The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has set June 30, 2026 as the final deadline for UAE private sector employers to raise all existing Emirati employee contracts to a minimum basic salary of AED 6,000 per month. After this date, any Emirati employee paid below this threshold will be excluded from your Emiratisation quota count — triggering automatic non-compliance and a suspension of all new work permit processing for your company.
What changed and why it matters now
Emiratisation — the UAE government's programme to increase Emirati participation in the private sector — has been progressively tightened since 2022. Companies with 50 or more employees have been subject to binding annual targets for several years. In 2024, those obligations were extended to smaller businesses in 14 designated priority sectors with headcounts of 20 to 49 employees.
The salary threshold is the newest enforcement lever. The MoHRE has concluded that some employers were meeting their quota numbers on paper by hiring Emiratis at artificially low salaries, which undermined the policy's intent to create genuinely sustainable private sector careers for UAE nationals.
The AED 6,000 minimum is the government's response. It does not apply only to new hires from July 2026 onwards. It applies retroactively to every Emirati currently employed in your business. Every contract below the threshold must be amended before June 30.
Basic salary versus total package: the distinction that catches employers out
This is the single most common misunderstanding we see across our HR client base. The AED 6,000 minimum applies strictly to basic salary as recorded on the MoHRE employment contract — not to total remuneration.
Housing allowances, transport allowances, annual bonuses, meal allowances, and any other package components are entirely excluded from the calculation. An Emirati employee whose monthly package totals AED 9,000 but whose basic salary is AED 3,500 does not meet the AED 6,000 requirement.
We have seen three separate clients this month who believed their Emirati staff were compliant because total compensation exceeded AED 6,000. Every one of them needed contract amendments. Check the basic salary line on the MoHRE contract — that is the only number that matters.
What happens if you miss the June 30 deadline
The consequences are automatic and immediate. They do not require an MoHRE inspection or formal notice. The system flags non-compliance and applies restrictions without human intervention.
Your Emirati employees stop counting toward your quota
Any Emirati employee paid below AED 6,000 basic after June 30 is automatically excluded from your Emiratisation quota calculation. If that exclusion causes your company to fall below its mandatory quota, you are immediately non-compliant.
New work permit processing is suspended
Non-compliant companies lose the ability to process new work permits through the MoHRE portal. This affects not just Emirati hires — it freezes permit processing for all new employees of any nationality until compliance is restored. For a growing business, this can halt all hiring activity.
Annual quota fines apply on top
If the salary non-compliance causes your quota count to fall short of your annual target, the standard Emiratisation fine of AED 108,000 per unfulfilled position applies for companies with 20 to 49 employees. For companies with 50 or more employees, non-compliance fines escalate to AED 9,000 per month per unfulfilled position.
Which companies are affected
The AED 6,000 minimum salary requirement applies to all private sector companies that employ Emirati nationals under MoHRE-registered employment contracts. This includes:
- All companies with 50 or more employees that are subject to Emiratisation quotas across all sectors.
- Companies with 20 to 49 employees operating in the 14 designated priority sectors.
- Any company that voluntarily employs Emiratis and registers them on the MoHRE portal, regardless of headcount or sector, because the registered employee must meet the salary threshold to be counted.
The 14 designated priority sectors
If your company has 20 to 49 employees and operates in any of these sectors, Emiratisation quotas apply to you and the AED 6,000 salary threshold is mandatory:
- Information and communications technology
- Financial services and insurance
- Real estate
- Retail trade
- Education
- Healthcare
- Food and hospitality
- Construction and engineering
- Manufacturing
- Transport and logistics
- Business services and consultancy
- Media and creative industries
- Beauty and personal care
- Renewable energy and environment
Step-by-step: what to do before June 30, 2026
Step 1 — Audit every Emirati employment contract
Pull every MoHRE-registered employment contract for Emirati staff and check the basic salary line specifically. Do not rely on payroll records that show total compensation. The MoHRE system reads only the basic salary field on the registered contract.
Step 2 — Calculate the gap for each employee
For every Emirati employee with a basic salary below AED 6,000, calculate the required increase. Determine whether the increase will come entirely from raising basic salary, or whether you will restructure the package by converting existing allowances into basic salary components.
Note: restructuring a package to shift allowances into basic salary without increasing total compensation is permitted, but the amended contract must accurately reflect the new basic salary figure and must be re-registered on the MoHRE portal.
Step 3 — Prepare contract addenda
Draft a formal contract addendum for each affected employee confirming the revised basic salary, the effective date, and any corresponding changes to allowances or total package. Both parties must sign the addendum before it can be submitted to MoHRE.
