Dubai HR guide: mainland, free zones and DIFC

Mainland or free zone: what the government says

The UAE government portal's page on recruiting in free zones, updated on 28 September 2026, says a free zone employee is generally under the employment rules of that zone's authority, typically aligned with the federal law. The DIFC and ADGM are the exception: they run independent employment frameworks. You request work permits and residence visas from the zone, and your package sets how many you get.

Dubai has a lot of zones to choose from. The dubai.ae list of free zones, last modified in April 2026, names 21 of them, including DMCC, JAFZA, Dubai Airport Free Zone, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai Internet City, Meydan Free Zone and the DIFC. The page gives no total, so 21 is our count of its list. For a small team the useful point is simpler: the zone you pick sets the portal, the visa quota and the fees for every hire.

Each zone publishes its own steps. The sections below show what two of them say today, and you should expect yours to differ in detail.

Visas and cards in two Dubai free zones

DMCC's page on new employee residence visas sets out a sequence. You apply in the member portal under Employment Services, DMCC reviews the request, and Immigration issues the entry permit. The entry permit is valid for 60 days, cannot be renewed and must be cancelled once it expires. Then the contract is signed electronically, the employee completes a medical test and an Emirates ID form, health insurance is uploaded, and Immigration issues the residence visa. A company employment certificate follows. The passport must be valid for more than six months at the time of applying, and a draft request is cancelled after 60 calendar days without action.

JAFZA's guide, published on 29 September 2021, works differently. The company must first hold its licence and a property settlement agreement, then a computer immigration card. The quota depends on the space: an initial 20 visas for a plot of land, 2 per workstation and 5 for a showroom. The residence permit is valid for three years. That guide is almost five years old, so confirm the current rules with JAFZA before you rely on any figure in it.

What about the labour card? Neither page uses that term. DMCC speaks of a company employment certificate and JAFZA of a computer immigration card, and the UAE government page does not mention labour cards either. If your contract or a bank asks for one, ask your zone what it calls the equivalent document.

For a mainland hire, the Dubai residency authority GDRFA lists issuing private sector residence permits among its services. We did not verify the step by step flow for mainland companies, so use the MOHRE and GDRFA portals for the current list of documents.

DIFC: the employment law in practice

The DIFC Employment Law is consolidated as version 5 (July 2025). These are the points a small employer meets first.

• Written contract: it must state the hours, leave, notice and any probation (Article 14). Probation can last up to six months. For a fixed term contract of six months or less it may not exceed half the term.
• Notice: at least 7 days when the employee has under three months of service, 30 days from three months to five years, and 90 days beyond five years (Article 62). The statutory tiers do not apply during probation. The employer may send the employee home for the notice period.
• Pay day: remuneration for a pay period is due within seven days after the period ends (Article 18). Final pay, accrued vacation and any unpaid scheme amounts are due within 14 days after the termination date (Article 19).
• Pay statements: an itemised statement for each pay period, which may be given as electronic access (Article 15).
• Records: kept in English, accessible from your DIFC place of business, and retained until six years after the termination date. Electronic copies are allowed (Article 16).
• Time: an average of 48 hours for each seven day period, unless the employee consents in writing (Article 22). At least 11 hours of rest in each 24 hours and 24 uninterrupted hours in each seven days (Articles 24 and 25).

Ramadan is handled differently from the mainland. DIFC Article 23 says a Muslim employee is not required to work more than six hours a day during Ramadan, with no cut in wage. The UAE government portal says that on the mainland the daily hours are reduced by two hours for Muslim and non-Muslim employees alike. If you employ both kinds of staff in both kinds of licence, you need two Ramadan rules.

Leave is also set in work days, not calendar days. Vacation Leave is 20 work days a year once the employee has been employed for 90 days, and at least five days can always be rolled over (Article 27). Sick leave is 60 work days in a twelve month period, paid at 100% for the first 10 and at 50% for the next 20 (Articles 34 and 35). Maternity leave is up to 65 work days: 33 at full pay and 32 at half pay (Articles 37 and 38). Public holidays announced in the UAE are paid (Article 32).

In HR FLARE a leave request needs a reason, and the manager decides in the app. For a DIFC team, that is the record behind the sick leave and vacation entries that Article 16 asks you to keep.

DEWS and the Qualifying Scheme instead of gratuity

The DIFC page describes DEWS as a funded, professionally managed defined contribution plan that takes over the existing end of service arrangement. The law itself uses the term Qualifying Scheme, which is either the DEWS plan or another scheme that holds a Certificate of Compliance from the DIFC Authority (Article 66).

For each employee who is not an Exempted Employee, the employer pays into the scheme every month at least 5.83% of the monthly basic wage for the first five years of service and 8.33% for each additional year. The employer must register the employee within two months of the commencement date, and may defer contributions during probation. On a basic wage of AED 20,000, the first five years cost at least AED 1,166 a month. Basic wage counts as at least 50% of the monthly wage for this purpose.

