UAE Unemployment Insurance Scheme registration deadline extended by three months

Authorities say system enhances quality of life for workers across the labour market

The UAE has introduced a new programme that means people who lose their job can receive a basic cash payment each month. All photos: Getty Images

If an employee loses their job they will receive a monthly payment of 60 per cent of their salary, up to Dh20,000.

Domestic workers, anyone working on temporary contracts, under 18s and retirees are exempt from the new policy.

The monthly payment while unemployed is to help people pay their basic living costs.

If the terminated employee does not find another job after a certain amount of time, the financial support will stop.

UAE authorities have extended the time given to employees to sign up to the national Unemployment Insurance Scheme.

The deadline was previously the end of June with fines being issued from July 1.

Fines will now be issued only to people not registered for the service from October 1, a circular from the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has said.

The ministry said more than 4.6 million subscribers have registered in the scheme so far.

"The remarkable success that the Unemployment Insurance Scheme has achieved since it went into effect in January 2023 reflects the notable awareness among beneficiaries and members of the community as a whole about the advantages in terms of providing a social safety net, as well as enhancing quality of life for workers across the labour market,” said the statement.

Responsibility for registration is to up each employee.

Fines for failing to sign up before the updated deadline are set at Dh400 ($108).

The scheme covers workers from the federal and private sectors, including UAE citizens and residents.

Exempt are people who own the company at which they work, domestic staff, temporary contract workers, under 18s and retirees who receive a pension but have since started working again.

The nominal subscription fee does not exceed Dh5 per month for workers earning basic monthly salaries of Dh16,000 or less, nor Dh10 per month for workers earning more than Dh16,000.

Workers also have the right to subscribe to additional insurance benefits.

The ministry called on employees who have not yet registered in the scheme to do so before the new deadline so as to not incur fines.

Subscription can be completed through the website www.iloe.ae.

To be eligible for compensation in the case of job loss, the insured person must have been registered in the scheme for a period of no less than 12 consecutive months.

They must also submit an application requesting compensation within a period of 30 days from leaving work, provided their employment was not terminated for disciplinary reasons, they have not resigned, or the compensation request was not found to be fraudulent.

Compensations payments are then suspended from the date the worker begins a new job or leaves the country.