Corporate Documents & Resolutions in Dubai
A Dubai company runs on paper as much as on activity: the memorandum that constitutes it, the resolutions that record its decisions, the powers of attorney that let people act for it, and the letters and declarations authorities ask it to produce. Getting the right document, in the right form, prepared for the right authority, is a distinct skill from running the business itself. This page sets out the documents a Dubai company most commonly needs, when each one is used, and where notarisation, legal translation and attestation enter the picture — with MANJAZ preparing and coordinating the paperwork, never issuing the notarisation or attestation itself.
- Covers MOA/AOA, board and shareholder resolutions, powers of attorney, service-agent agreements, declarations and company letters
- Notarisation of the MOA, resolutions and powers of attorney is carried out by the Dubai Notary Public, not by MANJAZ
- Documents not in Arabic generally need legal translation; foreign corporate documents generally need attestation, since the UAE is not a Hague Apostille Convention member
- Requirements vary by document, transaction and receiving authority — MANJAZ checks what a given document needs before it is signed or submitted
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- Direct request, no middlemen
What corporate documents a Dubai company needs
Companies in Dubai typically need a Memorandum and, in some legal forms, Articles of Association to be constituted; board and shareholder/general-assembly resolutions to record corporate decisions; powers of attorney to authorise people to act for the company; a local service-agent agreement in some setups; and, from time to time, declarations and authorisation or company letters that a specific authority requests.
None of these documents exists in isolation. A company is formed on the strength of its Memorandum of Association; once it exists, its board and its shareholders record their decisions through resolutions; those decisions are frequently carried out by someone holding a power of attorney; and where the company deals with foreign parents, foreign shareholders or foreign branches, documents produced outside the UAE bring their own translation and attestation requirements before a local authority will accept them. Understanding the document set as a connected whole — rather than chasing one paper at a time — is what keeps a transaction moving instead of stalling at a government counter.
Three points are worth fixing from the outset. First, which document you need depends on the transaction — opening a company is different from appointing a new manager, which is different from granting a bank signatory authority, which is different from relying on a foreign parent company's own constitutional documents. Second, the exact form, wording and supporting papers a document needs vary by legal form, by the receiving authority and by the transaction itself, so a template that worked for one company does not automatically work for another. Third, the touchpoints that make a document usable — notarisation, translation, attestation — are carried out by named authorities and professionals, not by a corporate-services provider; MANJAZ's role is to prepare the document correctly, coordinate the appointment or the translation, and follow the file through, not to notarise, certify or attest anything itself.
The documents a company commonly relies on
- Memorandum of Association (MOA)
- The founding contract that constitutes the company, states its partners, capital and activity, and forms the legal basis on which a trade licence is issued. It is required to obtain a licence and, when it changes — a new partner, a capital change — the amendment is itself a document that generally needs notarisation.
- Articles of Association (AOA)
- The internal rulebook of a company — how the board is formed, how meetings are called, how decisions are taken — used mainly by joint-stock companies and larger structures rather than every small LLC. Where a company has one, it sits alongside the Memorandum rather than replacing it.
- Board resolution
- A written record of a decision the board of directors or the managers have taken within their authority — appointing a signatory, opening a bank account, approving a contract. It is used for management-level decisions that fall inside the board's own powers under the company's constitutional documents.
- Shareholder / general-assembly resolution
- A decision taken by the owners themselves, at general-assembly level, for matters the constitutional documents or the Commercial Companies Law reserve to shareholders — changing a partner, amending the Memorandum, approving accounts, or dissolving the company. It carries more weight than a board resolution and often triggers a notarised MOA amendment.
- Power of attorney (POA)
- A document by which a company (or an individual owner) authorises a named person to act on its behalf — to sign contracts, represent it before authorities, run daily operations, or handle a specific transaction. The scope can be broad (general) or limited to one purpose, and it is typically notarised so the authority relying on it can verify it.
- Local service-agent agreement
- A contract required for civil establishments, and for companies 100% owned by non-GCC nationals in certain professional and civil setups, appointing a UAE national or a company wholly owned by UAE nationals as service agent. The agent facilitates licensing and government formalities; ownership of the business itself remains with the company. This agreement must be duly attested to obtain a licence.
- Declaration
- A signed statement of fact that a company or an authorised person makes to a government entity, a bank or a business partner — for example confirming an activity, an ownership structure, or a set of circumstances the receiving party needs on record. Its exact wording depends entirely on what the requesting authority asks for.
- Authorisation / company letter
- A formal letter, on the company's letterhead and usually signed by its authorised signatory, that authorises a specific person or action — collecting a document, representing the company at a single appointment, or confirming a fact to a third party such as a bank or a landlord. It is lighter than a power of attorney and used for a narrower, one-off purpose.
