Cost of Employment in UAE

Presently there are NO employer taxes in the UAE. However, the costs you need to take into account include:

Item	Cost	Comments
Work Permit	Employee – USD 5,750 Each dependent – USD 3,500	The cost includes lawyers cost, govt. fees, and disbursement (translations, notarisations, etc)
Private Medical Insurance	Basic – USD 1,250/year (est.) Higher – EUR 4-5K/Year (est.)
Gratuity / End of Service Benefit (‘EOSB’)	Under 1yr => No EOSB Above 1yr, under 5yrs => 21 days for each year Above 5yrs => 30 days for each year above the first 5	Allowances are not included in the calculation of the EOSB
Annual Leave	30 calendar days/year
Flights	See comments	If a foreign employee is terminated, the employer is required to pay his/her return flight ticket to their home country

6. Given the calibre of professionals one maybe looking to hire, it is recommended that you include the following elements:
7. Flights: Arrival and return; and 1 roundtrip flight for every 12 months of service
8. Housing allowance: probably between AED 8-18K/month, depending on the size of the household. Comment: a deposit/upfront payment is not uncommon, and the employer is typically expected to advance this on account of the housing allowance.
9. Transportation allowance: between AED 5-10K for the mid-high level employees (decent family-sized car). The Top senior people/executives, and professionals who travel frequently outside the city would need a 4x4 car, which would cost between AED 10-20K/month.
10. Childcare/school fees – only for the very senior people, cost depends on age of kids, rough estimate between USD 15-25/year per kid.
11. One-off relocation bonus – not everyone pays it, but the companies who do, typically pay between USD 4-8K

 Allowances vs Base Pay

Allowances do not count towards employees’ EOSB, so we recommend to specifically separate between Salary and Allowances.

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