Signing a power of attorney in the United States for use in the UAE
The UAE’s missions in the United States each publish the route, and they do not word it identically. The Consulate General in Houston says a power of attorney must be signed before a local notary and then attested by the US Department of State before the UAE attests it. The Consulate General in Los Angeles and the Embassy in Washington now route attestation through VFS Global, and say business and corporate documents go to the local Secretary of State first. Which applies to your document is worth confirming with the mission before anything is signed.
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What the Consulate General in Houston publishes
Houston’s Digital Attestation page is the most complete statement of the route for a power of attorney. It says US-issued documents "must be attested by the U.S. Department of State" before the Consulate will attest them, and that powers of attorney must be signed before a local notary or legal authority in the United States and then attested by the Department of State.
It also says "A power of attorney containing commercial content is considered a commercial document", and that "One application covers both the Consulate General of the UAE in Houston and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
- Log in to the UAE MOFA website with UAE Pass and select the Attestation Service.
- Choose the United States of America as the country of issuance.
- Complete the form and pay.
- A MOFA-approved service provider collects the original document.
- You receive the document digitally attested by the Consulate General and by UAE MOFA.
- The original is returned by courier.
Source: Consulate General of the UAE in Houston, Digital Attestation
What Los Angeles and Washington publish instead
The Consulate General in Los Angeles states: "Effective August 21st, 2025, document attestation is handled by VFS Global." It says personal documents must first be attested by the US Department of State Authentication Office, and that "All business and corporate documents must be attested by the appropriate local Office of the Secretary of State prior to submission to VFS Global."
The UAE Embassy in Washington says the same on its own website: attestation "will be handled by VFS Global company" from 21 August 2025, and "Business & Corporate Documents must be attested by your Local Office of Secretary of State prior to sending them to VFS".
Houston names the Department of State for a power of attorney; Los Angeles and Washington name the Secretary of State for business and corporate documents. A power of attorney with commercial content can fall on either side of that line, so ask the mission handling your document which step it expects.
Source: Consulate General of the UAE in Los Angeles, Digital Attestation
The route side by side
Laid out as the missions publish it, with the one point where they differ marked rather than smoothed over.
| Step | Who does it | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Signing | A local notary or legal authority in the US | UAE Consulate General, Houston |
| 2. US authentication | US Department of State (Houston, and Los Angeles for personal documents); the local Secretary of State for business and corporate documents (Los Angeles, Washington) | UAE missions in the US |
| 3. UAE attestation | The UAE mission and UAE MOFA, in one digital application (Houston) or through VFS Global (Los Angeles, Washington) | UAE missions in the US |
Why a US apostille is not the route the missions describe
The UAE is not listed among the Contracting Parties in the Hague Conference’s status table, and none of the UAE’s US missions describes an apostille as enough on its own. Each describes a US authentication step followed by a UAE attestation step.
The mission pages carry a line saying documents "apostilled in a bundle are not accepted". That line appears on UAE mission pages worldwide and is not a statement that the UAE accepts an apostille in place of its own attestation.
What to settle in the UAE first
The US steps authenticate a signature. The powers themselves are judged in the UAE.
- Which UAE authority, bank or developer will act on the document, and what wording it expects.
- Whether the document is personal or commercial, since the missions route the two differently.
- Whether the receiving authority wants Arabic. MOFA accepts English or Arabic "or an official translation of it".
- That names and passport numbers match exactly.
Questions
Which UAE mission in the US handles my document?
The UAE has an Embassy in Washington and Consulates General in Houston, Los Angeles and New York. We did not find a published list assigning US states to each one. Ask the mission before sending anything.
Is the US Department of State step always required?
Houston says a power of attorney must be attested by the US Department of State. Los Angeles and Washington send business and corporate documents to the local Secretary of State instead. Confirm with the mission which applies to your document.
Can I do this entirely by courier?
Houston publishes a courier collection and return. Los Angeles and Washington route attestation through VFS Global. Neither describes a counter visit at the mission for this step.
Does the power of attorney need to be in Arabic?
For attestation, MOFA asks for the document in English or Arabic, or an official translation. The authority receiving it in the UAE may have its own language rule.
What this page does not do
- The UAE missions in the US do not publish identical routes, and this page does not reconcile them. Your mission’s own instruction wins.
- We could not read the US Department of State’s own authentication pages when this was written, so the US-side step is described as the UAE missions publish it.
- No mission fee is quoted, because none of the current pages publishes one for a power of attorney.
- The Deedbox is not a law firm and not a notary. It does not legalise, apostille or attest documents, and does not act for anyone before a mission, a foreign ministry or a court.