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United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a country in the Middle East region bordered by Oman and Saudi Arabia. Dubai is the countryâs most populous city and is considered a major international hub with many digital nomads choosing to work in Dubai. Ever since oil was discovered in the area in 1958, the country has had rapid growth in infrastructure, healthcare, and technology, and a tourism industry that sees over 20 million tourists visiting Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Only fixed term contracts are available in UAE - with a maximum duration of 5 years.
No âC-levelâ titles (CEO, CFO etc.)
The maximum amount of working hours is 8 hours per day, 48 hours per week. Work hours are reduced to 6 hours per day during Ramadan. If an employee works beyond the maximum of 48 hours, they will be paid overtime as follows:
There is no minimum salary stipulated in the UAE Labour Law, but salaries must cover the basic needs of the employees. Â The average is around AED 5,000 per month.
Employers cannot deduct any fees associated with relocation (visa/repatriation expenses, etc). Any deductions due to employee misconduct should not exceed 5 daysâ wages.
Probation can be a maximum of 6 months. The typical probation period lasts 3 months. During probation, notice for both the employer and employee is 14 days, unless specified.
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There are no taxes applicable to the employee's salary.
However, employees are required to sign up for Unemployment Insurance (approximately 60 AED). They must organize and pay for this fee directly through a government portal.
There are no taxes applicable for the employer to contribute to.
However, employers must provide mandatory medical insurance; costs for these vary according to the plan chosen and the employeeâs age and gender.
Employees are entitled to 30 days of leave (minimum 22 working days). The employee is entitled to this once they have completed probation (though this is at the discretion of the employer and 99% of the time employees take annual leave during this time).
At the end of the year, unused leave can be paid out in salary. Alternatively, 5 days of annual leave can be carried over to the next calendar year, but needs to be used before March 31st. By mutual agreement, more days can be rolled over, though the government will only guarantee 5 days.
Employees are entitled to 15 days of sick leave with full pay, 30 days with half pay, and 45 days unpaid.
Female employees are entitled to 45 days of paid maternity leave and 15 days with half pay.
New fathers in the UAE are entitled to five working days of paternity leave with full pay, which they can choose to take consecutively or at any time during the first six months after the birth of the child.
There are 13 public holidays in 2023 (some days are dependent on the moon). If an employee needs to work on a holiday, they should be paid 1.5X their hourly rate.
See this list for public holidays in UAE.
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Companies typically provide the following benefits in UAE:
As the employer, it is mandatory to provide medical insurance in the UAE. Medical insurance costs vary according to the plan chosen and the employeeâs age and gender.
The minimum notice period after probation is 30 days which can be extended up to 3 months. Extensions are typically given to employees in senior level roles.
Payment in lieu of notice is possible. During probation, the notice is 14 days.
Gratuity: A mandatory gratuity must be paid to employees when they are offboarded, if they have been employed for 12 months or longer.
The gratuity amount varies according to the years of service:
Severance: If an employee is terminated unlawfully, they may raise a case and be entitled to 3 months' salary by the courts.
Leave: Any unused leave should be paid out to the employee in their final salary.
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â Â 12.5% - Social Security
You've sourced a full-time employee or contractor located in a country where your company is not incorporated.
Pass us the details of your candidate and we will let you know exactly what it costs to employ your candidate in that country.
Sit back and relax as we onboard your new team member and take care of all the local compliances and admin work.
It can be prohibitively expensive to establish an entity in every country you want to hire talent in, so Remofirst will hire and pay your employee on your behalf while you manage their daily duties. Remofirst will handle formal HR procedures and employment contracts that adhere to local laws, so that you can simply approve invoices via our platform. When you work with an Employer of Record (EOR) you can compliantly hire the best employees around the world.
Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off)Â as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.
