General

To simplify document attestation in line with Zero Bureaucracy goals Foreign Affairs, Interior ministries offer digital attestation for clear criminal record certificate through MOI’s channels

Thu 13/3/2025

The Ministry of Interior (MOI) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) have announced the electronic integration of services between the two Ministries, in alignment with the objectives of the Zero Government Bureaucracy Program, linking MoFA’s document attestation service with MOI’s clear criminal record certificate issuance service. The new service allows customers to complete three government transactions in a single step through a unified digital window.

H.E. Major General Khalifa Hareb Al Khaili, Undersecretary of MOI, reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to strengthening integrated government operations in alignment with the UAE government’s vision and its ongoing efforts to enhance the quality of life for the Emirati society. He highlighted the pioneering Zero Government Bureaucracy Program as a key initiative to eliminate unnecessary procedures and requirements while streamlining and simplifying the customer journey. He also emphasized that collaboration with all entities and partners remains ongoing to achieve these objectives and uphold the UAE’s global leadership in government service excellence.

H.E. Omar Obaid Hassan AlShamsi, Undersecretary of MoFA, affirmed that the Ministry remains committed to developing an integrated and interconnected government system, offering a seamless range of proactive and innovative services designed to serve both citizens and residents, simplify their lives, and enhance their well-being and happiness. This commitment, he said, aligns with the vision of the wise leadership to achieve comprehensive digital transformation and deliver world-class government services. H.E. highlighted that the electronic integration of MoFA’s document attestation service with MOI’s clear criminal record certificate issuance service marks a significant step toward accelerating and simplifying government procedures, reducing processing time, and minimizing the applicant’s effort.

This initiative is part of the electronic integration efforts and the proactive, collaborative government framework aimed at integrating the document attestation service with the digital services of relevant entities, in line with the objectives of the Zero Government Bureaucracy Program. Through a single procedure, the comprehensive digital attestation service enables customers to obtain digital attestation from MOI, MoFA, and the UAE embassy in the country of destination. It also significantly reduces the service completion time from six days to just three minutes, compared to the previous processing time of three days within the UAE and three days abroad. Additionally, delivery fees have been eliminated.

When applying for the clear criminal record certificate issuance service through MOI’s digital channels, customers can opt for MoFA attestation during the certificate issuance process directly from their MOI account. This enables them to access an integrated government service in a single step, eliminating the need to visit separate service platforms for both entities. This streamlined process ensures proactive, fast, and convenient access to the service through digital channels, centralizing the submission of certificate and attestation requests, as well as fee payment, within the MOI app and website. The system then electronically forwards the certificate to MoFA for attestation. Additionally, the electronic integration facilitates a smoother mechanism for handling service and attestation-related complaints via the MOI website and app.