The short version. Since 16 June 2026 the UAE requires visa applicants from a phased list of 45 nationalities to file a good conduct certificate issued in their country of nationality and attested by the relevant UAE embassy before the visa application is submitted — the 2018 suspension your forum thread remembers is over. Going the other way, a UAE-issued certificate comes from the MOI (AED 50 inside / AED 100 abroad) or Dubai Police, is valid for 90 days, and needs MoFAIC (AED 150) plus your destination's embassy to work anywhere else. Either direction, the 90-day clock means one thing: request this certificate last, after every slower document in your file is already attested.
📚 In this guide
- First decide which certificate you need
- The requirement that left and came back
- Bringing a foreign certificate in
- The designated-country trap
- The document you request last
- Getting a UAE certificate: channels and fees
- Applying after you have left the UAE
- Translation, and one name in four scripts
- Why files stall at the counter
- FAQ
First Decide Which Certificate You Need
One document, several names — police clearance certificate, good conduct certificate, criminal clearance certificate, شهادة حسن السيرة والسلوك — and, as with birth certificates, two opposite procedures hiding under all of them. Before anything else, answer one question: is the certificate about your record here, or your record somewhere else?
| Issued abroad, used in the UAE | Issued in the UAE, used elsewhere | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical situation | A new residence visa for one of the 45 listed nationalities; some licensing files | Emigration to Canada or Australia, a job abroad, a foreign professional licence — or a Golden Visa file here |
| Issuing body | The police or judicial authority in your country of nationality | MOI federally, or Dubai Police for Dubai residence |
| What makes it valid | UAE embassy attestation before the visa is filed, then MoFAIC + Arabic translation | MoFAIC (AED 150), then the destination country's embassy in the UAE |
| Direction of travel | Inward — foreign paper made valid here | Outward — UAE paper made valid abroad |
| The clock | ~3-month shelf life at the receiving end | 90 days from issue, printed into the certificate |
Take the wrong column and the result is familiar from every other document on this site: weeks spent collecting stamps nobody asked for, while a deadline that is actually running goes unattended. The rest of this page follows both routes in turn.
The Requirement That Left and Came Back
This section exists because the internet is still full of its opposite. On 4 February 2018 the UAE began requiring good conduct certificates from new work-permit applicants — from the home country and from any country of residence in the previous five years. Eight weeks later, on 1 April 2018, the Cabinet suspended the requirement "until further notice", and for eight years that notice never came. A generation of guides, agents and forum answers hardened around the suspension.
The notice came in 2026. The federal immigration authority reinstated the requirement — narrower in one way, broader in another — phased in by nationality:
| Phase | In force from | Nationalities |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | 16 June 2026 | India, Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, Mozambique, Cameroon, Cuba, Mexico, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Tonga |
| Phase 2 | 15 August 2026 | Philippines, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Cyprus, Albania, Mauritius, Fiji |
| Phase 3 | 15 November 2026 | China, Iran, South Africa, Serbia, Belarus, Georgia, Mauritania, Rwanda, Nicaragua, Slovenia, Seychelles |
Three things distinguish the 2026 version from the one people remember. The certificate comes from the country of nationality — not from every country lived in over five years, which was the 2018 rule's most unworkable feature. It must be attested by the relevant UAE mission before the visa application is submitted, so the attestation is a precondition of filing, not a formality after it. And it arrived phased, which means the answer to "do I need one?" changed for the Philippines and Bangladesh one week before this page was published, and changes again for China, Iran and South Africa on 15 November.
Bringing a Foreign Certificate In
The inbound chain is the standard one for foreign civil documents, with one twist specific to this requirement — the embassy stage happens before the UAE file is opened, not after.
| # | Step | Where it happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Issue of the certificate by the competent police or judicial authority in the country of nationality, then authentication by that country's foreign ministry or apostille authority | Abroad |
| 2 | Attestation by the relevant UAE embassy or consulate — for most applicants the mission in the issuing country, but see the designated-country note below | Abroad |
| 3 | Submission with the visa application; attestation by MoFAIC (AED 150 per personal document) where the receiving authority requires the in-country stamp | Inside the UAE |
| 4 | Certified Arabic translation by an MOJ-licensed translator, if the certificate is not in Arabic | Inside the UAE |
The chain mechanics are the same as for any personal document, and the same two misconceptions apply. The relevant UAE mission is the one where the certificate was issued, not the one nearest you — covered in the embassy legalization guide. And an apostille does not replace the embassy stage: the UAE is not a party to the Hague Convention, so the apostille at most satisfies step 1 — the full explanation is in apostille vs attestation, and the UAE-side stage in the MOFA attestation guide.
