# GCC HR & Payroll Compliance Hub (2026) — UAE & Saudi

UAE and Saudi employers face eleven recurring statutory obligations across two regulators and six government platforms. This hub lists each one — the authority, the deadline and what changed in 2026 — starting with the most consequential change: under Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026, UAE wages are now due on the 1st and the 15-day grace period no longer exists.

## Key facts

- **UAE wage due date:** 1st of the following Gregorian month
- **UAE WPS compliance threshold:** 85% of total wages cleared by the due date
- **Governing WPS instrument:** Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026
- **Emiratisation target 2026:** 10% cumulative; 2% added per year
- **Emiratisation shortfall cost:** AED 9,000 per month per unfilled role
- **UAE gratuity basis:** 21 days' basic salary per year, 30 after five years
- **Saudi platforms:** GOSI, Qiwa, Mudad, Muqeem
- **Last verified:** 12 August 2026

## What changed in 2026

- Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026 came into force on 1 June 2026, repealing Ministerial Resolution No. 598 of 2022 and replacing the UAE wage payment framework entirely.
- The 15-day grace period for UAE wage payment has been abolished — wages for the preceding Gregorian month are due on the 1st day of the month.
- The WPS compliance threshold rose from 80% to 85% of total wages, and each individual worker must also receive at least 85% of their own wages.
- Enforcement now escalates from day 2 rather than after 60 days, with new work permits frozen from day 5 and criminal referral possible from day 21.
- Emiratisation reached its final annual step toward the 10% cumulative target, with 1% due by 30 June 2026 and a further 1% by 31 December 2026.
- The monthly shortfall contribution for employers with 50 or more skilled staff stands at AED 9,000 per unfilled Emirati role — the highest since the programme began.

## How the UAE and Saudi compliance systems interlock

**UAE chain: MOHRE → Wage Protection System (WPS) → Salary Information File (SIF) → bank submission.**

The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) operates the Wage Protection System (WPS), the UAE's mandatory electronic salary-transfer system. Each pay cycle, the employer generates a Salary Information File (SIF), a fixed-format file carrying every employee's wage components. The SIF is submitted through an approved bank, exchange house or payroll card provider, which validates the file and clears the transfer. MOHRE then reconciles the cleared transfers against its own employee records, so a rejected or late SIF registers as a WPS breach at the regulator, not merely a delayed payment.

**KSA chain: Qiwa → General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) → Mudad → Nitaqat.**

Qiwa, the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources platform, authenticates the employment contract that establishes a worker's wage and role. The General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) then calculates contributions on a contributory wage drawn from that contract. Mudad, Saudi Arabia's wage protection platform, compares the wage actually paid against the contracted wage in Qiwa and the contributory wage in GOSI, and flags any divergence between the three. Nitaqat, the Saudization banding system, grades the establishment using the same underlying headcount and wage data, and a falling band restricts the employer's ability to hire or transfer staff.

## UAE compliance obligations

| Obligation | Authority / instrument | Deadline or cadence | What NeuralHR.AI automates |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WPS wage transfer | MOHRE — Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026 | 1st of the following month; 85% of total wages must clear | Generates the Salary Information File natively and prepares it to clear by the 1st |
| End-of-service gratuity | Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 | On every exit | Calculates from service length and contract type and shows the calculation basis |
| Emiratisation ratio | MOHRE — Cabinet Decision No. 18 of 2022; Cabinet Resolution No. 95 of 2022 | 1% by 30 June, 1% by 31 December; 10% cumulative by end-2026 | Tracks the Emirati share of skilled headcount continuously and surfaces the gap before each deadline |
| Nafis registration | Emirati Human Resources Competitiveness Council | On each Emirati hire | Flags Emirati hires that are not yet registered and therefore may not count toward quota |
| Work permits and labour cards | MOHRE | On hire, renewal and cancellation | Tracks expiry dates and raises renewal tasks ahead of lapse |
| Employee visa and Emirates ID | ICP / GDRFA | Per employee renewal cycle | Holds visa, Emirates ID and passport expiry per employee and escalates before lapse |
| Annual leave accrual | Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 | Continuous | Applies accrual and carry-over rules automatically so balances do not drift |
| Free zone regimes (DIFC / ADGM) | DIFC Employment Law No. 2 of 2019; ADGM Employment Regulations | Continuous | Holds mainland and free zone entities in one tenant, including DIFC DEWS contributions |

