Notarising a power of attorney (POA) in Dubai is fairly quick and simple if you know the process and have the right documents. Here are a few pointers to help:
There are only a few notaries in Dubai – the main one we use is located on Sheikh Zayed Road at the Department of Traffic Al Barsha Branch, which is located next to the Gold & Diamond Park;
You will need to print out and take with you 3 copies of the POA. Once completed, the notary will provide you with 2 copies and retain 1 for their records;
You will also need to take your original passport (and National ID card if you have one) along with copies;
If signing on behalf of a company you will also need evidence that you are entitled to grant the POA on behalf of that company. If you are the sole shareholder and authorised signatory on the trade licence then a copy of those corporate documents should be sufficient. Otherwise you will need to take along evidence such as your existing POA from the company;
The POA needs to be in Arabic. We recommend drafting the POA in dual English and Arabic (2 columns) but you can also have it in English only with a separate Arabic translation attached. Either way, the Arabic version needs to be stamped by a court-appointed translator. These are available on the left when you go into the Al Barsha branch and charge 20 AED per page. The translation stamping cost is therefore around AED 300 (assuming a 5 page POA x 3 copies);
Once you have all of the above, buy yourself a coffee and head into the notary office and take a number and a seat. First you will be called to see the notary who will check the documents and, assuming all is OK, they will ask you to sign the POAs in front of them and initial each page. They will then also initial and stamp the POAs. You will then be asked to wait in the waiting area again until they call your number again to finalise the stamping and make the payment (AED 265 for a 5 page POA);
You will need cash to pay for the translator stamp and the notary services. Luckily there is an ATM just outside the notary offices in the Al Barsha branch; and
If you have everyone prepared you can be in and out within 30 mins (depending on the queues).
This information was correct based on our last visit in October 2016.