The Importance Of Your Marriage Certificate Whilst Living In The UAE

As long-term residents of the UAE will know, there’s an awful lot of paperwork involved at various stages of your life in the Emirates. Whether it’s changing jobs and getting a new visa, renewing your Emirates ID card or having a baby and registering his or her birth, the different processes can be confusing and overwhelming. If you are moving to the UAE and are married, there are some important steps that you need to take in order for your marriage to be legally recognised here. Similarly, if you currently reside here but are opting for a destination wedding in another country, you need to be aware of the paperwork and documents needed upon your return to the UAE.

As always, our BCME expert panel member and legal expert, Dee Popat of James Berry & Associates, has some excellent advice that lets you know what you need to do in order to stay within the law here. We hope that Dee’s clear explanation helps those of you who are soon to be married, or who are moving to the UAE with their spouse.

If you were married in another country prior to coming to the UAE, you should ensure that your marriage certificate is legalised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (if married in a Commonwealth Country) or by the Foreign Ministry in the country that your marriage took place. This certificate then needs to be attested at the UAE Embassy in that particular country.  When you get to the UAE, the marriage certificate will then need to be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Emirate in which you will be residing. If you have not done this, there are various agencies that, for a fee, can arrange the legalisation and attestation of this document. Please contact me for details of the providers of this service. 

Once married, it is important to ensure that the UAE authorities recognise your foreign marriage certificate. Only then will you be legally recognised as a married couple in the UAE.  This is particularly important in a number of situations during your married life, including but not limited to the following:

♡ When applying for a spouse visa, your original attested marriage certificate will need to be provided. A word of warning; be careful when using PRO’s as there have been various incidents of original documents being lost or misplaced, which could cause an issue as you will also require your original attested marriage certificate for various other processes whilst living in the UAE.  If the certificate is lost, you will have to go through the same procedure again and order a certified copy from the relevant authority where you got married and have it legalised and attested in that country.  This could take some time and may be an unnecessary expense for you to incur.

♡ When attending ante-natal appointments at hospitals or clinics, you are likely to be asked to provide a copy of your marriage certificate on your first visit.

♡ On the birth of your child, your original attested marriage certificate will need to be provided at the time of registering the birth.

♡ For succession procedures, in order to ascertain the identity of the heirs, various documents will have to be provided to the Sharia Court, including but not limited to the attested marriage certificate where a spousal relationship is being claimed.  

♡ When gifting property to your spouse, you will have to prove that you are married to your spouse. At the time of gifting the property you will need to provide your attested marriage certificate. This must have been attested in the last 12 months. If the attestation is older than this, you will have to re-attest it at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  

♡ When applying for a divorce in the UAE Courts, you will have to have your attested marriage certificate translated and stamped by the Ministry of Justice in order to provide it at the time of filing for divorce.

We can sometimes overlook the importance of ensuring that documents are kept in a safe place, and, as illustrated in the above situations, your marriage certificate should be kept very safely.  As always, if you have any specific questions, please do get in touch with me via email at [email protected].

We also offer various other legal services at James Berry & Associates. If you have any legal requirements, please do contact me and I will put you in touch with the relevant lawyer at James Berry & Associates.

Xx Dee xX

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