Employer Of Record in United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates Country Facts

The United Arab Emirates is a country in Western Asia located on the Arabian Peninsula, with ports on the Persian Gulf. It’s an elective monarchy that’s formed with the federation of seven emirates. Arabic is the official language of the country, and the official religion is Islam.

The country has an economy that’s literally fueled by natural gas and oil, but has come to be diverse with technology, education, infrastructure and healthcare.

The Economy

The economy of the UAE has exploded in the last 50 years. Economic growth in this time has been monumental. Growth for the average real GDP was nearly 4% between the years of 2000 and 2018. Since the country gained independence in 1971, its economy grew almost 231 times, reaching 1.45 trillion AED in 2013.

The country has the seventh-largest oil deposits in the world. But, there’s also been significant investment from foreign entities that have fueled high-tech industries, tourism and infrastructure.

The Importance of Small and Medium-sized Companies

Small -and medium-sized companies (SMEs) are extremely important in the UAE. In fact, more than 94% of all companies that operate in the country fall under the category of SMEs. This includes 76% in the retail and wholesale sector, 16% in services and 11% in industries. Overall, SMEs employ more than 86% of the total workforce and contribute more than 60% to the GDP.

Population Characteristics

The UAE has a population of just less than 10 million people, with a majority (88.52%) being immigrants. The country has a high migration rate of 21.71, which is the largest in the world. It’s very difficult to gain citizenship in the UAE, which contributes to this rate.

The population is very diverse ethnically. The largest nationalities are Indian (25%), Pakistani (12%), Emirati (9%), Bangladeshi (7%) and Filipino (5%). Much of the population (88%) lives in urban areas. It also has the highest life expectancy (76.7 years) of any Arab country.

There’s a gender imbalance in the population, with a male-to-female ratio of 2.2 males for every one female. This is the second-highest ratio in the world.

Economic Opportunities

The UAE government is always seeking to attract outside investment into the country. While it has stringent rules on visas, they don’t tax personal income — leading many people to want to come to the country to work. They’ve also invested heavily in IT infrastructure and other programs to rank them on the world scale.

Key Sectors of the National Economy

Oil and gas are the main industries in the UAE. They have the seventh-largest oil deposits in the world. Butit’s not all about energy. Non-oil trade in the country has grown roughly 28 times between 1981 and 2012, as the country has invested in attracting companies in many other industries.

Human Talent
Students studying in a field that falls under STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) are mostly women in the UAE. This bucks a major trend around the world. In the UAE, almost 80% of all computer science students are female. In engineering, roughly 44.5% of students are female, again above most other developed countries.

Masdar City in Abu Dhabi

In the city of Abu Dhabi is a planned city project called Masdar City. The government helped provide seed money for the project. The city relies completely on renewable energy and solar energy resources. It will be the host of the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Technological Ecosystem

The UAE has a good ICT infrastructure. The country has pumped money into technology, hoping to attract new high-tech companies to the region.

Facilities for Foreign Investment

The UAE is hyper-focused on foreign investment and makes it very easy for foreigners to do business there. The World Bank Group, in fact, ranks the country as the 26th best to do business with. It’s also a great country for talented workers, as they don’t have a system of personal income tax

Business Culture in United Arab Emirates

Business in the UAE is all centered around respect. Remember that it is also an Islamic country, making the culture much more conservative than some other places in the U.S. or Europe

• Weekends Change
  Weekends there fall on Friday and Saturday rather than Saturday and Sunday.
• Make Friends
  It’s key to establish personal relationships in business dealings there. Also, understand that Emiratis often understand western culture more than other foreigners who live and operate there.
• Small Talk
  Be prepared to engage in socializing and small talk, even during important times of important meetings.

United Arab Emirates Gastronomy: regional and traditional cuisines

The cuisine in the UAE is based on three staples — meat, fish and rice.

Much of the country’s cuisine is based on foreigners who brought food from their countries, such as Pakistan, Oman, India, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

In terms of meat, the people there prefer to eat mutton and lamb, to beef and goat.

General Highlights

What you need to know about employing personal in United Arab Emirates:

Laws and Agencies that regulate labor relationships

Key Tax and Labor Authorities

Labor Contracts (Examples input)

Basic Requirements

Labor law dictates contracts must contain:

• Date that employment is to start
• Place and nature of the job
• Length of the contract
• Salary amount
• Date contract will end

Payroll

Workers employed on a monthly or annual basis have to be paid once a month at least. All others must be paid at least every two weeks. All payment must be made in local currency (AED).

• Paid time off
• Vacation leave
• Maternity leave
• Pilgrimage leave
• Mandatory health insurance for all employees, spouses and dependents (in Dubai and Abu Dhabi)

Employers Contribution or Labor Cost
Employers are subject to taxes and other costs for having employees. Employers cannot recover these costs..

Annual Taxable Income
The United Arab Emirates doesn’t impose an income tax on any individuals.

Corporate Tax Rates
Corporate tax is only levied on foreign banks and oil companies. There are also 45 free zones within the coun- try. Additionally, businesses registered here can be exempted from all taxes for a certain period of time.

Types of Disabilities

There is no statutory leave in the United Arab Emirates, other than maternity and paternity leave.

Maternity Leave
Maternity leave will be increased to 60 days under the country’s new labor law. Of this, 45 days will be given as full pay, with 15 days at half pay. Employees are now also entitled to paid maternity leave for new-born deaths and stillborn babies. If women suffer an illness related to their pregnancy, they are now also entitled to 45 more days of leave.

Fathers can take five days of paid leave in the six months that follow the birth of a child.

Public Holidays

Termination

The Labor Code outlines rules for termination of an employment contract:

Other forms of compensation upon termination include
Severance (gratuity) pay grades are based on the following table: