Approved translation services in the UAE are translations produced by a translator or translation house registered on the UAE Ministry of Justice list. Under Federal Decree-Law No. 22 of 2022, no authority may attest a translated document and no court may accept one unless it came from a listed provider. Approval is a legal status, not a marketing claim.
Most rejected documents in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are not rejected for bad language. They are rejected because the stamp on the last page came from someone who was not on the list. That single detail decides whether your file moves forward at the notary counter or comes back to you the same day.
This guide explains what approval actually means under UAE law, how approved translation services differ from certified, sworn, notarised and legalised work, and how to check a provider in about two minutes before you hand over a passport or a contract.
What are approved translation services?
Approved translation services are translations carried out by a translator whose name sits on the Ministry of Justice register, working through a licensed translation house, and stamped with that translator’s registration number.
The rule is written into federal law. Article 3 of Federal Decree-Law No. 22 of 2022 states that no authority may carry out authentication or certification work, and no court may accept a translated document, deed or bond, unless the translation was done by a translator or translation house on the Ministry’s list. Article 2 goes further: the profession may not be practised in the UAE at all without that registration plus a licence from the emirate’s licensing authority.
So in the UAE, “approved” is not a soft word. It describes a specific registration, held by a specific person, with a number you can ask for.
Who approves a translator in the UAE?
The UAE Ministry of Justice approves translators, and each emirate’s licensing authority licenses the office they work in.
Getting onto the list is not quick. Under Article 5 of the Decree-Law, an applicant must hold a recognised academic qualification in the relevant language, show at least five years of translation experience, pass the Ministry’s written and oral tests, hold valid UAE residency, work through a licensed translation house, and carry professional indemnity insurance. Article 11 then requires the translator to swear an oath before a Court of Appeal circuit before any translation work can be submitted.
Registration lasts three years and must be renewed. Practising without it is a criminal matter: Article 30 sets imprisonment of one to two years and a fine of AED 50,000 to AED 100,000 for anyone who works as a translator while unregistered, suspended or struck off.
That is why an authorised translator in the UAE stamps every page with their name, their registration number and the name of their translation house. Article 13 obliges them to. If those three elements are missing from the stamp, you are not holding an approved translation.
Sim-Trans is a Ministry of Justice-recognised legal translation and interpretation company, operating from Dubai and Abu Dhabi since 2006. Our certified translation in Dubai service covers personal, corporate, academic and medical documents formatted for UAE authorities.
Approved, certified, sworn, notarised or legalised: what is the difference?
These five words get used interchangeably online, and that confusion is exactly what causes resubmissions. Here is what each one means in UAE practice.
| Term | What it means in the UAE | Who issues it | Typically needed for |
| Approved (certified) translation | A translation by an MOJ-listed translator, stamped with their registration number and signature | A registered translator working through a licensed translation office | Dubai Courts, Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, notary public, GDRFA, MOHRE, DED |
| Sworn translation | The same work, emphasising that the translator has taken the legal oath before a Court of Appeal circuit | An MOJ-listed translator who has sworn the oath | Litigation files, judgments, evidence, arbitration bundles |
| Notarised translation | The approved translation is presented to a notary public, who attests the signature on it | A notary public, on top of the approved translation | Powers of attorney, corporate resolutions, share transfers |
| Legalised (attested) translation | Translation plus attestation by MOFA and the relevant embassy so it is valid across borders | MOFA and the embassy, after the translation is done | Documents leaving the UAE, or foreign documents entering it |
| Company-certified translation | A translation agency’s own signed certificate of accuracy on letterhead | Any translation office | USCIS filings, overseas universities, some foreign employers |
Two things are worth pulling out of that table. First, in the UAE the oath is a precondition for submitting work at all, so “sworn” and “MOJ-approved” describe the same translator from two angles. Second, a company certificate of accuracy is a genuine and widely accepted document abroad, but on its own it will not get a file past a UAE notary. Different destinations, different instruments.
Which documents need official translation of documents in the UAE?
Arabic is the official language of the UAE, so anything filed with an onshore court, ministry, municipality or licensing body generally needs to be in Arabic or accompanied by an approved Arabic version. That single constitutional fact is why official translation services exist here as a regulated profession rather than a convenience.
