A Turkish document for the United Arab Emirates, a company document or an employment file for instance, does not use an apostille. The Emirates have no row in the HCCH status table; the document travels with the certification of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs followed by the certification of the Emirati mission, two states certifying in sequence. The term “double legalisation”, used by the French foreign ministry for this route, describes it well. This page explains the Turkish links of a double legalisation, the special case of company documents and the way an Emirati document reaches Türkiye.
Double legalisation explained
With an apostille one authority places one certificate and the document is used directly in the destination. In a double legalisation the foreign ministry of the issuing state certifies the document, and the mission of the destination state then recognises that certification and adds its own. The French ministry’s legalisation table calls this route “double légalisation”; the sheet of the Legalisation Unit of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes only the steps up to its own link and does not mention the mission. For the Emirates that final link follows from the expectations of the receiving Emirati institution, and its procedure was not surveyed on this site.
The three Turkish links before the Emirati mission
The Ministry’s sheet gives three steps for a document that will not be apostilled. First the document is translated into the destination’s language and the translation is certified by a Turkish notary; whether the Emirates want Arabic or English was not verified on this site and is asked of the receiving institution. Second, the document is certified at the valilik (provincial governor’s office) or the kaymakamlık (district governor’s office) of the place where it was issued; this certification is not an apostille. Third, the Legalisation Unit certifies the document; for how an application is made there, the Unit’s own page is the reference. After these three links the file is ready for the Emirati mission.
Corporate documents on the Emirates route
Company documents, articles of association, signature circulars, certificates of activity or authorisation letters for instance, follow the same chain. Under the apostille chain the exclusion of administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations raises a separate question; which Turkish rule governs a company document on the legalisation route was not found in the sources read for this site. Whether a given company document is certified in the original, through a notary’s certified copy or through a notarised translation is asked of the governor’s office before the file is prepared. In each case the governor’s certification is followed by the Ministry’s.
An Emirati document arriving in Türkiye
A document issued in the Emirates, an employment contract, a commercial register extract or a marriage record for instance, reaches Türkiye in one of two ways: it is legalised at the Turkish mission in the Emirates, or it is legalised at the Emirati mission in Türkiye and then certified at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if the mission is in Ankara, or at the provincial governor’s office in any other province. The Turkish institution processes it with a Turkish translation certified by a notary; no apostille is looked for on an Emirati document, since Emirati authorities place none.
Open questions on the Emirates file
The points this site did not survey are: the legalisation procedure, processing time and fee of the Emirati mission; the language preference of Emirati institutions; and whether the Emirati offices that accept Turkish documents prefer the translation to be made in the Emirates.
Where the translation goes on a double legalisation
The translation’s place in the chain does not depend on those open questions. If the translation is made in Türkiye it is the first link, and every certification is built on the notary’s certification of the translation. If the receiving Emirati institution has the translation made on its own side, how the Turkish chain then begins, and on which document, was not verified in this site’s survey.