UK Degree Attestation for UAE: Complete Cost Guide

If you’re moving to the UAE for work, residency or study, you’ll usually need your UK degree attested. Attestation has three stages: solicitor certification, an FCDO apostille, then digital attestation by the UAE Embassy in London.

The Embassy’s attestation now includes the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) stamp, so you don’t need anything further once you arrive.

Documents we attest:

University degrees (Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD)
Diplomas, such as Higher Education and Professional Diplomas
Postgraduate certificates, such as PGCEs
Some professional qualification certificates issued by UK bodies

Academic transcripts are rarely needed. Check with the authority asking for your attestation before you order one.

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How much does UK degree attestation for the UAE cost?

Our full attestation service costs £242 for one document. The more documents you attest together, the less you pay per document. Turnaround time is currently 7–10 working days for the full process.

Documents	Price per doc	Total	You save
1	£242	£242	–
2	£232	£464	£20
3	£222	£666	£60
4	£212	£848	£120
5	£195	£975	£235

Already have an FCDO apostille?

If your UK document already has an FCDO apostille, you don’t need to pay for those steps again. We can take it straight to the UAE Embassy for attestation.

Price: £145 per document, including the VFS admin fee and VAT
Turnaround: 7–10 working days

We submit your apostilled document to the VFS Centre in London and collect it ourselves. You’ll get the same digital attestation as with our full service, including UAE MoFA attestation.

Not sure your apostille is the right one? Send us a photo before you order, and we’ll check it for you.

What’s included

Solicitor certification
FCDO apostille (urgent service)
UAE Embassy digital attestation, which now includes the UAE MoFA attestation
The VFS admin processing fee
VAT

What’s not included

Arabic translation. You only need this if your UAE authority asks for it. It’s done in the UAE after your attestation is complete

Where your money goes

Attesting a degree for the UAE involves several organisations, and each one charges its own fee. Our price brings them all together.

Solicitor certification. The FCDO can apostille a degree only after a solicitor or notary certifies it. Solicitors and notaries set their own rates.
FCDO apostille. The FCDO charges £45 for a standard paper apostille. We use the urgent service to save you time.
UAE Embassy attestation. The Embassy digitally attests your apostilled degree. This fee also covers attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
VFS admin processing fee. VFS charges £42 (AED 196 plus third-party transaction fees) per application. One application can cover up to five documents for the same person, their direct family or one company.
Our service. We coordinate every stage and take your documents to the VFS Centre ourselves.

Please note: VFS won’t refund its admin fee if the UAE Embassy or MoFA rejects a document, for example, because it isn’t eligible.

How UK degree attestation for the UAE works

There are three stages, and they must happen in this order.

1
Solicitor certification: A UK solicitor or notary certifies your degree certificate or a true copy of it. For most UK degrees, a solicitor is enough. You only need a notary if your UAE authority specifically asks for one.
2

FCDO apostille: The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) adds an apostille. This confirms that the solicitor’s signature is genuine. The UAE Embassy won’t attest your degree without it. We use the FCDO’s express next-day service as standard.
3

UAE Embassy Digital Attestation : We submit your apostilled degree to the VFS Centre in London, which handles submissions for the UAE Embassy. The Embassy then digitally attests your degree. This includes attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so you won’t need a separate stamp on arrival.

The whole process currently takes 7–10 working days.

Let us handle it for you

You can attest your degree yourself, but you’d have to deal with a solicitor, the FCDO and the VFS Centre separately. It takes time, and one mistake can mean a rejection, lost fees and weeks of delay.

London Apostille Services Ltd handles every stage for you:

Solicitor certification: Arranged correctly for UAE requirements.
FCDO Hauge apostille: We use the FCDO’s next-day service as standard.
Embassy submission: We take your documents to the VFS Centre in London and collect them ourselves. At this stage, your documents never go by courier.
One price. £242 covers every fee, including VAT.

Ready to start?

Order online in a few minutes. You’ll see your full, itemised price before you commit, and the multi-document discount is applied automatically. You’ll also get an estimated completion date.

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Prefer to talk it through? Our phone lines are open 8 am–5 pm, Mon to Fri.

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What you’ll receive

When your attestation is complete, we’ll email you a digitally attested PDF of your document. It includes authentication from both the UAE Embassy in London and the UAE MoFA. It’s valid and ready to use in the UAE.

Anyone can verify it at verify.mofa.gov.ae.

We’ll also return your original document, with its solicitor certification and FCDO apostille. It won’t carry any UAE Embassy stamps or stickers, because the digital certificate is now the official proof of attestation.

See a sample

Preview a digitally attested document, including the UAE bilingual digital certificate on the final page.

Click to view attested document example

Before you order: what to check

Only UK documents are accepted. The UAE Embassy in London only attests educational documents issued in the UK. You must have a foreign degree attested in the country that issued it.

Each document is processed separately. We certify, apostille, and attest each degree, diploma, or transcript separately. One VFS application can still cover up to five documents, which is why you pay less per document when you order several.

A certified copy is usually fine. Most UAE authorities accept a solicitor-certified copy, and that’s what we normally use. If your authority requires the original to be attested, tell us when you order.

Notarisation is rarely needed. For notarisation, a notary checks your degree directly with your university. Choose this only if your UAE authority specifically asks for it.

Arabic translation is done in the UAE. If you need one, it must be completed locally because the UAE MoFA must authenticate the translation. The order matters:

1
We complete your UK attestation: solicitor certification, the FCDO apostille, then UAE Embassy attestation.
2
A translator in the UAE translates your attested document into Arabic.
3
The UAE MoFA then authenticates the translation.

Before arranging a translation, check with your employer or sponsor whether you need one.

Common mistakes that cause rejection

The UAE document attestation process is meticulous. Common mistakes when doing it yourself include:

Going straight to the Embassy without solicitor certification and an FCDO apostille
Using the wrong type of certification
Trying to attest several documents as one
Submitting a degree that wasn’t issued in the UK

Any of these can mean a rejection, a lost VFS fee and weeks of delay. We check for all of them before your documents leave our office.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Below are answers to some of the commonly asked questions about the cost of a UK degree certificate attestation for the UAE.

Does the price change if my degree is from a private university?

No. The process and fees are the same for any recognised UK university.

Ready to attest your UK degree for the UAE?

Start your order online and see your full price straight away. If you have a question, first call us on weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm, or use live chat from 7 am to 7 pm.