani”; the EID shows “Mohammad Al-Hosani.” Latin spelling, Arabic spelling, EID number, full DOB — all must match the Emirates ID exactly. Not the passport, not the driving licence.
Since DLD Circular 29/R/2025, every property POA must name the property (title deed number, building, plot), transaction type (sale, purchase, lease, mortgage), and the counterparty where known. Mandatory electronic verification means the DLD now reads the POA before allowing transfer. Generic “manage and dispose of my real estate” wording is rejected regardless of the notary stamp.
A POA signed abroad still needs UAE-side recognition. The recognised chain is: notary in the home country → home-country MFA → UAE Embassy in that country → MOFAIC in Dubai. The UAE is not part of the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille on its own is not accepted at the Dubai notary or DLD trustee — even if it comes from a Hague member country. A POA signed by a London solicitor and apostilled by the UK FCDO is still rejected here without the UAE Embassy stamp.
The notary checks both IDs at the window. One day expired and the document is refused. Renew before the appointment — this catches the attorney more often than the principal.
Most POAs do not require witnesses, but POAs for divorce proceedings, sale of inherited property under UAE Civil Code, and some personal-status acts do. Two witnesses with valid Emirates IDs must come along on the day.
The common cross-border case: a UAE resident grants authority to a family member here, but the principal cannot fly in for the appointment.
The UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention. Many UK and Russian clients arrive at the counter assuming an apostille is enough — it is not. Regardless of whether the principal is in Russia, the UK, India, China, Germany or anywhere else, the same chain applies: notary in the home country → that country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (or equivalent competent authority) → UAE Embassy in the home country → MOFAIC in the UAE on arrival. An apostille issued by a Hague member country has no standing on its own in the UAE; the embassy step is mandatory.
End-to-end this typically takes 7–14 working days, depending on the UAE Embassy’s processing speed in that country. Once the foreign POA lands in Dubai, we run it through certified Arabic translation and final notarisation the same day it arrives.
Walk in with your details: we draft the POA, our in-house MoJ-licensed translator produces the certified Arabic version, and we book the notary slot — often in one visit. If the principal is abroad, we coordinate over WhatsApp; send us the foreign POA after the UAE Embassy + MOFAIC chain is complete and we handle translation and notary registration the same day it arrives.
For property POAs we double-check the transaction-specific wording against DLD Circular 29/R/2025 before it leaves the office. A property POA rejected at the DLD trustee is far more expensive to redo than one redone at the notary window.
Via the Decree 312 of 2025 private-notary route (which Sarmat coordinates), expect AED 600–900 all-in for a special POA — typing AED 200–400, certified Arabic translation AED 80–200, AED 100 electronic registration per party, and AED 100–300 in per-signature fees. A general POA lands at AED 800–1,200. The Dubai Courts public notary under Cabinet Resolution 19 of 2024 charges AED 200–320 per signature for instruments under AED 100,000, scaling to 0.5 percent of value (capped at AED 15,000) for higher-value documents. For use abroad, add AED 300–450 for the MOFAIC + UAE Embassy consular chain, bringing the all-in to AED 900–1,400 (special) or AED 1,100–1,650 (general). Off-site private-notary visits add AED 1,000.
A special power of attorney authorises one defined act — sell a named apartment, represent the principal in a specific court case, withdraw a specific bank account balance. Narrow scope, lower fees, faster turnaround. A general power of attorney grants broad authority across categories such as banking, administration, and commercial signing. Since DLD Circular 29/R/2025 (16 July 2025), general POAs are no longer accepted for property sales or transfers in Dubai — only transaction-specific special POAs are recognised at the DLD trustee office.
The UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so the same consular chain applies regardless of which country the principal is in. The recognised path is: notary in the home country → that country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (or equivalent competent authority) → UAE Embassy in the home country → MOFAIC in the UAE on arrival. Typically 7–14 working days end-to-end. An apostille issued by a Hague member country (Russia, the UK, India, China, Germany, France) on its own has no standing at the Dubai notary or DLD trustee. Once the foreign POA lands in Dubai, Sarmat handles certified Arabic translation and final notary registration the same day.
The seven most common rejection reasons we see at the kateb al adl counter every week are: (1) wrong tense in the Arabic translation, (2) vague or missing enumerated scope of powers, (3) mismatched Emirates ID details between the POA and the EID card, (4) property POA without DLD-compliant transaction-specific wording, (5) principal abroad without the proper UAE Embassy + MOFAIC consular chain (the UAE is not a Hague Apostille member, so an apostille alone is not accepted), (6) expired Emirates ID or passport on the day of the appointment, and (7) missing witnesses for POA types that require them, such as divorce or inherited-property sales. Each is fixable at the typing centre — but only if caught before the appointment.
Yes. Arabic is the official language of UAE courts (Article 7 of the Constitution; Article 5 of Federal Decree-Law 42 of 2022 on Civil Procedure), so every document presented to a notary public must be in Arabic or accompanied by a certified Arabic translation. Only translators licensed under Federal Decree-Law 22 of 2022 and listed on the UAE Ministry of Justice register may produce that translation. Office translations, machine translations such as Google Translate, and translations by unlicensed translators are all rejected at the counter. Certified Arabic translation costs AED 80–200 per page; property and litigation POAs sit at the upper end of that range because the terminology is specialised.
Yes. Attestation sits on top of notary registration whenever a Dubai POA is used abroad. The path is: MOFAIC attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, followed by consular legalisation at the destination country’s embassy in the UAE. The UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille alone is not accepted — the full consular chain is required for any country (Russia, the UK, India, China, Germany or otherwise). MOFAIC + consular legalisation typically adds AED 300–450 to the total POA cost and 1–3 working days depending on the embassy.
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