Lebanese birth registration in the UAE: a child born in Dubai or the Emirates

The steps

1. Check that the marriage is registered in Lebanon

   The consulate requires the Lebanese marriage certificate. If not, register the marriage at the consulate first (free).

   before anything else

2. Obtain the Emirati birth certificate

   In Dubai: online application to the DHA with UAE PASS, after the hospital's birth notification; AED 70.

   1 working day

3. Have it attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs

   Online, digital attestation of the original PDF, destination country: Lebanon; AED 150.

   about 2 hours

4. Gather the documents and complete the form

   Parents' passports, family extract, Lebanese marriage certificate, copies.

   1 day

5. Submit the file at the consulate

   During submission hours, free. Keep the correspondence and diplomatic bag numbers. Abu Dhabi: at the embassy.

   1 morning

6. Follow the file in Lebanon

   Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then the emigrants' department of the Ministry of Interior, in Beirut.

   not published

7. Request the civil extracts, then the passport

   Individual extract with photo and family extract; five-year passport at the consulate, AED 552.

   6 to 8 weeks for the passport

What it really costs

Birth registration at the consulate	free
Emirati birth certificate in Dubai (DHA), per certificate	AED 70
UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs attestation (personal document)	AED 150
Prior marriage registration at the consulate, if missing	free
Newborn's laissez-passer (optional)	AED 111
Minor's biometric passport, 5 years (optional)	AED 552
DHL Fast Track option for the passport (optional)	$143.03
Observed total	AED 220 in Dubai (Emirati birth certificate and attestation); registration free at the consulate

Amounts recorded on 23.10.2026.

What most often gets stuck

• Parents' marriage never registered in Lebanon: the registered Lebanese marriage certificate is required.
• Emirati birth certificate not attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Digital attestation: the consulate asks for an “original”; the page does not mention a printout of the attested PDF.
• Birth in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain or Al Dhafra submitted in Dubai: it falls under the embassy in Abu Dhabi.
• Parents' details differ from their entry in the register: the file goes back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• No follow-up by the consulate: without the correspondence and diplomatic bag numbers, following up in Beirut is difficult.
• Twins: live birth report missing.
• Late registration: in Lebanon, after one year a court decision is needed; the rule for a birth abroad is not published.
• Only the mother is Lebanese, or child born outside marriage: no procedure published by the consulate.

Lebanese birth registration in the UAE is done at the Consulate General of Lebanon in Dubai with the Emirati birth certificate, attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs: registration is free. You also need both parents’ passports, a family civil extract and the Lebanese marriage certificate. In Dubai, allow AED 70 for the birth certificate and AED 150 for the attestation; the consulate publishes no wait time, and it is up to you to follow the file in Lebanon until the birth is registered.

Dubai consulate or Abu Dhabi embassy?

It depends on the emirate where the child was born. The Consulate General of Lebanon in Dubai registers births in Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. A birth in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain or the Al Dhafra Region is registered at the Embassy of Lebanon in Abu Dhabi (see below).

The consulate resumed all its services on 4 September 2026, after building works. Submission hours: Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 12pm, Friday 8.30am to 11am. The civil status page mentions neither appointments nor submission by post.

Step 1: the Emirati birth certificate and its attestation

In Dubai, the birth certificate is issued by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). The hospital creates the birth notification and uploads the documents after checking the originals. The parents then apply for the certificate on the DHA website, with UAE PASS. According to the DHA service page (updated 23 September 2026): AED 70 per certificate, paid by card, issued within one working day, in Arabic and English. For resident parents, the DHA asks for both parents’ Emirates ID or passport, the birth notification stamped by the hospital and, if the marriage took place outside the UAE, a duly authenticated marriage certificate (or an acknowledgement of parentage authenticated by the parents’ embassy or by a notary).

In the Northern Emirates and Abu Dhabi, other authorities issue the certificate: Emirates Health Services for the Northern Emirates and the Abu Dhabi Department of Health (through the TAMM platform) for Abu Dhabi, according to the press and Emirati guides. Their pages could not be read from France on 23 October 2026: check the fee when you pay.

Attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is required by the consulate. According to the ministry’s user guide (version of 27 July 2026), a birth certificate issued in the UAE can now only be attested digitally. You apply on the ministry’s website or app, with UAE PASS:

• upload the original digital birth certificate, as a PDF, with its QR code or verification reference (a scan or photo is refused);
• select Lebanon as the destination country. The consulate only asks for the UAE ministry’s attestation: the option “Embassy/Consulate of the Selected Destination Country in the UAE” matches this case;
• pay online: AED 150 for a personal document, according to the ministry’s FAQs; the total is shown before payment;
• collect the attested certificate by email or under “My Requests”: the ministry states processing within two hours during working hours.

The consulate asks for the “original” attested certificate. With digital attestation, that original is a PDF file: ask the consulate whether a printout of the attested PDF is enough.

Step 2: submitting the file at the consulate

Documents required by the consulate (“Civil Status” page, read on 23 October 2026):

• the birth registration application, completed online and printed, or filled in at the consulate;
• the original Emirati birth certificate, attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and one copy;
• both parents’ passports, with one copy of each;
• a family civil extract (ikhraj qaid aa’ili) and two copies;
• the parents’ Lebanese marriage certificate, registered and attested, and two copies;
• for twins only: the live birth report.

Registration is free. The form (version of 11 July 2025) asks for the child’s name in Arabic and Latin script, the date and place of birth, sex, the father’s register number and place of registration, the parents’ names and dates of birth, the mother’s nationality and passport number if she is not Lebanese, the parents’ required civil status details, and an address in Lebanon and in the UAE. The consulate does not state a maximum age for the family extract; the Abu Dhabi embassy page asked for one less than three months old (2022 version). A recent extract avoids a refusal.

Step 3: following up in Lebanon

The consulate sends the file by diplomatic bag to the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants (Directorate of Emigrants), which forwards it to the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities (Directorate General of Personal Status) for entry in the civil register. The consulate does not follow the file for you: it gives you the correspondence number and the diplomatic bag number, and it is up to you to follow the registration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lebanon. Keep both numbers.

The Directorate General of Personal Status describes the route: the certificate issued by the embassy is used to obtain a file number at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; with that number, you then follow the execution at the emigrants’ department of the Ministry of Interior, in Beirut. That department states 15 days’ processing, free of charge, once the file is received. If the parents’ details do not match the register, or if the file is incomplete, it goes back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for correction.

If you do not live in Lebanon, a relative can handle these steps in Beirut. None of the pages read says whether a power of attorney is required just to follow up; ask the consulate before submitting (the consulate draws up powers of attorney).

Once the birth is registered, you can obtain an individual civil extract bearing the child’s photo and a family civil extract: both are required for the child’s passport.

How long does it take?

Neither the consulate nor the ministry publishes an overall wait time. Only the Ministry of Interior stage is given: 15 days after receipt. Add the diplomatic bag transit and the time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a rough guide, other Lebanese missions state about three months (Marseille consulate) or three to four months (honorary consulate in Calgary, 2022 page) before a new civil extract. Nothing says the wait is the same from the UAE.

Travelling before registration: the newborn’s laissez-passer

If you are travelling straight to Lebanon, the consulate can issue the newborn a laissez-passer valid for one year, on presentation of the birth registration documents. Both parents must come in person to sign the application. Documents: the laissez-passer form, the Emirati birth certificate (two copies according to the Arabic version of the page), a copy of both parents’ passports, a copy of the family extract and four recent photos on a white background. Wait time: 4 working days. Fee: AED 111, exact amount preferred, or by card.

The parents then obtain the child’s individual civil extract, and then the passport, in Lebanon.

The child’s first passport

At the consulate, a newborn’s passport is only possible once the birth has been registered in Lebanon. Documents: the application form, the individual civil extract bearing a photo and two copies, both parents’ passports with two copies of each, and two recent photos of the child on a white background. Both parents submit the application in person; either parent may collect the passport. Fee: AED 552 for a five-year biometric passport. Wait time: 6 to 8 weeks by diplomatic bag, or 2 to 3 weeks with the paid DHL Fast Track option ($143.03), according to the consulate. Details in our guide to Lebanese passport renewal in Dubai.

On the UAE side, the child’s residence requires a passport. According to Emirati guides and press, foreign parents have 120 days after the birth to regularise the child’s residence, with a fine for each day of delay. We could not read this deadline in an official text. As registration in Lebanon can take months, submit the birth file as early as possible, and ask the consulate and the UAE immigration services if the deadline is at risk.

