Significant Delays for Degree Legalization at UAE Embassy in India

According to a recent announcement by the United Arab Emirates Embassy in New Delhi, India, academic credentials that require legalization must now be accompanied by a verification letter confirming the authenticity of the academic certificate. The new requirement adds approximately 90 days to the time required to prepare UAE immigration applications in India. 

The UAE Employment Residence Permit (ERP) process requires academic credentials that have been legalized by the UAE consular post in the place of issuance and counter-legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in the UAE. As such, foreign nationals holding academic certificates issued from India must follow the revised process in order to prevent any potential setbacks in the UAE work authorization process. 

Under the revised process, academic certificates issued by educational institutions in India must be submitted to the UAE Embassy along with a verification letter from the issuing institute. If the academic certificate has been issued by a government institution, the certificate and the verification letter must be legalized by the State Education Department and the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. In the case of academic certificates issued by private institutions, the certificate and the verification letter must be legalized by the Ministry of External Affairs only. 

What This Means for Employers 

Obtaining the verification letter may add an additional 90 days to the standard legalization time of approximately three to five weeks. Because document legalization is an integral part of the UAE immigration process, delays in document legalization will have a significant effect on the total lead time for securing UAE work authorization. 

Counter-legalization of academic certificates by MOFA is also required for obtaining work authorization in the UAE. It may be possible for the employer or the foreign national to direct an email or letter to the academic institution in question to request issuance of a verification letter, although some academic institutions may require the employee’s physical presence to provide such a letter. 

How Fragomen Can Assist 

Fragomen’s Outbound Services teams can assist clients in legalizing academic, marriage, and birth certificates. 

Certain academic institutions in India may allow Fragomen to obtain a verification letter on behalf of the employee. Under such circumstances, Fragomen will assist in procuring the verification letter and will initiate the document legalization process. If, however, the academic institution does not permit Fragomen to request a verification letter, the employee or the sponsoring entity would need to obtain the document in order for the document legalization process to continue. 

Fragomen will continue monitoring the situation and is working on devising a process plan for affected applications. 

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions or require assistance, please do not hesitate to contact your Fragomen immigration professional or send an email [email protected].