Two details matter for a small team. First, service before 1 February 2020 still earns the older gratuity: 21 days of basic wage per year for the first five years, then 30 days per year, with a cap of two years of wage. Second, UAE and GCC nationals who are registered with the pension authority (GPSSA) get no gratuity. If the employer's pension contribution is lower than the plan would have paid, the employer tops it up when the difference is AED 1,000 a month or more (Articles 65 and 66).

Non compliance carries a fine of up to USD 2,000 per contravention for each employee (Schedule 2). The mainland gratuity formula is different, so the UAE gratuity calculator does not apply to DIFC service after the scheme start date. HR FLARE does not calculate scheme contributions: they are worked out and paid through the plan.

Health insurance in Dubai

Dubai adds a local rule on top of the federal one. The dubai.ae health insurance page, last modified in April 2026, says employers in Dubai, including those in free zones, are responsible for providing health insurance to their employees under Law No. 11 of 2013. It says sponsors must extend cover to dependants such as spouses, children and domestic workers. The DIFC Employment Law has its own line: failing to provide the cover required by applicable law can be fined up to USD 2,000 (Article 56 and Schedule 2).

In practice the policy is part of the visa file: DMCC asks for a copy of the health insurance with the medical test. The dubai.ae page does not give premiums or minimum benefits, so we do not state any. HR FLARE does not manage policies: they come from your insurer.

The Dubai government week is not your week

Dubai government employees work Monday to Thursday from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm, and on Friday from 7:30 am to 12:00 pm, according to the Dubai Government Human Resources Department (DGHR) FAQ on the new weekly work system. Friday is an official workday of four and a half hours, and entities must keep to at least 36.5 hours a week. Annual leave taken on a Friday counts as a full day. Entities may keep flexible attendance between 6:30 and 8:30 am and may allow remote work.

This is a rule for government entities. A private company is not bound by it: the UAE government portal sets 8 hours a day or 48 a week for the private sector and leaves the weekend to the contract. It is still worth knowing if your clients are government entities, because their Friday ends at noon.

DGHR also announces seasonal arrangements. For Ramadan 2025 it allowed up to three flexible hours, as long as employees completed 5.5 hours from Monday to Thursday and three hours on Friday, with remote work up to two days a week. That was the 2025 notice: we did not find the 2026 one, so check the current announcement before you copy it for your own team.

HR FLARE lets each person plan their own schedule, with no manager assigned rota, which suits a team that mixes government facing days with a different weekend.

Emiratisation: check your headcount

The UAE government portal's page on employing Emiratis in the private sector, updated on 12 August 2026, sets two groups. Companies with 50 or more workers must raise the share of Emiratis in skilled jobs by 2% a year, aiming for a 10% rise by 2026. Companies with 20 to 49 workers in 14 listed sectors had to hire at least one Emirati by the end of 2024 and one more by the end of 2025. The sectors are information and communications, finance and insurance, real estate, professional and technical activities, administrative services, education, healthcare, arts and entertainment, mining, manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail, transport and warehousing, and hospitality.

For the smaller group the page lists contributions of AED 96,000 in January 2025 for one Emirati not hired in 2024 and AED 108,000 in January 2026 for two not hired in 2025. The page does not state a current rate for larger firms in the text we read, so check the latest notice on the MOHRE site. It names no duty below 20 workers and does not say whether free zone companies are covered. Ask MOHRE or your zone if you are near the line.

Paying salaries

The federal rules on the Wage Protection System and the 15 day line are the same in every emirate, and the Sharjah guide walks through them. What is specific to Dubai is the DIFC pay day: seven days after the period ends, with the final payment inside 14 days of the termination date. We did not verify whether a DIFC employer needs a WPS file for its bank, so ask your bank before you assume either way.

Run the file through the free WPS SIF checker first. Inside HR FLARE you get the monthly payroll record and payslips. Money moves through your bank, and there is no tax calculation.

A yearly checklist for a Dubai team

• Licence: write down which regime each employee falls under, mainland, named free zone or DIFC.
• Visa and entry permit: for DMCC, the 60 day entry permit window, and the residence permit expiry for each person.
• Health insurance: a policy for every employee, in the visa file.
• DIFC staff: scheme contributions each month, registration inside two months and a six year records habit.
• Emiratisation: headcount against the 20 and 50 worker lines before the year end.
• Ramadan: the mainland two hour cut and the DIFC six hour limit, in the schedule before the month starts.
• Summer: no outdoor work in direct sun from 12:30 to 3 pm between 15 June and 15 September.
• Exit: DIFC final pay inside 14 days, and the residence visa cancelled within 30 days of the termination date.

What HR FLARE does not do

• No portal connection: visas, entry permits and the WPS upload happen in the MOHRE, GDRFA or free zone portal and your bank.
• No scheme calculation: DIFC contributions are worked out and paid through the plan.
• No tax calculation: payroll holds the numbers you enter.
• No insurance management: health policies come from your insurer.
• Data location: data is hosted in Europe; in-country hosting is not available.