1. The change in the Middle East
Since China’s accession, the Gulf has split into apostille destinations and legalisation destinations, with two states operating both routes.
2. The apostille destinations
Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.
3. The legalisation destinations
Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon.
4. The dual regimes
Oman: commercial and customs documents legalised, civil documents apostilled.
The UAE: apostilles for many documents, legalisation for certain commercial categories.
5. What this means for the exporter
A single regional procedure no longer works.
Each Gulf state needs its own line in the procedure.
6. The translation requirement
Arabic, and it is not optional anywhere in the region.
7. The commercial office
Iraq’s commercial office handles certification.
8. A scenario
An exporter serving five Gulf markets maintained one procedure, developed when the whole region required legalisation.
Two of the five now accept apostilles. Continuing the old procedure added three weeks to shipments that did not need it.
9. Closing view
The Gulf moved from uniform to mixed.
The procedure has to move with it.
*This article is based on the Apostille Convention status table and China’s consular authentication regulations, updated October 2026.*