Planning to work as a nurse in the UAE? Your nursing certificate must be officially attested before you can apply for an employment visa, register with any UAE healthcare authority, or practise clinically. Nursing certificate attestation in UAE is the mandatory, multi-stage verification process that confirms your nursing diploma or degree is genuine, issued by a recognised institution, and legally valid for use across all seven emirates. Without it, employers cannot issue a labour card, and regulatory bodies such as the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DOH), and Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) will not process your professional license application.
At GloboPrime, we handle the entire attestation chain for nurses from India, the Philippines, Pakistan, the UK, Sri Lanka, Egypt, and 120+ additional countries so you never have to visit a single government office yourself.
The UAE requires attestation for all foreign educational and professional documents under Federal Decree-Law provisions governing employment and professional licensing. For nursing professionals specifically, attestation serves multiple critical purposes:
UAE employers require attested nursing certificates to apply for your labour card through the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE). Without the attested certificate, the work permit application cannot proceed, and your employment visa will not be issued.
To practise nursing in the UAE, you must register with the healthcare authority governing the emirate where you will work. The DHA in Dubai uses its Sheryan platform, DOH in Abu Dhabi uses its licensing portal, and MOHAP covers the Northern Emirates. All three authorities require attested qualifications as part of the Primary Source Verification (PSV) process before granting professional registration.
According to the UAE’s Unified Healthcare Professional Qualification Requirements (PQR)—jointly developed by DHA, DOH, and MOHAP—all healthcare professionals must have their credentials verified directly from the original or primary source. Attested documents are a prerequisite for this verification step. Once registration is approved, a healthcare facility activates it into a licence enabling you to start clinical practice.
Changing employer or sponsorship within the UAE
Applying for family or dependent visas
Pursuing higher education in nursing at UAE universities
Applying for the UAE Golden Visa for healthcare professionals
Salary classification and professional upgrades
Prepare the following documents before initiating your attestation:
The attestation path differs significantly depending on where your nursing certificate was issued. Below are the step-by-step processes for the most common source countries, with references to official government authorities.
India is one of the largest sources of nursing professionals in the UAE. The attestation process follows the pathway established by the Ministry of External Affairs (mea.gov.in):
The Philippines is the leading provider of nursing professionals to the UAE. The process follows guidelines from the Department of Foreign Affairs (dfa.gov.ph) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED):
Important: The Philippine Consulate General in Dubai (dubaipcg.dfa.gov.ph) handles attestation of DFA’s authentication certificates and MOFA sticker attestation for Filipinos already in the UAE. Appointments are mandatory and booked through the Notarization Appointment Portal.
UK-qualified nurses follow the legalisation process managed by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) as detailed on gov.uk:
Note: Documents issued outside the UK cannot be legalised through the UK service — they must be legalised in the country they were issued. The FCDO also offers next-day service through registered providers for urgent cases.
The UAE Embassy in Cairo now offers a fully digital attestation process. As per mofa.gov.ae, you apply through the UAE MOFA website using UAE Pass, a MOFA-approved service provider contacts you to schedule pickup of your original documents, and digitally attested documents are emailed upon completion. Egypt-issued documents must be first attested by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Processing takes 24–72 hours after release from the UAE Embassy.
Once your nursing certificate is fully attested, the following steps complete your journey to practising nursing in the UAE:
Submit your attested documents to a PSV agency (such as DataFlow or the authority’s designated verifier). The PSV agency contacts the original issuing institution to confirm your credentials independently. This is required by all three UAE health authorities.
Create an account on the relevant authority’s portal: DHA Sheryan for Dubai, the DOH portal for Abu Dhabi, or the MOHAP portal for the Northern Emirates. Submit your attested and PSV-verified documents along with a valid passport copy, passport-sized photograph, and a Good Standing Certificate (valid, not older than six months).
Most nursing professionals are required to pass a CBT assessment. The DHA exam for nurses is managed through Prometric’s worldwide network of test centres. You are granted three attempts to pass the examination across all UAE authorities. Nurses must achieve 20 CPD points annually to maintain their licence.
Once registration is approved, a healthcare facility activates it into a licence, enabling you to begin clinical practice in the UAE.
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