它是什么
General means wide in scope, not accepted everywhere. Some authorities publish the wording they expect and will look for it. RTA, for one, states that a legal representative at a vehicle ownership change "must have a power of attorney stipulating the ‘sale and disposal of vehicles’" - a broad document that never says that phrase can be turned away by a counter that is simply doing what its rules say. So a general power of attorney is the right instrument when what you need is breadth across ordinary matters, and the wrong one when a named authority has a named requirement.
适合谁
Someone leaving the UAE for a period, or wanting one trusted person able to deal with routine matters, rather than one specific transaction at one specific authority.
What "general" is actually taken to mean
One UAE authority publishes a definition, which is more useful than any description we could write. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department's notarisation guidance manual lists a General Power of Attorney - service code ADJD-0001 - as authorising the attorney to act on the principal's behalf "in every permissible and known matter".
Two words in that phrase are doing the work. "Permissible" means the document cannot authorise what the law does not allow anyway. "Known" means it covers the ordinary and the expected, not the exceptional. A general power of attorney is wide, but it is not a blank cheque, and it is not a substitute for a document that an authority has asked to see specific wording in.
Source: Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, Guidance Manual - Notarisation & Attestation Services, July 2023
What people normally put in one
The everyday business of being present in a country you are not currently in. In practice that is:
- Dealing with government departments and submitting applications on your behalf.
- Utilities and telecoms - opening, transferring and closing accounts.
- Collecting documents, certificates and official correspondence addressed to you.
- Signing routine contracts and renewals that do not dispose of an asset.
- Dealing with a landlord, a building management or an owners association.
- Representing you in ordinary administrative matters where no authority has published a required wording.
What should not be swept in with it
The risk with a general power of attorney is not that it does too little. It is that it is written broadly once and then quietly reaches things you never pictured. Decide each of these deliberately rather than accepting them as part of "general":
- Selling, gifting or mortgaging property. These end or encumber an asset, and they belong in a document written for the property and the transaction.
- Selling or disposing of a vehicle - and note that in Dubai a general document may not be enough anyway. RTA states the representative "must have a power of attorney stipulating the ‘sale and disposal of vehicles’".
- Operating or closing bank accounts, and borrowing in your name.
- Acting in court proceedings. The federal portal states a representative "must prove his appointment through an official power of attorney attested by a notary public", and that only licensed UAE national lawyers may appear before the courts.
- Company matters - signing for the business, changing a licence, binding it to contracts.
- The power to appoint a substitute attorney, which transfers your choice of person to someone else.
When an authority will want a specific one instead
This is the single most useful thing to understand before choosing, because it is where a general power of attorney fails in practice. Breadth is not acceptance. Where an authority has published the wording it expects, a broad document that does not contain that wording can be refused - not because anything is wrong with it, but because the counter is following its own published rule.
The clearest published illustration is the Abu Dhabi manual again: alongside the one General POA it lists eleven subject-bound ones - real estate, commercial licences, shares, vehicles, horses, businesses, litigation, inheritance, personal status, marriage and divorce. An authority that has built a separate service for your subject is telling you which document it expects to receive.
Our guide comparing general and special powers of attorney sets this out in full, with the published examples.
Who is involved, and how long it lasts
The parties are you (the principal), the person you name (the attorney or agent), the notary who witnesses your signature, and whichever bodies your representative ends up dealing with. Unlike a property or vehicle document, a general power of attorney has no single receiving authority - which is exactly why no single authority publishes what it must contain.
On duration, there is no national answer and we will not invent one. Abu Dhabi publishes a cap - "the maximum period for the POA validity is 3 calendar years after the date of notarisation" - and charges "AED 100 for each year of the POA validity", figures from its July 2023 manual. We have found no equivalent published figure for Dubai. Where you need a fixed end date, the sound approach is to write one into the document rather than to rely on a rule that may not exist in your emirate.