In practice, the documents that come through a translation office most often are:
- Birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates
- Passports, Emirates IDs and residency papers
- Employment contracts, offer letters and MOHRE submissions
- Commercial contracts, MOUs and shareholder agreements
- Trade licences, memoranda of association and free zone paperwork
- Court pleadings, judgments, powers of attorney and affidavits
- Degrees, transcripts and professional certificates
- Medical reports for insurance claims and visa files
DIFC and ADGM are the notable exceptions, since both operate in English under common law. Even there, the moment a matter crosses into onshore processes such as visas, notarisation or enforcement of a judgment, official Arabic translation comes back into play.
How can I check that a translation office is genuinely approved?
Ask five questions before you pay. Each one maps to an obligation in the Decree-Law, so a legitimate provider will answer all five without hesitation.
- What is the translator’s Ministry of Justice registration number? A real number, not “we are certified”. Article 13 requires the translator to carry it on everything they sign.
- Is the registration current? Registration runs three years and lapses if not renewed. Work submitted after expiry is not valid.
- Is my language pair on their licence? Translators may only work from and into the languages they are licensed for. A translation office may be approved and still not cover Korean or Greek in-house.
- Are the licence and registration certificate on display? Article 14 obliges the manager of a translation house to display them in a prominent place. In a physical translation center, they should be on the wall.
- Will the stamp show the translator’s name, number and the office name? All three, on the translation itself. If a provider hesitates on this one, walk away.
That checklist is worth more than any badge on a website. It is the difference between an approved file and an expensive reprint.
What does “certified translator near me” actually mean in Dubai?
Less than most people assume. A Ministry of Justice registration is federal, so an approved translator in Abu Dhabi is just as valid for a Dubai Courts filing as one two streets away.
Searching for a certified translator near me, certified translation services near me, a translation center near me, or translation companies near me is a habit carried over from countries where you must physically hand documents across a counter. In the UAE, most document translation Dubai work now moves by scan, with the stamped hard copy delivered by courier or collected on the way to the notary.
Proximity still helps in three situations: when a court deadline is measured in hours, when originals must be sighted rather than scanned, and when you want the translation and the attestation coordinated in one trip. That is the practical reason people look for legal translation services near me or a legal document translation services near me option rather than the cheapest quote online. Sim-Trans keeps offices in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi for exactly that reason, so urgent legal document translation Dubai files and Abu Dhabi court submissions are handled locally rather than posted between cities.
Does a UAE certified translation work for USCIS?
Not automatically, and this trips up a lot of expats filing from the Gulf. A uscis certified translation is defined by a different rule, and it is a simpler one.
Under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), any foreign-language document submitted to USCIS must come with a full English translation, together with the translator’s signed certification that the translation is complete and accurate and that they are competent to translate from that language into English. That is the whole requirement. USCIS does not maintain a list of approved translators, does not require notarisation, and does not recognise any particular national accreditation.
So a UAE Ministry of Justice stamp is not what USCIS is looking for, though it does no harm. What it wants is a certified english translation of every page, including stamps, seals and handwritten notes, with a proper certification statement attached to each document. Summaries are not accepted in place of full translations.
The practical answer for anyone in Dubai preparing a US immigration file: ask your provider for the certification statement in USCIS wording, and ask for the MOJ-stamped Arabic version separately if the same document also has to be used locally. They are two different deliverables from the same source document, and a good translation office will prepare both without charging you twice for the linguistic work.
How do I translate a birth certificate to English or Arabic?
“Translate birth certificate to English” is one of the most common requests any UAE translation office handles, usually for a school admission, a visa file or an overseas immigration application. The process is short, and it is the same one behind almost every official translation.
- Send a clear scan of the full certificate, all four corners visible, including any stamps on the reverse.
- Confirm the exact spelling of every name as it appears on the passport, since the passport spelling is what authorities will match against.
- State the destination: a UAE ministry, a school admission, an embassy, or a foreign immigration body. This determines whether you need an approved Arabic version, a certified English one, or both.
- Receive the translation with the translator’s stamp and signature, formatted to mirror the original layout.
- Add MOFA or embassy attestation if the document is crossing a border.
Name spelling is where most reprints originate. If the passport reads “Mohammed” and the certificate reads “Muhammad”, say so up front so the translator can handle it correctly rather than guess.
