A UAE resident who wants to sponsor a husband or wife on a family visa has to prove the marriage, and a certificate issued abroad only counts once it has been attested. For a certificate from Tbilisi, that means 3 stages in a fixed order. Below: who can sponsor, what attested means for a Georgian certificate, the translation, the rest of the visa file, and the fees and timing.
Quick summary
- A UAE resident sponsoring a spouse proves the marriage with the marriage certificate, and a certificate issued outside the UAE is accepted once it has been attested.
- The sponsor needs a salary of at least AED 4,000 a month, or AED 3,000 plus accommodation, and a wife can sponsor her husband on the same terms.
- The UAE is not in the Apostille Convention, so a Georgian certificate is legalized in Tbilisi (GEL 30 to 150), attested at the UAE Embassy in Tbilisi (USD 41) and attested by UAE MOFA (AED 150).
- The certificate is issued in Georgian, and the Georgian agency translates it into English for GEL 30 a page, but not into Arabic.
- Finish both Tbilisi stages before you fly back, because the embassy stage happens in Tbilisi and the embassy publishes no processing time.
On this page
Why the UAE Spouse Visa Needs a Marriage Certificate
A residence visa for a spouse rests on one fact: that the two of you are married. GDRFA Dubai lists a certified marriage contract among the documents for the family entry permit, next to the passport copy and the sponsor's employment contract, so there is no version of the application without it.
That is why so many Gulf couples need a certificate at all. A resident who meets a partner from another country usually marries before the partner moves over, and UAE residents who marry in Tbilisi fly home with a Georgian certificate. The UAE treats it like any foreign document: it proves the marriage once it has been attested.
Attestation is how the UAE confirms that a foreign document is genuine. A certificate from a civil marriage in Abu Dhabi is already a UAE document, so the chain for foreign documents does not apply to it. A Georgian one goes through it once, and the attested original is what the visa file asks for.
Who Can Sponsor a Husband or Wife in the UAE
Any expatriate with a valid UAE residence visa can sponsor a spouse if the income clears the bar. The UAE government portal sets it at a salary of AED 4,000 a month, or AED 3,000 plus accommodation, and says a resident may bring in his or her spouse.
- A husband sponsoring his wife. The standard case: the salary rule above, and the attested marriage certificate in the file.
- A wife sponsoring her husband. The same salary rule applies, and the same attested certificate goes in the file.
- A medical test for the spouse. Every sponsored family member aged 18 or over must pass a medical fitness test at an approved health center in the UAE.
- A spouse who is already in the UAE. GDRFA Dubai issues the entry permit from inside the country too, with extra charges on top of the standard AED 200 fee.
Residents of Dubai file with GDRFA Dubai, and residents of the other emirates with ICP, the federal authority. The marriage certificate goes through the same attestation chain either way, because the last stage is done by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the whole country.
What Attested Means for a Georgian Marriage Certificate
Georgia and the UAE do not share the Apostille Convention, so the single apostille stamp is not an option. A Georgian certificate reaches the UAE through legalization instead, in 3 stages, and each stage works on the original carrying the stamp of the one before it.
| Stage | Where | Fee | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Legalization | Any Public Service Hall in Georgia, which also collects the Foreign Ministry's stamp | GEL 30 to 150 | Same day to the 8th working day, by fee |
| 2. Embassy attestation | UAE Embassy in Tbilisi, consular section | USD 41 | Not published |
| 3. MOFA attestation | UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, applied for online or in its app | AED 150 | Optional courier: 3 working days for AED 40, 1 for AED 150 |
Courier fees are before VAT.
Stage 1 is the only one priced by speed. The Public Service Development Agency (opens in a new tab) charges GEL 30 for the 8th working day, GEL 60 for the 4th, GEL 120 for the 2nd and GEL 150 for the same day. Georgian legalization has 2 steps, the agency's and the Foreign Ministry's, but the Public Service Hall handles both at one window, so there is no separate Foreign Ministry fee.
Stage 3 happens in the UAE, on the original. The final MOFA attestation costs AED 150 for a personal-status document such as a marriage certificate, and you apply for it on mofa.gov.ae or in the ministry's app.
Ask for legalization, not an apostille
An apostille is the right stamp for the UK, the US or Saudi Arabia, and it does nothing for a UAE visa file. The embassy stage starts from a certificate legalized at the Public Service Hall, so a certificate that left Tbilisi with only an apostille has to go back through Georgian legalization before the UAE chain can begin.