## Saudi Arabia compliance obligations

| Obligation | Authority / platform | Deadline or cadence | What NeuralHR.AI automates |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| GOSI contributions | General Organization for Social Insurance | Monthly, with registration on hire and deregistration on exit | Calculates contributions on the correct contributory wage by nationality and prepares the monthly filing |
| Wage protection filing | Mudad | Monthly | Files wage data generated from the same payroll run as GOSI, so the two cannot diverge |
| Employment contract authentication | Qiwa | On hire and on material change | Keeps contract data aligned with payroll and GOSI records to avoid audit divergence |
| Saudization / Nitaqat band | Ministry of Human Resources — Nitaqat | Continuous, assessed relative to sector and size peers | Tracks the Saudization ratio in real time and warns before a band change restricts permits |
| Iqama and residency | Muqeem | Per employee renewal cycle | Holds iqama expiry per employee and raises renewal tasks before lapse |
| End-of-service award | Saudi Labour Law | On every exit | Applies the 15/30-day formula and the resignation sliding scale, including Hijri dating |

Saudi payroll maintains several parallel wage bases — the GOSI contributory wage, the Mudad filed wage and the end-of-service wage are defined differently. Divergence between them is the most common audit finding, which is why all three should be generated from one payroll run rather than reconciled afterwards.

## Six-country compliance dataset

Every row below was verified against the named authority on the stated date. Where a country has no hard published figure, the row states the position qualitatively and names the authority rather than asserting a number.

### Wage protection systems

| Country | System & core rule | Source | Verified |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| UAE | WPS mandatory (Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026, in force 1 June 2026). Wages due on the 1st of the following month; at least 85% of total wages must clear through WPS; the former 15-day grace period is abolished. | MOHRE — mohre.gov.ae; morganlewis.com; deloitte.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Saudi Arabia | Mudad wage protection mandatory. Monthly wage files are reconciled against the Qiwa-authenticated contract wage and the GOSI contributory wage. | HRSD / Mudad — hrsd.gov.sa; mudad.com.sa | 2026-08-22 |
| Qatar | WPS mandatory: wages paid in QAR through a bank in Qatar within 7 days of the due date. Violations carry fines of QAR 2,000–10,000. | Qatar Ministry of Labour — mol.gov.qa; hlbhamt.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Oman | WPS under Ministerial Decision No. 729/2024 (replacing MD 299/2023): wages transferred to accounts at Central Bank of Oman–regulated institutions within 7 days of the due date. | Oman Ministry of Labour — Lexis Middle East; kpmg.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Bahrain | WPS via banks/payment providers licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain; full implementation and enforcement from February 2026. | LMRA — lmra.gov.bh; sovereigngroup.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Kuwait | Wages must be paid through local banks under Labour Law No. 6 of 2010 wage-payment rules supervised by the Public Authority of Manpower. | PAM — manpower.gov.kw | 2026-08-22 |

### Social security regimes

| Country | Authority & employer contribution | Source | Verified |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| UAE | GPSSA pension for Emirati employees: employer contributes 12.5% of salary; registration within one month of the work permit. | GPSSA — gpssa.gov.ae; zoho.com/en-ae/payroll | 2026-08-22 |
| Saudi Arabia | GOSI: Saudis hired before 3 July 2024 — employer 11.75%. Saudis under the new system (hired on/after 3 July 2024) — employer 12.75% from July 2026 (stepping annually). Non-Saudis: employer 2% (occupational hazards). Contributory wage cap SAR 45,000/month. | GOSI — gosi.gov.sa; mercans.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Qatar | GRSIA for Qatari nationals: employer 14%, employee 7% of pensionable salary. | GRSIA — grsia.gov.qa; mercans.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Oman | Social Protection Fund for Omani employees: employer 13.5%, employee 7.5% of basic salary (plus 0.5% each for specified insurance branches). Expat end-of-service savings scheme (9% of basic) mandatory from 19 July 2027. | SPF — spf.gov.om; cms.law; gulfnews.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Bahrain | SIO: Bahraini employees — employer 18% (2026), employee 8%. Expatriates — employer 3%, employee 1%, plus employer EOSB contributions of 4.2% (first 3 years) / 8.4% (thereafter). | SIO — sio.gov.bh; mercans.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Kuwait | PIFSS for Kuwaiti employees: employer 11.5% of monthly salary up to the KWD 2,750 cap; remittance by the 15th of the following month. | PIFSS — pifss.gov.kw; remotepeople.com | 2026-08-22 |