Source: Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, Guidance Manual - Notarisation & Attestation Services, July 2023
Language, and signing from abroad
UAE authorities work in Arabic, so the document is prepared in Arabic and English rather than English alone, at no extra charge. Abu Dhabi states the condition explicitly for documents brought to it: one issued in a language other than Arabic "should be translated by a certified translator whose valid license card will be attached to it".
A document signed outside the UAE also has to travel. The Abu Dhabi manual states that "any document issued outside the country must be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs"; what the country you sign in requires before that depends on where you are. Our guide on using a UAE power of attorney from abroad sets out what official sources state and marks clearly what they do not.
如何办理
- You tell us who will act for you and what they may and may not do.
- We prepare the draft and show you the whole document.
- Nothing goes further until you have read it and approved it.
- You sign it before a notary public.
- Your approved copy stays in your account.
包含什么
- A draft prepared from the details you give us
- The full document to read before you approve it
- Your approved copy kept in your account
不包含什么
- Authority-specific wording where a particular authority requires its own
- Notary public fees, and any attestation or legalisation charges
- Use outside the UAE, which depends on that country's own requirements
本页未说明的内容
- The Abu Dhabi figures above - the three-year validity cap, the per-year fee, the twelve service types - are that emirate's, published in a guidance manual dated July 2023. They are not federal rules and should not be read as applying nationally.
- We have not been able to read the Dubai Courts notary pages: their service pages disallow automated retrieval and we respect that. So we do not quote a Dubai notarisation fee, duration or procedure anywhere on this site.
- Whether a general power of attorney is sufficient for your situation is a legal question, and where an authority has published a required wording it is also a factual one you can check with that authority.
- The Deedbox is not a law firm and not a notary office.
常见问题
Will every UAE authority accept a general power of attorney?
No, and that is worth knowing before you choose one. RTA publishes that a representative at a vehicle ownership change must hold a power of attorney stipulating the "sale and disposal of vehicles". Where an authority names what it wants, a broad document that does not say it may not be enough.
When should I use a specific power of attorney instead?
When the whole purpose is one authority or one transaction - a property transfer, a vehicle sale, a company matter or a court case. Those pages set out what each authority asks for.
Does it need to be notarised?
For court representation the federal portal states that a representative "must prove his appointment through an official power of attorney attested by a notary public". Requirements elsewhere depend on the authority and the transaction, and we do not generalise beyond what is published.
How long does a UAE power of attorney last?
There is no single UAE-wide answer, and most pages that give you one are quoting Abu Dhabi without saying so. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department's published guidance manual states that "The maximum period for the POA validity is 3 calendar years after the date of notarisation", extended for the Litigation POA to "5 years for lawyers". That is ADJD's published rule for Abu Dhabi notarisation, dated July 2023. We have not found an equivalent published cap for Dubai, and Dubai Courts' own notary pages disallow automated retrieval, so we do not assume Abu Dhabi's rule applies there.
Does a power of attorney expire on its own?
Two different things can end one, and they are worth keeping apart. A validity period, where the notarising authority publishes one, of which Abu Dhabi's three calendar years from notarisation is the clearest published example. And revocation, which is something you do rather than something that happens: Dubai Land Department publishes cancellation of a power of attorney as a free, in-person service. A document past its validity period and one that has been revoked both stop working, but only one of them warns you in advance.
Is my general power of attorney still valid?
Check three things, in this order. Whether the notarising authority publishes a validity period, and whether it has run. Whether it has been revoked. And whether the authority you are about to use it at names powers your document does not contain. The third is the one that catches people, because the document is entirely valid and still gets turned away at the counter. Where the question turns on legal effect rather than those checks, it is one for a lawyer.
决定之前
- Making a UAE will or power of attorney when you are not a resident · 英文版
- How wide a UAE power of attorney should be · 英文版
- What each UAE authority asks for before it accepts a power of attorney · 英文版
- 在国外办理阿联酋委托书
- Using a UAE power of attorney abroad · 英文版
- 阿联酋外交部认证：用于境外的文件
- How to verify a UAE power of attorney · 英文版
- Powers of attorney and wills in Ras Al Khaimah · 英文版
- Powers of attorney and wills in Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah · 英文版