UAE Academic Certificate Forgery Can Lead To 3 Years In Prison, Dh30,000 Fine
The ministry said it has strengthened its systems for checking the authenticity of academic certificates and records issued both inside and outside the UAE, as demand for qualification verification continues to rise.
Recommended For YouThe cases identified as fraudulent remain“very limited” compared with the large volume of qualifications processed, the ministry said. It recorded 178,600 academic qualification verification requests in 2025, with the figure rising to 253,000 by the beginning of September 2026.
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The increased demand reflects the growing use of the ministry's digital verification systems by individuals, institutions and employers seeking to establish that academic qualifications are genuine.
UAE ministry steps up checks on academic qualificationsAhmed Abdullah Al Hammadi, Director of the Legal Affairs Department at MoHESR, said protecting the credibility of academic qualifications was a priority, regardless of where they were issued.
“The ministry places the highest priority on safeguarding the credibility of academic qualifications, whether issued within the UAE or abroad. This forms part of the ministry's strategic direction to strengthen integrity in higher education and protect the credibility of academic qualifications.”
The ministry said its verification framework is designed to detect discrepancies at an early stage while allowing suspected criminal cases to be dealt with through the appropriate legal channels.
Al Hammadi said cases involving suspected manipulation or forgery are not dealt with simply as administrative discrepancies when there is an indication of a criminal offence.
“Any case involving suspected forgery, manipulation or alteration of information contained in academic certificates is handled in accordance with approved legal procedures and referred to the competent judicial authorities whenever there is a suspected criminal offence, so that the necessary action can be taken in accordance with the applicable legislation.”
The ministry said it works with the Ministry of Justice, the Federal Public Prosecution and local public prosecution authorities as part of this process.
What counts as academic certificate forgery in the UAE?Forgery can involve creating a completely fake academic certificate or transcript, changing information on a genuine qualification, adding or removing information that affects the content of the certificate, or knowingly using a forged qualification.
The consequences extend beyond the person presenting a false certificate. The ministry said fraudulent qualifications can expose employers and government and private-sector entities to risks when making recruitment or professional decisions based on inaccurate academic records.
Under Article 252 of Federal Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021 on Crimes and Penalties, forging an official document can carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years, while forgery of an unofficial document is punishable by detention. The ministry separately noted that court rulings in academic qualification forgery cases have included prison terms of up to three years and fines of up to Dh30,000.
The ministry stressed that the cases detected so far are isolated when compared with the hundreds of thousands of qualifications processed through its systems.
It is also urging government and private-sector employers to use approved verification channels when they have concerns about the validity of a certificate or academic record.
The ministry said it will continue developing its digital verification, monitoring and data-sharing systems to make checks faster and more accurate, while strengthening coordination with relevant authorities.
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