MOFA Attestation: Key Differences Across Various Countries

Ministry of Foreign Affairs attestation is an important aspect of document validatiion intended to be used abroad. It ascertains that any given document being educational, personal or commercial has already been checked by the concerned local authorities and is now to be further checked by the foreign ministry of the destination or origin country.

Even though MOFA attestation has the same objective in all parts of the world, namely, to identify document authenticity, the process, schedule, and conditions of MOFA attestation differ a lot among countries. The knowledge of these differences is essential to those people and companies that deal with international documentation procedures.

United Arab Emirates (UAE):

MOFA attestation is the last necessary procedure, as well as the most paramount in the UAE in the case of an alternative acceptance of document issued abroad. To take an example of job application, residency, education and family sponsorship, all foreign documents (such as degree certificates, marriage or birth certificates) will be attested at the first country of origin first- usually at the state level, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) and the UAE embassy. It is a very quick, though organized process, and it is preferable to make a digital submission, either on the platform such as the MOFAIC application.

Saudi Arabia:

The MOFA attestation in Saudi Arabia entails the attestations that take place first in the country of origin of the document including Saudi Embassy. But in Saudi Arabia on the other hand, educational documents, more especially when intended to be used in employment, will usually be issued with further certification by the Saudi Cultural Attach. The Saudi MOFA subsequently does the last stamp, though it is more paper-heavy, and can be done either physically by using authorized agents or online through the authorised system.

Qatar:

The documents should be attested with MOFA attestation Qatar are degrees, marriage certificates, and work contracts. As it is the case with other GCC countries, it requires clearance of embassies and home country. There is however, strict rule in Qatar that stipulates that educational certificates have to be complemented with a bonafide letter and transcript. This is quite simplified and attestation services are usually performed at some of the select centers of government services or it is meted out through an agency that has agreed to the facility.

India:

In India the MOFA Attestation is made by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that is its equivalent to that of MOFA. First, documents are notarized and then they are verified in the respective state Home Department or HRD (in the case of educational certificates) and then MEA attested.

In case that the document will be used in another nation it might have secondary attestation in an embassy. However, MEA does not only provide the Gulf countries with apostille services, in contrast to the Gulf countries, apostillization services also apply in the case of countries subject to The Hague Convention, thereby the embassy and MOFA steps of those destinations as well.

Philippines:

The MOFA attestation in the Philippines is the DFA . Before publishing and approval, the process first begins with local notarization and verification by such agencies as CHED (in the education sector) or the PSA (in civil cases). DFA attestation is done, and in case of the country that is not a member of the Apostille Convention, the receiving country embassy is a must to attest. Convenience has been enhanced with the usage of online appointment systems and submission of e-documents which has been developed in the recent years.

MOFA attestation is similar in all countries in that it makes sure that documents have a legal status outside their home countries, but there are significant differences in the procedure and means of attestation as well as the agencies that do it. Some countries such as UAE have adopted the use of the digital platform to achieve faster processing whereas Saudi Arabia operates in a more traditional multi-level system.

To promote the timely realization of their aspirations and diverse business needs, they should be well informed of the specific requirements of each country, in the effort to prevent delay, besides ensuring the foreign legal enforceability of documents.