Special cases

• Parents’ marriage not yet registered in Lebanon: the consulate requires the Lebanese marriage certificate. If you married in Dubai or the Northern Emirates, register the marriage at the consulate first (free): registration application, original attested local marriage certificate and one copy, a recent individual civil extract for each spouse with two copies, the non-Lebanese spouse’s birth certificate (translated into Arabic if it is in neither English nor French) with two copies, both spouses’ passports with two copies. Follow-up in Lebanon works the same way, until you obtain the Lebanese marriage certificate and the family extract.
• Twins: the consulate also asks for the live birth report. Lebanese law requires a separate record for each twin, with the time of each birth and the order of birth (article 14 of the 1951 law).
• Late registration: the law of 7 December 1951 provides that the birth abroad of a child of a Lebanese father is recorded at the nearest consulate (article 19). In Lebanon, after one year, a child can only be registered by court decision (article 12). No official source read says whether this limit applies to a birth abroad. For a child who has come of age, the Directorate General of Personal Status also asks for a consular decision or the application of a 1984 circular. The safest course: submit the file within the year.
• Only the mother is Lebanese, or child born outside marriage: the consulate publishes no procedure. The Directorate General of Personal Status describes a record of acknowledgement drawn up by the embassy, with the local certificate and, if needed, a certificate from the local authorities stating which parent acknowledged the child first. Call the consulate before submitting anything.

Abu Dhabi: what we know

The website of the Embassy of Lebanon in Abu Dhabi (mfa.gov.lb domain) refused connections from France on 23 October 2026. Its old, archived pages give a procedure close to Dubai’s, with differences:

• English version (modified 28 September 2022, archived 13 July 2025): form, birth certificate attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and one copy, family extract less than three months old and one copy, marriage registered beforehand and a copy of the marriage certificate, copies of the parents’ passports and residence visas;
• Arabic version (updated 3 November 2021, archived 14 July 2022): family extract less than one year old, AED 40 fee, one parent is enough, three-month laissez-passer for a single trip at AED 225 in cash.

These pages are old and contradict each other. In Dubai, registration is now free and the laissez-passer is valid for one year for AED 111. If your child was born in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, call the embassy for the current documents and fees.

Was your child born in France? See Birth registration at the Lebanese consulate: a child born in France.

Did the consulate ask you for another document, or do you know the real wait time? Report it.

Sources

• Consulate General of Lebanon in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, “Civil Status” (English version and Arabic version), undated, accessed 23 October 2026.
• Consulate General of Lebanon in Dubai, “Application Forms”: “Lebanese New Born Registration” form (PDF of 11 July 2025) and laissez-passer form (PDF of 30 June 2025), accessed 23 October 2026.
• Consulate General of Lebanon in Dubai, “Lebanese Passport” (newborn’s passport, fees, wait times), undated, accessed 23 October 2026.
• Consulate General of Lebanon in Dubai, home page (services resumed on 4 September 2026, opening hours), accessed 23 October 2026.
• Dubai Health Authority, service catalogue, “Issue Birth Certificate / Certificate Copy / Lost Replacement”, updated 23 September 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
• Dubai Media Office, “DHA announces the launch of a service for issuing birth certificates”, 18 March 2025.
• UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Documents Attestation”, accessed 23 October 2026, and its user guide (PDF of 27 July 2026).
• UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, FAQs (attestation fees), accessed 23 October 2026.
• Directorate General of Personal Status (Ministry of Interior), “Emigrants’ department” (in Arabic), undated, accessed 23 October 2026.
• Lebanese Ministry of Justice, law of 7 December 1951 on the registration of civil status records (articles 11, 12, 14 and 19), accessed 23 October 2026.
• Embassy of Lebanon in Abu Dhabi, “Registration of Vital Events”, page modified 28 September 2022, archived 13 July 2025; Arabic version updated 3 November 2021, archived 14 July 2022; website unreachable on 23 October 2026.
• Honorary Consulate of Lebanon in Calgary, “Civil Registration”, page modified 20 January 2022, accessed 23 October 2026 (indicative wait time from another mission).

Checked on 23.10.2026.

Elsewhere