Three roles, kept apart: the authority, the company, and MANJAZ
| Who | What they do | What they do not do |
|---|---|---|
| The Notary Public / attesting authorities | Notarises the MOA, resolutions and powers of attorney; legalises and attests foreign corporate documents through the official chain | Does not draft the company's documents or decide their commercial content |
| The company / its owners | Takes the underlying decision, signs the document, and appears before the Notary Public or attesting authority where personal attendance is required | Cannot notarise or attest its own documents, and cannot substitute its own wording for what an authority requires |
| MANJAZ | Drafts and organises the document to the form the receiving authority expects, coordinates certified/legal translation, books the notarisation appointment, and follows the file through attestation and submission | Does not notarise, certify-translate or attest any document itself, and does not decide a document's legal effect |
Notarisation: why the Dubai Notary Public sits at the centre
The Memorandum of Association is required to be notarised to obtain a licence, and the same is true of many resolutions and powers of attorney once a company relies on them before a bank, a government department or a court. Notarisation is the act of an official — the Notary Public — confirming the identity of the person signing and the date and content of the document, which is what gives it evidential weight when a third party is asked to rely on it.
In practice this means the person who signs — a manager, a shareholder, a company owner — usually needs to appear in person before the Notary Public with valid identification, along with the document already drafted in the form the notary and the receiving authority both expect. MANJAZ prepares that draft, checks it against what the specific authority the document is destined for will ask to see, and coordinates the notary appointment; the notarisation act itself is carried out only by the Notary Public.
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How a corporate document typically moves — noting it varies
The underlying decision is identified
The company works out what it needs to achieve — appoint a signatory, change a partner, authorise a representative — and which document type fits that decision.
The document is drafted
The resolution, power of attorney, declaration or letter is prepared in the wording and format the receiving authority is known to expect, checking it against the company's existing constitutional documents.
Signature and notarisation
The authorised signatories sign, and — where the document needs it — appear before the Dubai Notary Public so it carries the notarisation the receiving authority will check for.
Translation, where languages cross
Where the document is not in Arabic and must be used with a UAE authority, or where an Arabic document must be understood by a foreign party, it is rendered by legal translation so the wording matches across languages.
Attestation, for a foreign document
A document produced outside the UAE — a foreign parent company's board resolution, a foreign power of attorney — generally needs to be legalised/attested through the official chain before a UAE authority will rely on it, because the UAE is not a Hague Apostille Convention member.
Submission and follow-up
The finished document is submitted to the bank, the licensing authority or the counterparty it was prepared for, and the file is followed up until the transaction it supports is complete.
What is usually gathered alongside the document itself
- The company's existing trade licence and Memorandum of Association, so the new document is consistent with them
- Valid identification for every signatory who must appear before the Notary Public
- Any prior resolution or authority the new document builds on — for example a board resolution authorising the person who will sign a power of attorney
- A certified or legal translation where the document must be understood in a second language
- For a foreign document, the attestation obtained in the country of origin and, where applicable, at the UAE mission abroad and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- The specific requirements of the receiving authority — a bank, DET, a free-zone authority or a court — since these are not identical across authorities
Foreign corporate documents: attestation, not apostille
A foreign board resolution, a foreign power of attorney, or a foreign parent company's own MOA is not automatically usable in Dubai just because it is valid where it was issued. Many countries that are members of the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention allow a document to be validated with a single apostille stamp; the UAE is not a member of that convention, so a corporate document produced abroad generally needs to go through the fuller legalisation/attestation chain instead before a UAE bank, authority or court will rely on it.
This is the same subject our Certificate Attestation service covers in full — the chain of authorities a foreign document passes through and why. On this page it matters because it applies directly to corporate paperwork: a UAE branch relying on its foreign parent's board resolution, or a foreign investor signing a power of attorney abroad, should expect the attestation step before the document is accepted here, on top of any legal translation the document also needs.
"I need to…" — matching the situation to the document
Appoint a new general manager for the company.
What is usually neededA shareholder or board resolution recording the appointment, consistent with what the Memorandum of Association allows, and — where the manager will sign for the company — a power of attorney or authorisation letter setting out their scope.
A foreign parent company needs to authorise its Dubai branch to act.
What is usually neededThe parent company's board resolution and power of attorney, produced abroad, generally attested through the official chain and legally translated into Arabic before the branch relies on them locally.
Open or change signatories on a company bank account.
What is usually neededA board resolution naming the signatories and their authority, matched to the bank's own document requirements, which can differ from one bank to another.
Bring in or remove a partner in an LLC.
What is usually neededA shareholder resolution approving the change and a notarised amendment to the Memorandum of Association reflecting the new ownership, prepared and coordinated before the company approaches the licensing authority.
Confirm the company's activity or structure for a bank, a landlord or a partner abroad.
What is usually neededA declaration or an authorisation/company letter stating the specific facts the requesting party asked for, on company letterhead, signed by the authorised signatory.
Not sure which document your situation actually needs, or whether it must be notarised, translated or attested? Tell us what you are trying to achieve and we will explain the practical next step.
