Gibson Watts Global: PEO & EOR Services

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES PEO & EOR

Hire in the UAE without a local entity today

As a Global PEO & EOR service provider, we pride ourselves on our global reach, in-country knowledge, and ability to swiftly and efficiently mobilize workers around the world. Our robust PEO/EOR covers everything from global HR, payroll, compliance, in-country support, immigration, visas, and more.

Get started and hire in United Arab Emirates today with Gibson Watts Global.

DID YOU KNOW
  • Before the discovery of oil in the mid-20th century, the UAE’s economy was primarily built around the fishing and pearl industries
  • Dubai is home to the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, standing at an astonishing 2717 feet
  • The ‘Dubai Metro’ is the world’s longest driverless metro system in the world, and is valued at around $7.6bn

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES PEO Services

Career opportunities and a high standard of living

Working in UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Employment Information

The UAE is a tax-free nation. Employees can benefit from taking their salaries home without having to pay any income tax on their earnings, and there are no taxes for employers in the country. Employers must cover all visa-related expenses of their foreign workers, and they must pay for the medical insurance of each employee.

Despite these costs for employers, the country’s tax policy still makes it an extremely financially lucrative and beneficial venture for growing businesses.

  • Private sector employees are required to work 8 hours per day or 48 hours per week.
  • Public Sector employees work four and a half-day. Mon-Thurs 8 hours and work 4.5 hours on Friday.
  • Article 17 of the UAE Labour Law identifies the normal working hours for the private sector as 8 hours per day or 48 hours per week.
  • The working hours may be increased to 9 hours a day for businesses, hotels and cafes after approval from MOHRE.
  • The Labour Law does not govern government entities and they operate for 8 hours daily.
  • Working for more than 8 hours a day is prohibited in arduous or unhealthy works and industries.
  • Normal working hours are reduced by two hours daily during the holy month of Ramadan.
  • An overtime is considered if the nature of job demands working beyond normal working hours and it will entitle the employee for a pay equal to normal working hours’ remuneration plus 25 per cent of that pay. It could increase to 50 percent if overtime is done between 10pm and 4am.

Financial Year dates: 1st January – 31st December

Minimum wage: There is no minimum wage law

Social contributions: Under Decree Law 57 of 2023, the new contribution rate of 26%. Employees contributing 11% and Employees 15%. The government contributes 2.5% on behalf of anyone with salaries under Dh20,000

Income Tax: The UAE doesn’t apply income tax on individuals earning. Instead, it applies a 5% VAT on the purchase of goods and services. Along with an exercise tax applied to certain product that are deemed to be harmful to either human health or the environment.

Public Healthcare: UAE benefits from a comprehensive healthcare system funded by the government. It is important to note that cover differs between each emirate. General cover includes basic healthcare, emergencies, maternity and essential vaccinations. In areas like Abu Dhabi and Dubai it is compulsory for residents regardless of their employment status to have healthcare insurance. Healthcare Insurance is required to get a visa.

Employee Leave

Employees are entitled to an annual leave of:

  • 2 days per month, if they have completed six months of service, but not one year
  • 30 days, if they have completed one year of service.

Sunday is officially the weekend for all workers, however if the company allows, this can also include saturday. If circumstances require an employee to work overtime on that day, they will be entitled for regular working hours’ pay, plus an increase of not less than 50 per cent of that amount.

Sick Leave

An employee is entitled to a sick leave of not more than 90 days per year, only after a period of three months’ continuous service following the probation period.

The 90 days sick leave can be continuous or intermittent, and the salary is paid as follows:

  • full pay for the first 15 days
  • half pay for the next 30 days
  • no pay for the rest 45 days.

Maternity leave:

Female employees are entitled to 60 days’ leave, made up of 45 days’ full pay, and 15 days’ half-pay.

Public Holidays:

  • New Year’s Day
  • Eid al-Fitr
  • Day of Arafat
  • Eid Al-Adha
  • Islamic New Year
  • Mawlid
  • UAE National Day

Emiratisation

“Emiratisation” refers to the employment of UAE citizens, and is currently one of the UAE government’s highest priorities. The Emirati Human Resources Competitiveness Council (‘Nafis’) applies national incentives to businesses within the private sector with the goal to increase Emiratisation. The council aims to get 75,000 citizens into the private sector over the next five years. 

The council’s policy covers 14 industry sectors including healthcare; finance and insurance; real estate; and education. Since 2022, the council has enforced targets for companies with 50 or more employees, requiring 1% of their workforce to be an Emirati Citizen at each 6-month interval. The goal is for a 2% increase annually, and to reach 10% by December 2026. For companies with 20-49 employees, the council has enforced a requirement of at least one Emirati, increasing to two in 2025.  

If companies do not comply with the Emiratisation requirements, then a large fine is enforced. In 2024, the penalty for non-compliance was AED 96,000, which will increase to AED 108,000 in 2025. Repeated violations can result in fines of up to AED 500,000.  

Cultural Information

The UAE’s populace includes a range of religions including Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity, with Islam being the most common religious group. The country also speaks a variety of languages including Arabic, English and Hindi. Arabic is the native language of the UAE, however English is the most commonly spoken.

Employees in the UAE will benefit from Muslim Holidays including Eid and Ramadan, getting to enjoy public holidays around the celebrations.

Impacts from COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a massive shift in remote workers coming to the UAE. There has been a steady incline of people, particularly in the Technology and Finance sector, who have shown interest to work in Dubai remotely for their international companies, and an Employer of Record or UAE PEO model is best suited for them.

Since the pandemic, a lot of UAE companies have altered their business plans to go fully remote and have seen no effect to business operations. The UAE is now the leading country in the Middle East for remote workers.

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