جميع المدن, الإمارات العربية المتحدة

The official language of the UAE legal documents

Hello.

I have a question about the UAE legal documents language. Is it mandatory to have them in Arabic?

Can I create documents such as Power of Attorney in English? Is bilingual mandatory?

Thank you for your help.

متميز

أحمد النجار

النجار أند بارتنرز

دردشة

توظيف

اجتماع

5 Oct 2018, 08:34

Dear questioner,

Please be informed that any official document that is issued or stamped by a local authority in the UAE must be either in Arabic or in a bilingual manner where the Arabic one will prevail in case of any contradiction.

This is the case anywhere in the world and not just a UAE regulation.

So, answering your question, you can create the power of attorney only in English in one condition. If it is issued outside the UAE and attested by the notary public in that country, the UAE embassy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the UAE.

However, if you are submitting such a document inside the UAE, you must pass it through legal translation stage before you are able to use it.

Best regards,

Ahmed Elnaggar

11 Oct 2018, 18:17

Dear Mr Elnaggar,

Thank you for your answer.

What about documents that we create in a Dubai entity (LLC).

1. If we (as an LLC) create an agreement with a company from the USA, can we use the English language only?

2. What about the Power of Attorney that we as a company create for other employees which are English speakers. Can we create them in English only?

14 Oct 2018, 08:59

1. Yes. You can sign business agreements in English only.

2. It depends if they will use this POA with legal authorities or not and if the POA will be notarized inside the UAE or not. For both cases If yes, then the POA Must be in Arabic.

هل هذا المحتوى مفيد؟