WPS in the UAE: the SIF file, deadlines and penalties explained

What the Wage Protection System is

The Wage Protection System is an electronic salary transfer system developed by the Central Bank of the UAE. It lets the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) build a database of wage payments in the private sector and check that every employer pays in full and on time. The official UAE government portal describes it plainly: salaries of private sector employees are transferred through banks, exchange houses or financial institutions authorised by the Central Bank to provide the service.

For an employer this means one thing in practice. You cannot simply wire salaries from your company account and consider the job done. The payment has to travel through a WPS agent, together with a file that tells the system who was paid, how much, and for which month. That file is the SIF.

Salaries may be paid in UAE dirhams, or in another currency if both parties agree it in the employment contract. The WPS file itself, however, carries amounts in AED, as the bank guide quoted below makes clear.

The salary due date since June 2026

MOHRE issued Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026 on the Wage Protection System on 12 May 2026. It took effect on 1 June 2026 and replaced Ministerial Resolution No. 598 of 2022. Under the old rules, an employer was treated as late only if wages were not paid within 15 days of the due date. That grace period is gone.

According to the u.ae portal, which now cites Resolution 340 directly:

• salaries for the previous month are due on the first day of each Gregorian month;
• employers must transfer at least 85% of total wages due to their employees on time, which leaves room for lawful deductions;
• gradual measures against late establishments start from the second day after the due date.

If your company used to run payroll around the 10th or the 15th of the month, your calendar has to move. The simplest fix is to close attendance and variable pay a few working days before month end, so the file can go to the bank before the 1st.

What MOHRE does when salaries are late

The u.ae portal publishes the full escalation table from Resolution 340. Here it is in a condensed form. The day counts run from the due date.

The high-risk sectors named in the resolution are construction, transport and storage, security services, cleaning services, recruitment agencies and domestic worker recruitment offices. The portal adds that the day 21 measures can apply regardless of size where there is a risk to the stability of the labour market.

Who is excluded from WPS

Some workers and employers sit outside WPS compliance. The u.ae list, supplied by MOHRE, includes:

• workers who filed a wage complaint that was referred to the courts;
• workers reported absent under a work abandonment report;
• workers whose freedom is restricted by an order or judgment, for that period, once MOHRE is notified;
• workers on unpaid leave, provided supporting documents are submitted to MOHRE;
• seafarers on vessels, on the establishment's request;
• foreign workers of foreign establishments or their UAE branches who are paid outside the UAE, on request and with the workers' approval;
• holders of mission work permits of up to three months.

Among employers, Emiratis owning fishing boats or public taxis, banks and financial institutions, and houses of worship are excluded.

Unpaid leave is the case that trips up small teams most often. If someone is on unpaid leave and you have not documented it with MOHRE, the system simply sees a missing salary.

The SIF file, line by line

The Salary Information File is a plain text file in comma separated values, one record per line, with no header row. Dubai Islamic Bank publishes the Ministry of Labour standard format in its WPS guide, and other banks use the same record layout. A file that does not follow the format is rejected in its entirety, so small details matter.

EDR: one line per employee

EVP: optional breakdown of variable pay

The EVP line repeats the employee ID and agent routing code, then splits variable pay into housing, conveyance, medical, annual passage, overtime, all other allowances and leave encashment. Whether your bank expects EVP lines depends on the bank.

SCR: the control line

The SCR line carries the employer's unique ID from MOHRE (13 to 35 characters), the 9 digit routing code of the employer's bank, the file creation date and time (HHMM), the salary month, the number of EDR lines, the total salary, the currency (AED) and an optional reference of up to 35 characters. Two rules cause most rejections:

• the total salary must equal the sum of all fixed and variable components in the EDR lines, to the fils;
• the salary month must match the month in every EDR start and end date, or the whole file is rejected.

Here is the sample from the bank guide:

EDR,00915012345663,802420101,AE160240043520123456701,2016-01-01,2016-01-31,31,4000.00,2500.00,0
EVP,00915012345663,802420101,500.00,200.00,300.00,0.00,400.00,1100.00,0.00
SCR,0000000123456,802420101,2016-01-26,1130,012016,01,6500.00,AED,abc company only 35 characters

The same guide sets the file name: the employer's unique ID followed by the creation date as YYMMDD and the time as HHMMSS, with the extension .SIF. Some banks also ask you to encrypt the file with their own tool before upload.

One point where sources disagree: the bank sample puts the SCR line last, while some payroll vendors put it first. Follow the order your bank accepts.

A monthly routine that keeps you on time

1. Freeze master data early. Check new joiners have their MOHRE person code, and that every IBAN is 23 characters and starts with AE.
2. Close attendance and unpaid leave a few days before month end, so field 10 in each EDR line is right.
3. Split mid-month joiners and leavers correctly. An EDR line cannot span two months; use the actual start or end date inside the month.
4. Reconcile the SCR total against your payroll register before you upload.
5. Upload before the 1st and keep the bank's acknowledgement with the payroll run.
6. Document exclusions such as unpaid leave or absconding reports with MOHRE, so the system does not flag them as missing salaries.

Our free WPS SIF checker reads a file and flags the common problems: totals that do not add up, salary months that do not match, invalid IBAN lengths and missing leading zeros. If the month includes Ramadan or unpaid leave, the Ramadan working hours tool and the annual leave calculator help you get the inputs right.

Where HR software fits

Most WPS problems are data problems: a missing person code, a stale IBAN, unpaid leave nobody recorded. That is why it helps to produce the SIF from the same system that holds attendance and leave. HR FLARE runs payroll in AED and other Gulf currencies and exports a WPS SIF file for your bank, with an Arabic right to left interface for your team. It is free for up to 5 employees. Data is hosted in Europe, which is worth knowing if your company has a data residency policy. See pricing for larger teams.

If you pay end of service at the same time, read our guide to UAE gratuity under Decree-Law 33 of 2021, or check the numbers with the gratuity calculator. Teams with staff in Saudi Arabia should also read Mudad and WPS in Saudi Arabia.