One point worth knowing: the UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention. An apostille from your home country does not replace UAE attestation. Foreign documents still need UAE embassy attestation abroad and MOFA attestation locally, on top of the translation.
What do approved translation services cost in Dubai?
Sim-Trans publishes a range of AED 100 to AED 500 per page for certified translation in Dubai, and the spread is driven by three factors: how technical the document is, how common the language pair is, and how fast you need it.
English and Arabic sit at the lower end because the pair is high volume and the terminology is well established. Rare pairs, dense technical content and same-day turnaround push the figure up. A one-page birth certificate and a forty-page arbitration bundle are not priced the same way, and any provider quoting a flat rate without seeing the file is guessing.
A word on affordable translation services. The cheapest quote in the market usually comes from an office that is not on the Ministry’s list, or from one that is but is running the work through unregistered staff, which Article 14 specifically prohibits. The real cost of that saving is a rejected filing, a second set of fees and a lost week. Value in this market means correct first time, not lowest per page.
How do I choose between translation agencies in UAE?
Match the provider to the destination of your document, then check the five points above.
- Court, notary or ministry filing: you need approved Arabic translation from an MOJ-listed translator. Non-negotiable.
- Overseas immigration or university: you need a certification statement in the destination’s required wording, and often no local stamp at all.
- Corporate or contractual work: you need arabic legal translation handled by someone who works in that subject matter daily, because terminology consistency across a contract set matters more than speed.
- Live proceedings: you need interpreters, not just translators, and ideally from the same provider so terminology carries across from the documents.
The last point is underrated. When the same team handles the written file and the hearing, the vocabulary in the bundle and the vocabulary in the room match. That is one accountable roof rather than two vendors blaming each other at 8am on a hearing day.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a difference between approved translation services and certified translation services?
In UAE usage they refer to the same thing: work produced by a Ministry of Justice-registered translator. “Approved” points at the registration, “certified” points at the stamp and declaration on the finished document. Outside the UAE, certified translation usually means only that the translator signed a certificate of accuracy.
What is the difference between official translation and legalised translation?
Official translation is the linguistic work plus the approved translator’s stamp. Legalisation is the extra layer of attestation by MOFA and the relevant embassy that makes the document usable across a border. Legalisation always comes after the translation, never instead of it. Sim-Trans handles document attestation in Dubai alongside the translation so the file moves in one sequence.
Can I translate my own documents for a UAE government submission?
No. Article 3 of Federal Decree-Law No. 22 of 2022 means an authority cannot attest, and a court cannot accept, a translation produced by anyone outside the Ministry’s list. A bilingual colleague or an online tool will not clear the counter, however accurate the result reads.
Do I need to visit a translation center in Dubai in person?
Usually not. Scans are enough to start almost every job, and the stamped hard copy can be couriered. In-person visits still make sense for tight court deadlines or when an authority insists on sighting an original.
How long does official Arabic translation take?
A standard personal certificate is often same day or next day. Contracts, court bundles and technical files depend on volume and on the review stage, and expedited handling is usually available at a premium.
Are UAE approved translation services accepted in DIFC and ADGM?
Both jurisdictions operate in English, so an Arabic translation is not always required there. Where a document originates in Arabic, or where the matter later touches onshore processes, a certified English translation from a recognised provider is the safe route.
What happens if my translation is rejected?
You resubmit. The cost is time rather than a penalty in most cases, but a rejected translation on a visa file or a court deadline can carry real consequences. Checking the translator’s registration number before the work starts avoids nearly all of it.
Does Sim-Trans handle interpretation as well as documents?
Yes. Sim-Trans covers certified legal translation and every mode of interpreting, including simultaneous, consecutive, whispered, sign language, phone and video remote, across 150+ languages, with its own equipment fleet and on-site technical team.
Get an approved translation the first time
If a document is going to a UAE court, ministry, notary or embassy, the stamp matters as much as the words. Sim-Trans has been producing Ministry of Justice-recognised legal translation from Dubai and Abu Dhabi since 2006, for law firms, government bodies and multinationals across the UAE.
Request a quote for certified translation in Dubai and send the scan with it. You will get a per-page figure and a realistic delivery time, not a guess.
Reviewed against UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 22 of 2022 on the Regulation of the Translation Profession and current USCIS translation requirements under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3). Prepared by the Sim-Trans legal translation team, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
