Guide · updated 18.09.2026 · 12 min read · Lucent Legal team

UAE Embassy Attestation in Moscow: Steps, Fees and Timing in 2026

The UAE Embassy in Moscow no longer takes attestation documents over the counter. You apply on the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) website and hand the originals to BLS International. One application covers both the embassy and MOFA.

Why an apostille will not work

Russia is a party to the 1961 Hague Convention. The UAE is not. The Hague Conference status table of 30 June 2026 lists 130 contracting parties, with Algeria, Vietnam and Thailand among the latest. The UAE appears neither as a party nor as a signatory.

The Russian Ministry of Justice charges RUB 2,500 for an apostille, and for the UAE that money buys nothing. The ministry itself says that countries outside the convention require consular legalisation. More on this: apostille and the UAE.

Step 1. Notary and translation

The embassy sets the order on its own website: translation into Arabic or English, a Russian notary certifies the translator's signature, and the document goes to the Ministry of Justice and the MFA together with the translation.

The Consular Department of the Russian MFA says which documents travel as originals and which as copies:

• originals: notarial powers of attorney and notarial statements;
• notarised copies: civil registry certificates, company charter documents, education documents.

The embassy accepts a translation made in Russia, in either language. Spell your name the way your international passport spells it. Translation bureaus name a mismatch here as the most frequent reason documents come back.

Step 2. Russian Ministry of Justice

The ministry confirms the notary's signature and seal, free of charge.

• Time: 5 working days, or up to 30 when the ministry has to request a sample signature of the notary or the notary's acting deputy.
• Moscow desk: Smolensky Boulevard 3/5, building 1, Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 13:00.
• Other channels: regional offices of the ministry, the flagship MFC public service centres in Moscow, and post.

The desk turns away a document whose signature or seal does not match its sample, one with an unexplained correction, and a multi-page document that arrives unstitched or unnumbered.

Step 3. Consular Department of the Russian MFA

The address is 1st Neopalimovsky Lane 12, Moscow. The state fee is RUB 350 per document, with a payment slip from pay.kdmid.ru. The department takes 3 working days from registration.

You book a slot at legalize.kdmid.ru. One slot means one set of up to five documents, booked in the name of their owner. Nine MFC centres in Moscow and the regional MFA offices take documents without a booking. The department does not accept documents by post or online.

Foreign trade paperwork goes to the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry instead of the MFA.

Step 4. MOFA application and the BLS centre

This step changed in 2025. Before that, people carried documents to the consular section on Ulofa Palme Street. The embassy now describes this sequence:

1. Sign in at mofa.gov.ae with UAE Pass. Non-residents can create an account.
2. Choose attestation and pick Russia as the issuing country.
3. Pay online and print the receipt.
4. Hand the original and the receipt to BLS International.
5. Receive an email with the digitally attested copy, signed off by the embassy and by MOFA at once.
6. Collect the originals yourself, send someone with an authorisation, or use a delivery service.

BLS centre in Moscow: Kosmodamianskaya Embankment 52, building 7. Submission 09:00–15:00, collection 15:00–17:00, Monday to Friday. Phone +7 499 110-47-30, email [email protected].

Translation bureaus report that since March 2026 the embassy puts no sticker or stamps on the paper. The document gets a reference number, and you download the attested PDF from the MOFA website. Anyone can confirm it at verify.mofa.gov.ae with that number and the issue date.

MOFA attests a Russian document inside the same application, so the separate visit in Dubai is gone.

Attesting a Russian degree

A degree counts as a personal document: AED 300 plus the BLS fee. Your original diploma stays with you. The Russian MFA legalises education documents as notarised copies, and the embassy accepts certified copies that carry the Russian MFA mark. Fees run per document, so a diploma and a transcript notarised as two documents cost AED 600.

Fees and timing

A personal document adds up to AED 300 plus AED 129 per application, the notary, the translation and RUB 350. A commercial document costs AED 2,150 plus the same extras.

The embassy treats a power of attorney with commercial content as a commercial document. The gap is AED 1,850, so settle the wording before you see the notary. A memorandum and articles of association count as separate documents, each with its own fee.

After a rejection MOFA refunds the attestation fee automatically. The service fee and delivery cost stay with BLS.

Payment. The MOFA website accepts Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Translation bureaus report that Russian-issued cards fail there, and that the BLS office takes roubles in cash, by QR code, or by card with a commission of about 1.5%.

Using an agency. Moscow agencies in September 2026 quote roughly RUB 20,000–35,000 for one personal document with translation and all fees, and from RUB 90,000–100,000 for a set of company documents. Their lead time is two and a half to five weeks.

What the embassy rejects

• A document without the Russian MFA mark, or one issued outside Russia. Third-country documents go to the UAE embassy in that country.
• Laminated documents.
• Documents attested as one bundle. Each document has to pass the chain on its own.
• A memorandum and articles of association attested together.
• A power of attorney signed anywhere other than before a Russian notary.
• Commercial invoices and certificates of origin. These go through MOFA's separate eDAS system.
• An application with wrong data. MOFA rejects incorrect applications automatically, and you cannot edit one after you submit it.

The Consular Department of the Russian MFA states that a legalised Russian document carries no expiry date. The underlying document can still go stale: a UAE employer or bank may refuse an old police clearance certificate under its own rules.

If you are already in the UAE

You can stay where you are. The Ministry of Justice accepts a representative with a power of attorney and takes documents by post. The MFA accepts a representative and MFC submissions. BLS collects by courier and releases documents to a person who shows your authorisation and an ID.

File the MOFA application yourself from the Emirates: sign in with UAE Pass and pay with a UAE bank card, which removes the Russian card problem. Send the receipt to whoever carries the originals to BLS.

MOFA in Dubai will not attest a Russian document that skipped Moscow. Its condition for foreign documents is the mark of the issuing country's foreign ministry and then of the UAE embassy there.

You can issue a power of attorney for your representative in Russia from the UAE: see power of attorney in Dubai.

When to hire a lawyer

1. A set of company documents. Each one costs AED 2,150, so a mistake in the set is expensive.
2. A power of attorney for a transaction or a court case in the UAE. The wording decides the fee and decides whether the UAE side will accept it.
3. A document for a UAE court or government body. Some ask for an Arabic translation by a translator licensed by the UAE Ministry of Justice, arranged after attestation.

This material is for information only and is not legal advice. UAE law changes — a lawyer will assess how it applies to your situation.