Job Discussion Forums

[777]

Hey mishmumkin,
So you are saying that the documents you need to get authenticated are: birth certificates and university transcripts? And all of these first get notarized, then authenticated in the state they were issued and last authenticated by the US State Dept before sending them on to the UAE embassy in DC, yes?

[mishmumkin]

I got my birth and marriage cert authenticated first by sending an official copy to the sec. of state in which they were issued, then to the state dept, and finally to the UAE embassy. The UAE embassy and consular services website makes no mention of a notary for personal documents, nor does the US state dept site for getting personal documents authenticated. My uni degree is from a British university, so I'll pay to have that taken care of once I arrive in the UAE. As for the notary, the birth and marriage certs made it all the way to the UAE embassy and back w/o the notary-no issues.

Diplomas have a slighly different process.

[veiledsentiments]

It is not university transcripts, but diploma/certificates.

VS

[mishmumkin]

[Sunburnt Individual]

@777,
For university degrees, yes, that's exactly the process. My employer last year "lost" this document, so I have to go through the process all over again this year for my current employer.

@Orangepeel
I took taxis everywhere. I wasn't in Dubai proper though, so the prices weren't too bad. If you're where you say you are, I don't know what to tell you. I just went the year without the license and it ended up fine for me.

I noticed you said you were in Lebanon. I hope you're not working for SABIS over here in the Gulf.

[mishmumkin]

[orangepeel1]

I've had my run-ins with the SABIS crew both here in Lebanon and in Ali-Ain and I know better than signing up with that crew! Anyways, I am going to start copy/pasting these instructions straight off the board into emails to my poor mother who is going to want to kill me! I am totally shocked by all of this because my school did not mention anything about birth cert or notarizing. I am going to notarize everything just in case, I'd be sorry to repeat the process later... Well looks like I had alot of work to do!

I have had a couple of PMs about the driver's license... People seem to think that I can get an international license from here in Lebanon and drive on that in Emirates. Someone kindly sent me a website that explained the rules, however the list of the countries from which people are able to drive on internl' licenses was not listed.... Any thought on this folks? I know for a fact that getting an intl' license from here would be cheap and easy...

[orangepeel1]

Someone suggested trying to get my Driver's License copy certified at the American Embassy here? Its just a xerox I made.. thats pushing it isnt it?

[adorabilly]

Hey OP.

My suggestion is to call your local office of Fedex, or UPS and explain exactly what you want to the manager (nesting one envelope inside the other so you can sent it to the state office, which will then send it to the US state department, then to the UAE embassay, and finally to you in lebanon.

If you do it that way, you can save lots of time instead of having your mom fedex it to one then wait for it to come back and fed ex it to the next.

Also print out the directions and put them in EACH envelope you nest inside of each other with a check for the total.

Then have your mom go into the office and with the help of the manager you spoke to, she will get it done right and faster.

[Arab Strap]

You'll be able to use an international drivers permit when you arrive BUT you will have to get a UAE licence once you get residency.

Reputable car rental companies should be aware of this.

I doubt very much if a photocopy of you US licence will suffice, before you can exchange it for a UAE licence it has to be translated into Arabic by an official translator.

Don't you have a Lebanese licence? Then again your passport will have to match your licence and you're coming in on a US passport (????).

I had a similar problem, licence and passport didn't match BUT I did have a licence, not a photocopy. I was lucky, the girl at the counter told me that I could exchange a KSA licence because 'being a teacher I was a special case'.................I wasn't complaining.

Sooooooooooo if you can produce some kind of valid licence and you have a bit of luck who knows...........BUT I'd be prepared to do a full driving course, 40 half hour lessons I think is the minimum and it'll run you in about 4500uae all in)...............oh and just to cheer you up even more, I've heard that even experienced drivers fail first time.

Good luck

[orangepeel1]

Adorability,

Call me lazy but I'm almost at the point of giving up. Maybe I'm just at my info overload point this week. My totally unprepared students have to take the TOEFL in two weeks And part of me just wants to let the company charge me a ridiculous amount to do it. I'm not conceding just yet...I am online to find out where all these gov. offices are. Someone posted links I think (thanks mish)... Also Im thinking of having the school send it straight to the state dept because Im not from that state and it can save me the step of having it sent home first... Ack! So much to think about! I will keep y'all updated on the process...

Arab Strap -Ok well, I dont have a Lebanese passport, just US, so my licence wont match. I think maybe the Intl' would be a good option because it sounds like my residency may take a while with all this paperwork crapola that I have to do... At least with that I can drive while i take lessons???

[mishmumkin]

[777]

With all the channels and steps these various papers must go through and the possible mistakes that can happen, has anyone ever heard or know about someone who didn't get the right stamp, notarization or authentication and had their papers returned to re-do it all?

[mishmumkin]

Yep! My dad took care of my degree authentication the first time around. I was already in the UAE, and I didn't fully understand the process myself. I think my degree got all the way to the UAE embassy before they sent it back saying that I was missing a step-the notary, I believe.

[Sunburnt Individual]

Yes. I sent it to the State Department without the stamp from my home state, so they sent it back with instructions. It delayed the process by about 3 weeks.