Ask about corporate document supportMistakes worth avoiding
The mistakeUsing a board resolution for a decision the law reserves to shareholders.
The fixOwnership-level decisions — a partner change, a Memorandum amendment, dissolution — need a shareholder/general-assembly resolution, not a board resolution.
The mistakeAssuming a foreign document is valid here because it is valid where it was signed.
The fixThe UAE is not a Hague Apostille Convention member, so a foreign corporate document generally needs the fuller legalisation/attestation chain before a UAE authority accepts it.
The mistakeSigning a power of attorney with wording copied from a template, without matching it to the Memorandum of Association.
The fixA power of attorney should be checked against the company's own constitutional documents so the powers it grants are ones the signatory actually holds.
The mistakeTranslating a document informally instead of through legal translation.
The fixAuthorities and banks generally expect a certified or legal translation for a document not already in Arabic, with the terminology matching the original exactly.
The mistakeAssuming every authority accepts the same document set.
The fixA bank, DET, a free-zone authority and a court can each ask for a slightly different form or set of supporting papers — confirm with the specific receiving authority before finalising the document.
How MANJAZ supports corporate documents and resolutions
MANJAZ is a corporate-services provider — we help prepare, coordinate and follow up corporate-document requirements with the relevant authorities. We are not the Dubai Notary Public, not a government department and not the licence issuer, and we do not notarise, certify-translate or attest a document ourselves; those acts belong to the Notary Public, to a certified/legal translator, and to the attesting authorities respectively. What we do is draft the document to the form and wording a given authority expects, cross-check it against the company's existing constitutional documents, coordinate legal translation and the notarisation appointment, track a foreign document through the attestation chain, and follow the file through to submission.
The value is in getting the paper trail right the first time: the correct document for the decision, the correct wording for the receiving authority, and the correct sequence of notarisation, translation and attestation so nothing is rejected for a preventable reason. Because requirements vary by document, transaction and authority, we check the specifics for your situation rather than reuse a fixed template, and we never present ourselves as able to notarise, certify or attest anything on our own authority, and we never guarantee that any authority will accept a particular document.
Frequently asked questions
Most commonly a Memorandum of Association (and, for some legal forms, Articles of Association), board and shareholder/general-assembly resolutions for its decisions, powers of attorney for anyone acting on its behalf, a local service-agent agreement in some setups, and, as needed, declarations and authorisation or company letters that a specific authority requests. Exactly which ones apply depends on the legal form and the transaction.
A board resolution is taken by directors or managers within the powers the company's own documents already give them, for operational matters. A shareholder or general-assembly resolution is taken by the owners themselves on matters reserved to them, such as changing a partner or amending the Memorandum of Association, and it frequently precedes a notarised MOA amendment.
Many do. The Memorandum of Association is required to be notarised to obtain a licence, and resolutions and powers of attorney are frequently notarised as well, once a bank, a government department or a court is asked to rely on them. Notarisation is carried out only by the Dubai Notary Public; MANJAZ prepares the document and coordinates the appointment, but does not notarise anything itself.
A document not already in Arabic generally needs legal translation before a UAE authority will accept it, since government and court files are kept in Arabic. MANJAZ coordinates certified and legal translation so the terminology stays consistent with the original and with the company's existing Arabic documents.
Generally yes. A document produced outside the UAE — a foreign parent company's resolution or power of attorney, for example — is not automatically usable here just because it is valid where it was issued. Since the UAE is not a Hague Apostille Convention member, such documents generally need to go through the fuller legalisation/attestation chain rather than a single apostille stamp.
No. Notarisation is carried out by the Dubai Notary Public and attestation by the relevant official authorities — MANJAZ does not notarise, certify-translate or attest any document itself. MANJAZ prepares and organises the document, coordinates certified/legal translation, books the notarisation appointment, and follows a foreign document through the attestation chain and submission.
Not every company. It is a contract appointing a UAE national, or a company wholly owned by UAE nationals, as service agent, required for civil establishments and for companies 100% owned by non-GCC nationals in certain professional and civil setups. The agent facilitates licensing and government formalities; it does not carry ownership of the business. This agreement must be duly attested to obtain a licence.
A power of attorney is a formal document, typically notarised, granting broad or specific legal authority to act for the company. An authorisation or company letter is a lighter, usually letterhead document authorising a narrower, often one-off action — such as collecting a document or representing the company at a single appointment — and is not a substitute for a power of attorney where broader authority is genuinely needed.
Official sources
This content is for general awareness and is based on the official sources available at the time of the last update. Company-formation and corporate-service requirements, fees, approvals and steps differ by the business activity, the legal form and the jurisdiction, and are set and updated by the competent authorities. It is not legal or financial advice. MANJAZ is a corporate-services provider that helps prepare, coordinate and follow up requirements with the relevant authorities — it is not the Department of Economy and Tourism or any government body, it does not issue trade licences, it cannot approve a business activity, and it does not guarantee any approval.
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