One practical difference from other documents: a police certificate is requested, not retrieved. There is no family copy in a drawer. The issuing authority runs its check and issues fresh paper, which usually takes days rather than weeks — it is the two attestations on top that consume the calendar, and they consume it while the certificate's shelf life runs.
The Designated-Country Trap
Buried in the published lists is a detail with no precedent in the other document chains on this site: for a number of nationalities, the designated UAE mission is not in the applicant's own country. Where the UAE has no mission in the issuing state, or has assigned coverage regionally, the lists name a UAE embassy in a third country — a Cameroonian certificate attested by the UAE mission in Nigeria, to take one published pairing.
This produces a failure mode unique to this document: a perfectly genuine certificate, correctly authenticated at home, attested by a real UAE embassy — the wrong one. Nothing about the file looks defective until it is refused. If your nationality is on any phase of the list, check which mission the list designates for you before the certificate is couriered anywhere, because a wrong-mission attestation cannot be patched in the UAE; the paper goes back out and starts again, against a shelf life that does not reset.
The Document You Request Last
Elsewhere on this site we give one piece of timing advice above all others: attest your marriage certificate as early as you possibly can — during the pregnancy, before the job offer, before the need. The police clearance certificate is that advice's mirror image, and treating it the same way is the most common self-inflicted failure in the whole file.
A UAE-issued certificate is valid for 90 days from issue. Receiving authorities abroad apply a similar three-month expectation to certificates from anywhere. Now put that against the chain it has to survive: authentication at home, a UAE embassy attestation — possibly in a third country — MoFAIC, translation. Three to six weeks is the honest estimate, and that is when nothing goes back for reissue. This is the only document in your file that expires while you legalise it.
Every other document in a visa file rewards starting early. This one punishes it. The marriage certificate you attest first; the police certificate you request last — once everything slower is already stamped, translated and waiting.
The practical sequence for a multi-document file — a Golden Visa, an emigration case, a family sponsorship — is therefore: run the slow, undated documents (degrees, marriage and birth certificates) through their chains completely; then, with the file otherwise ready, request the police certificate and put it through its chain immediately, in one motion, with the translation booked in advance so no day of the 90 is spent waiting for a slot.
Getting a UAE Certificate: Channels and Fees
The UAE-issued certificate — for emigration, a foreign job, a foreign licence, or a Golden Visa file here — is issued through two main channels, and they are alternatives, not stages:
| Channel | Who uses it | Fees | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MOI (moi.gov.ae or the MOI UAE app, UAE PASS login) | Residents of any emirate; former residents; visitors and GCC citizens | AED 50 for use inside the UAE · AED 100 for use abroad · + AED 50 fingerprinting for visitors and GCC citizens | The federal channel. States its purpose ("inside" vs "outside" the country) at application — choose correctly, the certificate is worded accordingly |
| Dubai Police (website, app and service centres) | People whose UAE residence is or was in Dubai | Own tariff; for applicants outside the UAE, AED 300 + AED 20 knowledge and innovation fee | Typically issued within about five working days |
Applying inside the UAE with an Emirates ID is the easy case: the ID carries the ten-print record, so the application is a login, a fee and a short wait, and the certificate arrives electronically. Abu Dhabi Police likewise issues against the Emirates ID through the federal channel. The certificate states the applicant's record — or the absence of one — and is valid for 90 days.
For use abroad the certificate then runs the outbound chain: MoFAIC at AED 150, then the destination country's embassy in the UAE. Some destinations also want their own language: the certificate is issued in Arabic with English available, and a consulate in Paris or Bogotá will want a certified translation into French or Spanish — produced here, against the attested original, and bound to it.
Applying After You Have Left the UAE
The hardest version of this document is the one requested from outside. Canada, Australia, the UK and most other destinations want a police certificate from every country you have lived in beyond a threshold period — so every ex-resident of the UAE eventually meets this problem, usually years after leaving, when the Emirates ID is expired and the ten-print record is the only thing still on file.
