How to check if a UAE attestation is genuine

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs runs a document verification service at verify.mofa.gov.ae. It is the only check that settles the question, because it queries the ministry’s own record rather than examining the paper. A stamp that looks convincing proves nothing on its own; a document that fails to appear in MOFA’s system was not attested by MOFA.

Verification takes a minute and is worth doing on any document you are relying on rather than only on ones that look suspect.

1. Find the reference number, barcode or QR code on the attested document.
2. Open the MOFA verification service at verify.mofa.gov.ae.
3. Enter the reference, or scan the code.
4. Compare what comes back with the document in your hand: the names, the dates and the document type all have to match.

Worth knowing. Verify before you pay anyone, not after. Attestation is a chain of steps across several authorities, and a forged or incomplete link is usually discovered at the point where the document finally matters, which is a visa desk or a university admissions office.

What this does not mean

A genuine MOFA attestation confirms the ministry attested that document. It does not confirm that the underlying certificate is real, that the university exists, or that the earlier links in the chain were properly done abroad. It also does not tell you whether the document is accepted for your particular purpose, which is decided by whoever asked for it.

How the attestation is obtained in the first place is covered in how to attest documents with MOFA, with the full chain in our guide to MOFA attestation and our guide to certificate attestation in Dubai.

Sources: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Attestation of Official Documents and Certificates, which names verify.mofa.gov.ae as the digital document verification service and describes the verification features a digital document carries.