Service Description

You may submit a request to the Department of Consular Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to authenticate your civil documents. This service aims at legalizing civil documents to be used abroad and inside the State of Qatar. These documents include:

• Letters issued by government and private entities and pertaining to employees, whether Qatari citizens or residents contracting with these entities.
• Letters issued by entities under the supervision of government entities and departments for citizens and residents.
• Letters issued by the diplomatic missions accredited to the State of Qatar.
• Letters issued by the citizens themselves and authenticated by the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Judiciary Council or the Ministry of Interior.
• Letters of introduction, clearance and no-objection to residents, issued by respective companies and their affiliated institutions that are members of Qatar Chamber (QC), or the Ministry of Social Development and Family or the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Employment contracts concluded with residents, partnership contracts and everything related to companies, as well as papers related to employees of companies and institutions.

Offline Instructions

• Submit the document required to be authenticated to the Legalization Section at the Administration Building of the Department of Consular Affairs.
• Pay prescribed fees. 

Service Center

• Legalization Section at the Administration Building of the Department of Consular Affairs from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm.
• Governmental Services Centers in Musaimeer, Alwakra, Um Selal, Alzubara on two shifts as follows:
• Morning shift from 7:30 am to 1:00 pm.
• Evening shift from 3:30 pm to 7:00 pm (except Alzubara).
• Diplomatic and consular missions of the State under the supervision of the Department of Consular Affairs.

Additional Information

• The Department of Consular Affairs at MOFA or any of its accredited branches authenticates the seal or signature of QC or the seal and signature of an accredited ministry or an organization accredited by the Department of Consular Affairs at MOFA.
• The document required to be authenticated shall have a number of live seals and signatures ending with a seal and signature accredited by the Department of Consular Affairs at MOFA.
• The government entities in the State of Qatar shall be deemed competent to authenticate the documents they issue and the (certified) copies of such documents.
• QC shall authenticate the seals and signatures of some translation offices.
• When authenticating a document whose seals and signatures or pre-authentication content are later proven to be invalid, the authentication of the Department of Consular Affairs at MOFA or one of its branches is deemed void, and the Department has the right to refer the issue to the competent security authorities in the State of Qatar.
• The Department of Consular Affairs at MOFA and its branches are not responsible for the content of the document, yet they abstain from authenticating any document that violates the applicable regulations in the State of Qatar.
• A transaction is reviewed and the legalization procedures are completed within a period ranging from one to five minutes, depending on the number of transactions, in the cases where the transaction is valid and complete with all the required signatures and seals. However, in case the transaction lacks any signatures or seals, customer is requested to complete the requirements and come back to process the authentication.

Fees

Prescribed QR100 fees are for any of the following civil documents:

• General Power of Attorney.
• Special Power of Attorney.
• Surety Bond.
• Property Sale Contract.
• Property Lease Contract.
• Mortgage Contract.
• Security Deposit Bond.