1 — Fingerprint card, taken locally. The police authority in your current country of residence takes a full set of prints on its standard card.
2 — Fingerprint card, attested. The UAE embassy or consulate in that country attests the card. This is the step nobody expects — an attestation chain for the fingerprints themselves, before the certificate application even exists.
3 — Application submitted online to the MOI or Dubai Police, with the attested card, a passport copy showing the previous UAE residence visa, and a recent photograph. The use-abroad fee applies (AED 100 federal; AED 300 + 20 through Dubai Police).
4 — Attestation of the result, where the destination requires it: MoFAIC, then the destination's mission — or its acceptance of the certificate as issued; immigration authorities differ, so check the destination's own checklist.
Allow two to four weeks end to end, and remember the 90-day clock starts at issue: if the destination's portal is not ready to receive the certificate, do not request it yet.
Translation, and One Name in Four Scripts
Where the certificate is not in Arabic, UAE authorities want a translation by an MOJ-licensed translator — the licensing system is explained in the MOJ attestation guide — and the translation should be produced against the attested original, so the attestation stamps themselves are recorded in the translation. A translation made abroad, or before the stamps existed, describes a different document.
And because this certificate exists to match a person to a record, it is unusually sensitive to the one defect that runs through every family file we handle: name drift. The name on the certificate must agree — in Arabic and in Latin script — with the passport, the visa application and every other document in the file. A police authority abroad that spells a father's name one way, a passport that romanises it another, and a translator who improvises a third produces a file in which, as far as a records system is concerned, the clean certificate belongs to someone else. We reconcile every spelling to the passport before a certificate is translated, which is also why our police clearance translation service asks for the passport, not just the certificate.
Why Files Stall at the Counter
- Working from the 2018 story. The suspension ended in June 2026; for 45 nationalities the certificate is a precondition of filing, phased through 15 November 2026.
- Attestation by the wrong UAE mission. Genuine certificate, real embassy, wrong country — see the designated-country lists before couriering anything.
- The certificate requested first, not last. 90 days of validity spent waiting for slower documents; the file completes the week the certificate dies.
- An apostille presented as the finished article. Valid work, unfinished chain — the UAE embassy stage still applies.
- The "inside UAE" certificate submitted abroad. The MOI channel words the certificate for its declared purpose; the AED 50 version is not the AED 100 version.
- An unattested fingerprint card. The card from your local police is not accepted until the UAE mission in that country has attested it.
- Translation by an office not licensed by the MOJ, or produced before attestation, so the stamps are absent from the translation.
- Name spelling drift between certificate, passport and application — a clean record that cannot be matched to its owner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a good conduct certificate required for a UAE visa in 2026?
For the listed nationalities, yes. The 2018 requirement was suspended within eight weeks; the 2026 reinstatement is phased — 23 nationalities from 16 June, 11 more from 15 August, 11 more from 15 November — and the certificate must be attested by the relevant UAE mission before the application is filed. Confirm the current scope for your category with ICP, GDRFA or your typing centre.
How much does a UAE police clearance certificate cost?
MOI: AED 50 for use inside the UAE, AED 100 for use abroad, plus AED 50 fingerprinting for visitors and GCC citizens. Dubai Police for applicants abroad: AED 300 plus AED 20. MoFAIC attestation for use abroad is a separate AED 150.
How long is the certificate valid?
90 days from issue for the UAE-issued certificate, with receiving authorities abroad applying a similar three-month expectation generally. That is why it is the last document you request, after everything slower is already attested.
How do I get a UAE certificate after leaving the country?
Online through the MOI or Dubai Police, with a passport copy showing your old residence visa, a photograph, and a fingerprint card taken by your local police and attested by the UAE mission in that country. Allow two to four weeks.
Does a foreign certificate need translation?
If it is not in Arabic, yes — MOJ-licensed, produced against the attested original so the stamps are recorded in the translation. Arabic-language certificates from Arab countries skip translation but not the attestation chain.
I have lived in several countries — which one issues the certificate?
For the UAE requirement, the country of nationality. For emigration out of the UAE, the destination typically wants one from every country you lived in beyond its threshold — for the UAE itself, that is the fingerprint-card route above.