Step 4 — Update contracts on the MoHRE portal
Log into the MoHRE employer portal (mohre.gov.ae) and update each affected employment contract with the revised basic salary. The update must be formally registered — a signed paper addendum without portal registration does not satisfy the compliance requirement.
Step 5 — Verify WPS reflects the updated salary
The Wages Protection System will flag discrepancies between registered contract salaries and actual payments. After updating the MoHRE contract, ensure that the first payroll run on or after the effective date pays the new basic salary figure. WPS non-compliance carries its own separate enforcement consequences.
Our HR and PRO team has processed Emiratisation contract updates for over 80 UAE businesses this year. We audit every contract, prepare the addenda, and update the MoHRE portal on your behalf — typically completed within five working days.
Book a free HR compliance call →How the Nafis program can offset the cost
The salary increase obligation is real, but the Nafis program — the UAE government's Emirati employment support initiative, extended until 2040 in April 2026 — exists specifically to reduce the net cost of employing Emirati nationals in the private sector.
Registered Nafis employers receive:
- Salary support subsidies — a monthly government contribution toward Emirati employee salaries, scaled by salary level and sector. For employees at or near the AED 6,000 threshold, this can cover a meaningful portion of the increase.
- Pension contribution relief— the government contributes toward GPSSA pension obligations for eligible Emirati employees, reducing the employer's statutory contribution burden.
- Training subsidies — funding for upskilling and professional development programmes for Emirati staff, with approved providers listed on the Nafis platform.
Nafis registration is free and completed through the Nafis platform (nafis.gov.ae). If your company employs Emiratis and is not yet registered on Nafis, this is a separate compliance and cost-saving action that should be completed immediately alongside the salary update process.
The crackdown on fake Emiratisation — what it means for your business
The MoHRE's enforcement posture in 2026 has shifted significantly from previous years. Inspections are more frequent, data-sharing between the MoHRE, FTA, and ICP systems means cross-referencing employment records is automated, and the government has publicly committed to zero tolerance for "ghost employment" — where Emiratis are registered as employees but perform no genuine work.
Companies found to have registered Emirati employees who do not hold genuine roles face criminal referrals under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021, with fines up to AED 100,000 and potential imprisonment for responsible parties. The salary threshold enforcement is partly designed to make ghost employment less viable — a meaningless role is harder to justify at AED 6,000 basic.
The practical implication for compliant businesses is positive: genuine Emirati employment is becoming a clearer competitive signal, and companies that build real career structures for Emirati staff gain access to better Nafis benefits and improved standing in government tender processes.
Frequently asked questions
The minimum monthly basic salary for Emirati employees in the UAE private sector is AED 6,000. All existing Emirati employment contracts must be updated to reflect this minimum by June 30, 2026. After this date, any Emirati paid below AED 6,000 basic will not count toward Emiratisation quotas.
After June 30, 2026, Emirati employees paid below AED 6,000 basic salary will be excluded from your Emiratisation quota count. This triggers automatic non-compliance, resulting in suspension of all new work permit processing for your company through the MoHRE portal.
The AED 6,000 minimum applies strictly to basic salary as recorded on the MoHRE employment contract. Housing allowances, transport allowances, bonuses, and all other package components do not count. An employee earning AED 8,000 total but AED 4,000 basic does not meet the requirement.
Companies with 20 to 49 employees in 14 designated priority sectors that fail their Emiratisation quota face an automatic fine of AED 108,000 per unfulfilled position, payable in January of the following year. This is separate from work permit suspension penalties triggered by the salary threshold breach.
Yes. The Nafis program provides salary support subsidies, pension contribution relief, and training grants to private sector employers hiring Emirati nationals. Eligible companies can receive government contributions that significantly reduce the net overhead of meeting Emiratisation salary requirements.
The 14 designated priority sectors include: ICT, financial services, real estate, retail, education, healthcare, food and hospitality, construction, manufacturing, transport, business services, media, beauty and personal care, and renewable energy.
The bottom line
June 30, 2026 is a hard deadline with automatic consequences. There is no grace period, no appeals process, and no warning notice before the work permit suspension triggers. The action required is straightforward — audit your Emirati contracts, identify every basic salary below AED 6,000, prepare addenda, and update the MoHRE portal before the end of the month.
The Nafis program is available to offset a meaningful portion of the cost increase for most businesses. Registering for Nafis and claiming available subsidies should be done in parallel with the contract update process, not after.
If you are unsure how many of your Emirati employees are below the threshold, or whether your business falls within the 14 designated sectors for the 20–49 employee quota, a 15-minute call with our HR team will give you a definitive answer and a clear action plan before the deadline.