Translating the Certificate for the Visa File
A Georgian marriage certificate is issued in Georgian, and Georgia does not issue multilingual certificates. The Public Service Development Agency translates the documents it legalizes into 8 languages, English among them, for GEL 30 a page. Arabic is not one of the 8.
Arabic comes from the UAE side. Government offices there work in Arabic, so plan on a legal Arabic translation made in the UAE once MOFA has attested the original, and ask the office handling your file which translators it accepts before you pay for one.
From our Tbilisi team
We check the spelling of both names on the certificate against both passports before it goes for legalization. The stamps vouch for the certificate as it stands and the Arabic translation copies it, so a transliteration that differs by one letter from a passport is cheapest to catch in Tbilisi, before the first fee is paid.
Documents for the Spouse Visa Application
The marriage certificate is one line in a longer file. For a spouse, GDRFA Dubai's list for the family entry permit, the first step of the spouse visa, comes down to the documents below.
| Document | What it has to be |
|---|---|
| Marriage contract | Certified: for a Georgian certificate, all 3 attestation stages |
| Passport copy | Valid for at least 6 months |
| Personal photo | Of the spouse being sponsored |
| Employment contract | The sponsor's |
| Salary certificate | For sponsors employed by government, semi-government and free zone entities |
Fee: AED 200 plus 5% VAT, with extra charges when the spouse is already in the UAE. GDRFA Dubai gives a completion time of 48 hours.
The permit lets your spouse enter on the family route. After arrival come the medical fitness test and the residence permit itself.
Before you file for the spouse visa
- The marriage certificate carries all 3 stages: Georgian legalization, the UAE Embassy in Tbilisi and UAE MOFA
- The legal Arabic translation was made after the MOFA stage, from the attested original
- The names on the certificate match both passports letter for letter
- Your salary is at least AED 4,000 a month, or AED 3,000 with accommodation, and your employment contract shows it
- Your spouse's passport has at least 6 months of validity left
What Attesting the Certificate Costs
Each stage charges per document, and the certificate is one document, so the chain costs every couple the same. Only the speed you pick in Tbilisi and the courier you pick in the UAE move the total.
Fees to attest a Georgian marriage certificate for the UAE
- Legalization at a Public Service Hall
- GEL 30 to 150
- English translation by the Georgian agency
- GEL 30 per page
- UAE Embassy in Tbilisi
- USD 41
- UAE MOFA attestation
- AED 150
- MOFA courier in the UAE, optional
- AED 40 or AED 150, before VAT
- 8th working day in Tbilisi, one translated page, no courier
- GEL 60, USD 41 and AED 150
Registration without a ceremony is free. The Arabic translation in the UAE and the visa fees come on top.
How Long Attestation Takes and When to Start
The Georgian stage takes from the same day to the 8th working day, depending on the fee. The UAE Embassy in Tbilisi publishes no processing time, and the MOFA courier adds 1 or 3 working days in the UAE. GDRFA Dubai then gives 48 hours for the entry permit itself.
The practical rule is to finish both Tbilisi stages before you fly back, because the embassy stage happens in Tbilisi and works on the original. Paying for a faster legalization tier leaves more of your trip for the embassy stage. Timing matters most for couples getting married in Georgia while pregnant, whose dates are set by the due date rather than by the visa office.
From our Tbilisi team
Ask for 2 paper copies of the certificate. Once the UAE Embassy has attested one, that copy is legalized for the UAE only, and the second stays free for an apostille if a home country ever asks for the certificate too. A repeat certificate costs GEL 5 by the 5th working day and up to GEL 50 for the same day.
Certificate Mistakes That Delay a Spouse Visa
- A copy instead of the original. Every stage attests the original, so a scan or a photocopy cannot enter the chain.
- A stage skipped or out of order. UAE MOFA attests a foreign document only after the issuing country's Foreign Ministry and the UAE Embassy there have stamped it.
- A certificate legalized for another Gulf state. Once an embassy has certified it, a legalized certificate is valid only in that country, so a copy legalized for Qatar or Kuwait does not serve a UAE file.
- An English translation in place of Arabic. The Georgian agency's English translation helps you read the certificate, but it does not replace the Arabic one made in the UAE.