School Certificate Equivalency & Attestation in the UAE

Document	Used for	Who checks it
Transfer certificate (TC) / school-leaving certificate	Admission to a private school in the UAE	The school, under KHDA (Dubai), ADEK (Abu Dhabi) or the Ministry of Education rules
Grade 10, 11 and 12 certificates / final diploma	School-certificate equivalency	Ministry of Education
Report cards and mark sheets	Grade placement, equivalency support	The school or the Ministry, as requested
Bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate	Degree recognition	Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research — not covered here

Dubai sets this out in KHDA Administrative Resolution No. 50 of 2022. A student joining Grade 2 or higher from a school outside the UAE must submit a transfer certificate from the previous school, attested by the bodies listed in the resolution’s schedule. The same resolution requires the student’s full name, nationality and religion to match the identity card — so a TC that spells the child’s name differently from the passport is a problem before it is a translation question.

Abu Dhabi private schools follow the ADEK student administrative affairs policy, which requires each school to publish its own admissions rules. Most ask for an attested TC from Grade 1 or Grade 2 upwards. Check the list on your chosen school’s admissions page before ordering stamps, because the grade threshold and accepted languages vary.

Under the Dubai schedule, who attests depends on where the previous school is:

• A GCC country: the Ministry of Education of that country.
  
• Another emirate: the Ministry of Education or the education authority of the emirate that regulates the school.
  
• Anywhere else: (1) the Ministry of Education or equivalent authority in that country, (2) its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, (3) the UAE embassy or consulate there, and (4) the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs once the document is in the UAE.

The UAE is not a party to the Apostille Convention, so an apostille from the issuing country does not replace the UAE embassy and UAE MOFA steps. Start the chain in the home country before you move: steps 1 to 3 can only be done there, and a school will not hold a place for long while a TC is in transit. Our MOFA attestation guide explains the last step in the UAE.

The Ministry of Education is the authority that equalises high school certificates. Its service for certificates from abroad is called Equivalency of General Education Certificate from Abroad (Grade 12). According to the government portal u.ae (page updated October 2026), the applicant:

• must be a UAE resident and present copies of the Emirates ID and passport;
  
• submits the original certificates — mainly Grades 10, 11 and 12 — which are returned after verification;
  
• presents certificates attested by the UAE Ministry of Education and/or the education authority of the issuing country;
  
• provides a legal translation, duly attested, of any certificate issued abroad in a language other than Arabic or English;
  
• applies at a Ministry office in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, or online through the Ministry’s website.

The required documents depend on the curriculum the student completed. The Ministry’s published guide for UAE-based private schools (2024/25 edition) gives an idea of how each system is read: twelve years of schooling; for the American system, Grades 10 to 12 with at least five subjects per grade; for the British system, five GCSE/IGCSE passes plus two AS-level subjects or one A-level subject, with a BTEC Level 3 route; IB, Canadian, Australian and French systems each have their own conditions. Islamic Education and Arabic are not counted towards those subject totals. The conditions change from year to year, so check the current version of the guide on the Ministry’s website for your curriculum before you apply.

Original language	Admission (TC)	MoE equivalency
Arabic	Accepted	Accepted
English	Accepted	Accepted
Any other language	Most schools ask for an English or Arabic version	Legal translation, duly attested, required

Translate after the original is fully attested, so the stamps and endorsements are translated with the document — a translation of an unstamped copy is the most common reason a file is sent back. Keep the child’s name exactly as in the passport, and keep grades, grading scales and subject titles as they appear; the Ministry compares them against its curriculum conditions, so a “helpful” conversion of a 20-point or 10-point scale into letters causes more trouble than it solves. See name spelling mismatches between documents for the name issue.

The direction can also be reversed. In August 2025 the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded graduates to attest their UAE high school certificates before travelling to study abroad. A certificate from a UAE school is attested in the UAE first — by the Ministry of Education, ADEK or KHDA as applicable, then UAE MOFA — and then follows the destination country’s own rules. If the receiving university or school wants a language other than Arabic or English, the translation is made from the attested document.

No. Certificates in English (or Arabic) are accepted as they are; they still need the full attestation chain. A legal translation is needed only for certificates in other languages.

Under KHDA Administrative Resolution No. 50 of 2022, a student joining Grade 2 or higher from a school outside the UAE must submit an attested transfer certificate. Individual schools may ask for more.

No. The Ministry of Education equalises school certificates (Grade 12 and earlier); university degrees are recognised by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

It is better to wait. Translate the attested original so the attestation stamps are part of the translation; otherwise you may need the translation done again.

Arabic⇄English legal translation is AED 60 per 200-word page (excl. VAT), with same-day delivery available. A transfer certificate or a set of report cards is usually short, so it can often be delivered the same day.

We translate transfer certificates, report cards, mark sheets and Grade 12 diplomas from and into Arabic and English, keep names and grades exactly as attested, and point out stamps that are missing before you submit. Our transcript translation in Dubai and equivalency certificate translation in Abu Dhabi pages cover the service. For birth certificates that schools also ask for, see our birth certificate attestation guide.

This article is general information about the translation and document side of the matter. It is not legal advice. Laws, procedures and fees change; confirm current requirements with the court or authority concerned and take advice from a lawyer on your own case.

Send us scans of the attested certificates and tell us which school or which Ministry service they are for. Smart World Legal Translation – Sole Proprietorship L.L.C. (SWLT) is a UAE Ministry of Justice-licensed legal translation company in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, led by Dr. Hani Elimam. Our federal accreditation is accepted across the UAE, including by Dubai Courts, and we hold exclusive interpretation contracts with the UAE Federal Courts and the Federal Public Prosecution. Arabic⇄English legal translation is AED 60 per 200-word page (excl. VAT), with same-day delivery available. Send your documents on WhatsApp (+971 50 864 8439), email info@swlt.ae, or use our contact page.