All UAE private sector businesses with 50 or more employees must now have 2% of their professional positions filled by Emiratis. Recently, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization (MoHRE) declared that it had fined businesses that had not achieved their goals for 2022.
According to a statement released by the government on Saturday, corporations must make “financial contributions” of AED72,000 for each Emirati who is not appointed by 2022. According to Khaleej Times, MoHRE said that non-compliant institutions will be required to pay the fine in a single installment.
MoHRE outlined the steps the organization would take if the establishment didn’t pay the fines in a ministerial resolution:
– On the deadline, the establishment will be put under e-follow-up to ensure it pays its assessed contributions on time.
– The day after the deadline, MoHRE may postpone the granting and renewal of work permits for the establishment, informing the employer of the reason for the suspension.
– Three days after the due date, on the third, tenth, and seventeenth, MoHRE shall send notices and reminders to the non-compliant establishment, encouraging it to hire citizens and pay the assessed contributions.
– Two months after the deadline, MoHRE shall, while taking into account the unity of partners, suspend the issuance and renewal of work permits for any solitary establishments or businesses held wholly by the owner of the breaching establishment.
– If an enterprise does not comply with the necessary Emiratisation rates for two years in a row, the establishment will be relegated to Category (3).
How to calculate Emiratization rates
According to Saif Al Suwaidi, MoHRE’s undersecretary for Emiratisation affairs, enterprises must now aim to increase their Emiratisation rate by 4% by the end of 2023 to avoid penalties at the start of 2024. Up to 2026, the amount of the monthly penalty would gradually rise at a pace of AED1,000 every year.
By the end of 2026, the Emiratisation Rate is expected to reach 10%. The resolution states that the ratio of the entire number of UAE citizens employed in the firm to the total number of skilled workers should be used to compute the Emiratisation percentage.
