End-of-service pay across the Gulf: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain compared (2026)

Allowances such as housing and transport are left out, so the split between basic pay and allowances in the contract sets the gratuity. Employers on the mainland and in free zones can instead join MoHRE's voluntary Savings Scheme, paying 5.83% of monthly basic salary for staff with under five years' service and 8.33% after. In the DIFC, monthly contributions at the same rates to a Qualifying Scheme such as DEWS are mandatory for service from 1 February 2020. UAE nationals receive a pension instead of a gratuity. See the UAE end-of-service gratuity page.

The wage is the actual wage, which counts allowances, commissions and benefits in kind, not basic pay alone. An employee who resigns gets nothing under two years, one third from two to five years, two thirds after more than five but less than ten years, and the full award from ten years (Article 85). It is due within one week of the end of employment, or two weeks if the employee ended the contract (Article 88). See the Saudi end-of-service award page.

Three weeks is the legal minimum, so a contract can give more. The employer may deduct sums the worker owes it. An employer that runs a retirement scheme giving the worker more than the gratuity does not have to pay both. The gratuity is paid with the other final dues by the end of the working day after the contract ends, or within seven days if the worker left without giving notice (Article 67). Qatari nationals are covered by the Social Insurance Law No. 1 of 2022, while expatriates receive the gratuity. See the Qatar end-of-service gratuity page.

Staff paid by the day, week, hour or piece earn 10 days' wage a year for five years and 15 days after, capped at a year's wage. The no-deduction rule comes from Law No. 85 of 2017, applied back to 2010 by Law No. 17 of 2018. Loans the employee owes can still be deducted. An employee who resigns from an open-ended contract gets nothing under three years, half from three to five years, two thirds from five to ten years and the full amount from ten years (Article 53). See the Kuwait end-of-service indemnity page.

Once the savings system starts, the employer pays 9% of each non-Omani worker's monthly basic wage to the Social Protection Fund instead, and the savings system replaces the gratuity. Gratuity for service before the start date is still owed, either paid to the worker when service ends or settled into the savings system. Employers must register non-Omani workers in the system within 30 days of their joining work. See the Oman page.

The award is half a month's wage for each of the first three years and a month's wage for each later year, on the last wage and capped at the contributions paid. The wage is the contractual wage plus any increases and the social allowance. Service before 1 March 2024 is still settled by the employer under Article 116 of the Labour Law, which uses the same half month and full month formula. GCC nationals covered by the unified GCC insurance extension scheme are outside this system. See the Bahrain end-of-service page.

How we worked it out: to set the formulas side by side we treat 30 days as one month's wage, although each law has its own rule for a daily rate. UAE: 5 × 21 + 3 × 30 = 195 days of basic pay, or 6.5 months × 6,000 = 39,000, well under the two-year cap. Saudi Arabia: 5 × 0.5 + 3 × 1 = 5.5 months, on the actual wage, assuming the allowances count as wage, so 5.5 × 10,000 = 55,000. Qatar: the minimum of 8 × 21 = 168 days of basic pay, or 5.6 × 6,000 = 33,600. Kuwait: 5 × 15 + 3 × 30 = 165 days, or 5.5 months of a wage that includes periodic allowances, so 55,000. Oman: 8 years × one month's basic pay, reading one basic wage as one month for a monthly-paid worker, so 48,000. Bahrain: 3 × 0.5 + 5 × 1 = 6.5 months of the wage Decision No. 109 defines, which is 65,000 if the whole 10,000 counts. If the same employee resigned instead, the UAE figure would not change, while Saudi Arabia and Kuwait would each pay two thirds: 36,667 (our arithmetic, rounded). The amounts are in each country's own currency, so compare months of pay, not totals.

Where allowances are a large part of pay, the Saudi and Kuwaiti formulas usually produce more, because they are applied to a wider wage. Where pay is mostly basic, Oman's one basic wage a year stays ahead of the UAE and Qatar at every length of service on the same basic pay, and the UAE overtakes Qatar's three-week minimum after five years, when it moves to 30 days a year. Caps matter for long service: the UAE caps the gratuity at two years' wage and Kuwait at one and a half years' wage, while Saudi Article 84 sets none. Resignation matters too: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait cut the payment for shorter service, the UAE does not. Timing differs as well. Bahrain and the DIFC collect the money monthly, and Oman will from no later than 19 July 2027, while the rest leave a lump sum to be paid at the end. Our worked example above shows one case, not a ranking.