### Gratuity / end-of-service benefit formulas

| Country | Formula | Source | Verified |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| UAE | 21 days of basic pay per year for the first 5 years, 30 days per additional year (Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, Art. 51). DIFC/ADGM operate their own regimes (e.g. DIFC DEWS contributions). | MOHRE — mohre.gov.ae | 2026-08-22 |
| Saudi Arabia | Half a month’s wage per year for the first 5 years, one month per additional year (Labour Law, Art. 84). Settlement within one week of employer-initiated termination, two weeks on resignation. | HRSD — hrsd.gov.sa; kurums.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Qatar | Minimum 3 weeks’ basic wage per year of service, fractions pro-rated (Labour Law No. 14 of 2004). | Qatar MOL — almeezan.qa; hlbhamt.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Oman | EOSB per the Labour Law (Royal Decree No. 53/2023) until the SPF expatriate savings scheme (9% of basic salary, employer-funded) takes over from 19 July 2027. | Oman MOL / SPF — cms.law; gulfnews.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Bahrain | For expatriates, employer-paid gratuity is replaced by monthly SIO contributions (4.2% first 3 years, 8.4% after) under Edict No. 109 of 2023 (effective 1 March 2024); workers claim the accrued benefit from SIO at exit. | SIO — sio.gov.bh; paulhastings.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Kuwait | 15 days’ remuneration per year for the first 5 years and one month per additional year (Labour Law No. 6 of 2010), subject to the statutory cap. | PAM — manpower.gov.kw | 2026-08-22 |

### Nationalisation programmes & quotas

| Country | Programme & current rule | Source | Verified |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| UAE | Emiratisation: employers with 50+ skilled employees add Emiratis at 2% of skilled headcount per year (1% by 30 June, 1% by 31 December) to reach 10% cumulative by end-2026; selected 20–49-employee companies in 14 sectors must hire Emiratis. Shortfall: AED 9,000/month per unfilled role. | MOHRE / Nafis — mohre.gov.ae; nafis.gov.ae | 2026-08-22 |
| Saudi Arabia | Nitaqat bands by sector and size. From 15 April 2026 a Saudi employee counts toward Nitaqat only if the contract is electronically documented and authenticated on Qiwa. | HRSD / Qiwa — hrsd.gov.sa; qiwa.sa | 2026-08-22 |
| Qatar | No general Nitaqat-style private-sector quota programme; Qatarisation initiatives are sector-led. Confirm current policy with the Ministry of Labour. | Qatar MOL — mol.gov.qa | 2026-08-22 |
| Oman | Omanisation quotas by sector set by the Ministry of Labour; SPF enrolment of Omani staff affects quota credits and expatriate work-permit eligibility. | Oman MOL / SPF — middleeastbriefing.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Bahrain | Bahrainisation rates set per sector and size by the LMRA and tied to work-permit issuance. Confirm current rates on the LMRA portal. | LMRA — lmra.gov.bh | 2026-08-22 |
| Kuwait | Kuwaitisation percentages set by decree per sector, administered by the Public Authority of Manpower. Confirm current rates with PAM. | PAM — manpower.gov.kw | 2026-08-22 |

### Statutory leave entitlements

| Country | Annual / sick / maternity | Source | Verified |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| UAE | Annual: 30 calendar days. Sick: up to 90 days/year (15 full pay, 30 half, 45 unpaid). Maternity: 60 days (45 full pay + 15 half). | FDL 33/2021 — mohre.gov.ae; sovereigngroup.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Saudi Arabia | Annual: 21 days, rising to 30 after 5 years’ service. Sick: up to 120 days (30 full pay, 60 at 75%, 30 unpaid). Maternity: 12 weeks under the amended Labour Law. | HRSD — hrsd.gov.sa; ensaantech.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Qatar | Annual: 3 weeks (1–5 years’ service), 4 weeks after 5 years. Maternity: 50 days full pay (with 1 year of service), at least 35 days postnatal. | Labour Law No. 14 of 2004 — almeezan.qa | 2026-08-22 |
| Oman | Annual: 30 days (after 6 months’ service). Maternity: 98 days paid (raised from 50 under RD 53/2023 — the region’s longest). Paternity: 7 days. | RD 53/2023 — pwc.com; lockton.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Bahrain | Annual: 30 days after one year of service. Maternity: 60 days full pay + 15 days unpaid. | Labour Law 36/2012 — hassanradhi.com; hlbhamt.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Kuwait | Annual: 30 days after one year (accessible after 9 months). Maternity: 70 days full pay (up to 30 pre-delivery, 40 post-delivery). | Labour Law No. 6 of 2010 — manpower.gov.kw; hlbhamt.com | 2026-08-22 |

