Power of attorney from the UAE for use in Egypt
Egypt is one of the better-documented corridors out of the UAE, and the Consulate General of Egypt in Dubai publishes both routes separately - which is unusual and useful. It will draw up a tawkil on its own forms, with the applicant attending in person and holding an original Egyptian passport or national ID, at AED 180 for an ordinary power of attorney and AED 480 for a commercial one. Or it will legalise a document that already carries certification from the Egyptian foreign ministry or from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at AED 180 or AED 520, completed the same day. Apostille does not arise on this corridor: neither the UAE nor Egypt is listed among the Convention's Contracting Parties, so neither side issues one.
When people need this
Property is the most common: selling or managing an apartment or a plot, or dealing with an inherited share while the family is spread between Cairo and the Gulf. Company matters follow - the consulate treats powers of attorney touching companies, rentals, shops, pharmacies, stocks, bakeries, mills, vehicles or multiple property sales as commercial, and prices them differently.
Bank and family matters make up most of the rest. The volume is why the Dubai consulate publishes ready-made forms rather than asking everyone to arrive with their own draft.
Route one: the consulate draws it up
The Consulate General in Dubai publishes a forms page, and among them are a car-management power of attorney, a banking power of attorney and a blank or special power of attorney you complete yourself. You submit the completed form in person to the competent officer.
Identification is strict and the consulate says so: an original valid Egyptian passport or national ID card showing the national number, and no other identity documents will be accepted, on instructions from the Egyptian authorities. That is not a soft preference - if you hold only a foreign passport, this route is not open to you.
The published fees are AED 180 for an ordinary power of attorney and AED 480 for a commercial one, with the commercial category defined by subject matter rather than by value.
Source: Consulate General of Egypt in Dubai - powers of attorney and declarations
Route two: legalising a document you already have
The consulate's legalisation service takes a completed legalisation form and the original document, and states the prerequisite in a way few missions do: the document must already be certified either by an Egyptian foreign-ministry office inside Egypt or by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
That second option is the one that matters for a UAE-drafted power of attorney. Take it through UAE MOFA first, and the Egyptian consulate will act on it. The published fees are AED 180 standard and AED 520 commercial, and the consulate states same-day completion. A postal channel through Emirates Post is available.
What happens at the Egyptian end
Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes the domestic side, and it names powers of attorney directly. Documents from the Real Estate Registry - the Shahr Aqari - including powers of attorney, commercial powers, declarations and property contracts, need branch-office certification and then the General Registry Secretary before the ministry will authenticate them.
For documents arriving from abroad, the ministry states that they must first be certified by an Egyptian mission abroad or by the issuing country's embassy in Egypt before it will authenticate them. Its own fees are EGP 115 standard and EGP 410 commercial, and it states that a translation is certified by the same authority as the original under a shared stamp.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt - authentication procedure
The reverse direction
If the document starts in Egypt, the UAE Embassy in Cairo states the chain and names the instrument: legal documents such as powers of attorney must be signed before a local notary or legal authority in Egypt, then attested by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It also states that a power of attorney containing commercial content is treated as a commercial document.
The embassy runs this through UAE Pass with a courier collecting the originals, and states that most requests are completed within two to three business days. It publishes no fee on that page.
Language
The Egyptian consulate's forms are in Arabic and the underlying instrument is an Arabic-language tawkil, so for this corridor the translation question mostly disappears - which is not true of most corridors out of the UAE.
Egypt's foreign ministry does address translation on the domestic side, stating that a translation is certified by the same authority as the original under a shared stamp. Neither the consulate nor UAE MOFA publishes a POA-specific translation rule for this corridor.
Where this page stops
Nothing we read says whether a power of attorney issued by the Dubai consulate needs any further step inside Egypt before it can be acted on - registration or notification at the Shahr Aqari, for instance. That is a real question for a property matter and neither the consulate nor the ministry answers it.
None of the Egyptian pages we read carries a date either. Consular fees and procedures change, so treat the figures here as what was published when we read them rather than as a standing quotation.
Questions
Can I use a foreign passport at the Egyptian consulate?
Not for the power-of-attorney service. The consulate states that an original valid Egyptian passport or national ID card showing the national number is required, and that no other identity documents will be accepted.
What counts as a commercial power of attorney?
The consulate defines it by subject matter: companies, rentals, shops, pharmacies, stocks, bakeries, mills, vehicles, or multiple property or vehicle sales. Those are charged at AED 480 rather than AED 180.
Will the consulate accept a document I had attested by UAE MOFA?
Yes - its legalisation service states that the document must already be certified either by an Egyptian foreign-ministry office in Egypt or by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That is unusually explicit, and it is the route for a UAE-drafted document.
How fast is it?
The Dubai consulate states same-day completion for legalisation. A postal channel through Emirates Post is also offered. In the other direction, the UAE Embassy in Cairo states two to three business days for most requests.
Is there an apostille option?
It does not arise here. Neither the UAE nor Egypt is listed among the Contracting Parties to the Apostille Convention, so neither side issues an apostille for the other. What each stage requires is what the consulate and the two foreign ministries publish, and that is what this page sets out.
Do I need to do anything in Egypt afterwards?
Possibly, and we cannot tell you. Egypt's foreign ministry describes a Real Estate Registry route for powers of attorney generally, but no source we read says whether a consulate-issued power of attorney needs a further step there. Ask whoever is acting on it in Egypt.
What this page does not do
- Whether a power of attorney issued by the Egyptian consulate in Dubai needs further registration or notification inside Egypt is not stated in any source we read. For a property matter, confirm it before relying on the document.
- None of the Egyptian pages we read carries a date. The fees quoted are what was published when we read them, not a standing quotation.
- We found no first-party page for the Egyptian Embassy in Abu Dhabi. Everything on this page comes from the Consulate General in Dubai and from Egypt's foreign ministry.
- The Deedbox prepares documents. We do not carry out attestation or legalisation, do not act for you before any mission, and are not a law firm. The receiving authority in Egypt decides whether to act on your document.