Everyone who needs to keep their documents in order in Qatar for employment or residence purposes should know about the new MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) regulations for education certificate attestation.
At one time this was a fairly simple process involving attestation of a straightforward Bonafide letter from your educational institute confirming that you had studied there, completed the requisite course and graduated successfully. And it wasn’t always obligatory, unlike now, when your educational credentials not only have to be guaranteed to be valid but have to be backed up by a lot of detailed documentation.
As you will find in this article, we have all the latest information on what you will have to provide, set out in a clear and concise fashion, whatever aspect of MOFA attestation in Qatar reflects your situation. Our own service does include attestation of a wide range of documents, not just academic ones, and apart from offering you the advantage of our completely up to date knowledge of current requirements, we can save you a lot of time and effort by organizing all your official paperwork.
Demanding Procedure of MOFA Qatar Attestation
You might be wondering why the MOFA Qatar attestation procedure is so demanding: it maybe because there are so many foreign workers employed in Qatar. They make up almost 90% of the population, a huge increase compared to the l970’s when it was 40%.
The largest group are from India, almost a million. Next come individuals from Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines, with a total of 87 nationalities represented at last count in 2017. The sheer number of applicants needing residence permits and work visas has gone up dramatically, putting added pressure on government authorities, while at the same time new and more sophisticated technology has made it easier to fake documents.
Certificates now have to be scrutinized carefully and validated by supporting information, making it far more difficult for the few individuals who try to forge documents or the bogus institutions that have sprung up to provide the less scrupulous applicant with a worthless piece of paper that falsely states their qualifications.
MOFA attestation Procedure Changes
How has the MOFA attestation procedure changed recently? Formerly any educational institution could write a letter in their own style, with the details they thought to be pertinent. Naturally, this would vary from country to country. Now there is a standardized format, which includes a full description of the educational qualification and how it was obtained. The intention is to prove legally that the office that holds the records regarding your degree or other qualification has checked their database and can confirm that your certificate is genuine.
Apart from the type of diploma or degree earned, complete information has to be supplied on the subject you studied, the course you followed, how long it continued, with start and finish dates, a record of the marks achieved, and whether you attend full or part-time.
The name, type (private or government) and location of the college you went to and the place you wrote the exam have to be stated, along with full details on the institute. This is particularly important because it is essential that the institution was officially accredited at the time you got your qualification.
Educational establishments often close, or merge with other entities and/or change their name, so the letter has to convince government authorities that it is, or was, a genuine place of learning with high standards at the time you studied there, and on the actual date they granted you the certificate. The college stamp or seal, along with the signature or the official responsible, will make the letter official.
Validating Your Certificate
Validating your certificate with a Bonafide letter is only the first step in what has become a rather lengthy procedure to achieve complete acceptance through MOFA degree attestation in Qatar. This initial stage takes place in your own country, and it should be fairly simple if you are at home, but it could be a problem if you are already in Qatar, and seeking employment or a permanent residency visa, or perhaps changing jobs. This is where our experience and contacts will ensure that your application goes smoothly.
What is a Degree Certificate Attestation?
Attestation of degree certificates takes place when an authorized individual or authority witnesses them with their official seal and signature to validate them.
For Indian nationals, meeting the requirements for MOFA degree attestation involves collecting no less than 6 documents, whether they are attested with or without State HRD (Human Resource Development).
These are the original certificate, along with the Bonafide letter from your final or most recent college or other educational institutes, as described above. Then you need an official record of the marks obtained during the final year. Along with this, you need a copy of your passport and a copy of your Qatar ID and/or work visa, if you already have them. If you have entered the country on a visitor’s visa and have found a job, you need a copy of the letter offering you the position or a letter showing you have accepted the offer of employment and intend to join the company.
MOFA Qatar Attestation Requirements & Procedure
Without State HRD
If you are seeking validation without State HRD the MOFA Qatar attestation procedure has as its first step notary attestation of the certificate in India. Then you proceed to the Home Department for further attestation and continue on to the Ministry of External Affairs for the final validation in India.
Qatar is not one of the countries covered by the Hague Convention, so the official seal cannot be attached by the MEA, and is available only from MOFA. Once attestation has been obtained from the Qatar embassy in India, it finally has to be verified through MOFA degree attestation in Qatar.
With State HRD
Alternatively, if you opt for validation with State HRD you begin by submitting the certificate to the Home Department who send it to be checked by the Education Department. They then send the document back to the Home Department, reporting on its validity, so that they can provide attestation and it can be sent on to the Ministry of External Affairs for their attestation.
MEA gives government approval from India, and they send it on to the Qatar Embassy for their approval. Subsequently, the certificate goes to your embassy in Qatar for attestation and they send it for MOFA attestation in Qatar.
Candidates from the Philippines have been advised recently that MOFA is requiring TOR (transcript of records) and certification from CHED (Commission of Higher Education) in the Philippines. Documents must be attested by the Philippine Embassy in Doha, the Qatar Embassy in Manila or the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs before they are submitted to MOFA.
Essentially whatever the process is in individual countries, the starting point is a Bonafide letter, the diploma or degree, and official transcripts.
MOFA Qatar Attestation Charges
MOFA Qatar attestation charges the amount to 100 QAR for academic and other certificates.
Clearly getting the official seal on your educational certificate is a long process, made even more complicated by the latest demands of MOFA that make even the first task of getting your college to authenticate your degree much more demanding than it used to be.
This is where you might need the help of an agency and wide-ranging attestation services, helping you find the quickest way to meet all the requirements for the MOFA Qatar attestation procedure. The work would also require translation of your documents into Arabic and hence reaching out for should also include translation of documents from Native Language to Arabic and vice versa, granting of apostille and power of attorney.
If all the above is at the corporate level, there are other requirements that should support setting up and maintaining a business, among which is police clearance certificate, registration and licensing to de-registration and liquidations.
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