### Key non-compliance consequences

| Country | Penalty highlights | Source | Verified |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| UAE | WPS: escalating enforcement from day 1 (monitoring) to day 21 (asset attachment, travel bans, Public Prosecutor referral); work-permit suspension from day 5. Emiratisation shortfall: AED 9,000/month per unfilled role (~AED 108,000/year). | MOHRE — mohre.gov.ae | 2026-08-22 |
| Saudi Arabia | Mudad/WPS violations draw HRSD fines and service suspensions; low Nitaqat bands block visa and transfer services. Unauthenticated Qiwa contracts stop the employee counting toward Nitaqat (from 15 April 2026). | HRSD — hrsd.gov.sa | 2026-08-22 |
| Qatar | WPS violations: fines QAR 2,000–10,000 and Ministry of Labour service blocks. | Qatar MOL — mol.gov.qa; remotepeople.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Oman | Late SPF contributions: backdated contributions plus monthly penalties; non-enrolment of Omani staff erodes Omanisation quota credits and expat work-permit eligibility. | SPF — spf.gov.om; middleeastbriefing.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Bahrain | WPS enforcement from February 2026; LMRA can withhold or suspend work permits for wage and permit violations. | LMRA — lmra.gov.bh; sovereigngroup.com | 2026-08-22 |
| Kuwait | PAM can suspend employer file services for wage-payment violations; PIFSS late remittance draws statutory penalties. | PAM / PIFSS — manpower.gov.kw; pifss.gov.kw | 2026-08-22 |

## Frequently asked questions

### What are the UAE WPS rules in 2026?

Since 1 June 2026, Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026 governs the Wage Protection System, replacing Ministerial Resolution No. 598 of 2022. Wages for the preceding Gregorian month are due on the 1st day of the month and the former 15-day grace period has been abolished. An establishment is compliant only where at least 85% of total wages due are transferred through WPS by that date, and each individual worker receives at least 85% of their wages, with any shortfall arising only from lawful deductions.

### What happens if a UAE employer pays wages late in 2026?

Enforcement escalates on a published timetable. Electronic monitoring begins on day 1, MOHRE notifications and warnings from day 2, suspension of new work permit issuance from day 5, administrative fines and possible Third Category reclassification from day 11, automatic labour dispute registration and work permit suspension from day 16 for employers with 25 or more workers in sectors such as construction, security and cleaning, and precautionary attachment, travel bans and referral to the Public Prosecutor from day 21.

### What are the Emiratisation targets for 2026?

Private-sector employers with 50 or more skilled employees must increase the Emirati share of skilled roles by 2% each year, split as 1% by 30 June and a further 1% by 31 December, reaching 10% cumulatively by the end of 2026. MOHRE defines a skilled employee as someone holding a university degree or equivalent diploma and earning at least AED 4,000 per month. A shortfall costs AED 9,000 per month for each unfilled Emirati role, roughly AED 108,000 a year per position.

### How is UAE end-of-service gratuity calculated?

Under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, an employee completing one year of continuous service is entitled to 21 days' basic salary for each of the first five years and 30 days' basic salary for each year thereafter, capped at two years' total pay. The calculation uses basic salary only, excluding housing, transport and other allowances. DIFC is the main exception, having replaced gratuity with the DEWS funded workplace savings scheme.

### What are the main Saudi payroll compliance obligations?

Saudi employers must register employees with GOSI and remit social insurance contributions, authenticate employment contracts through Qiwa, file wage data through Mudad for wage protection, and maintain their Nitaqat Saudization band. Contribution rates differ by nationality, and the wage bases used for GOSI, Mudad and end-of-service are not identical — which is why Saudi payroll typically maintains several parallel wage definitions.

### Does one HR system handle both UAE and Saudi compliance?

It can, but most do not. Many platforms treat one country as native and the other as an add-on, which duplicates the employee record and breaks group-level reporting. NeuralHR.AI runs UAE WPS, gratuity and Emiratisation alongside Saudi GOSI, Qiwa, Mudad and Nitaqat in the same tenant, so a group operating in both countries keeps one employee record.

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Canonical page: https://neuralhr.ai/en/gcc-hr-compliance-hub
Last verified: 2026-08-22

Published by NeuralHR.AI — AI-native HR and payroll platform for the UAE, Saudi Arabia and India.