Remote Working Legislation, Laws & Regulations in UAE

The UAE is a federal state comprising seven emirates with multiple free zones within such emirates and a multi-layered legal system that includes federal laws and regulations, emirate- level laws and regulations and free zone rules and regulations. Areas of the UAE outside of designated geographical free zones are typically referred to as “onshore”.

Broadly speaking, the UAE employment regime is split into three distinct jurisdictions based on geography within the UAE. The federal employment regime under the UAE Labour Law (Decree-Law No. 33/2021 as amended) and its implementing regulations (Cabinet Decision No. 1/2022) applies onshore in the UAE across the seven emirates and their non-financial free zones. The DIFC Employment Law (DIFC Law No. 2 of 2019 as amended) applies in the Dubai International Financial Centre financial free zone (DIFC) and the ADGM Employment Regulations 2024 apply in the Abu Dhabi Global Market financial free zone (ADGM).

The UAE employment law regime also distinguishes between the private and the public sector. This Expert Guide to Remote Working in the UAE focuses on the private sector.

While there is no standalone piece of legislation addressing remote working, each of the UAE Labour Law, the DIFC Employment Law and the ADGM Employment Regulations recognise remote working.

Under the UAE Labour Law, remote working is defined as work where “All or part of the work is performed outside the workplace, with electronic communication between the worker and the employer in lieu of physical presence, whether the work is part-time or full-time.”

The DIFC Employment Law does not contain a standalone definition of remote work or remote employee, however, Article 43(4) recognises the concept of an employee being “required or permitted to work from home” and provides for specific exemptions from certain employer obligations under the DIFC Employment Law in that respect. 

The ADGM Employment Regulations define a “Remote Employee” as an individual “(a) who resides either inside or outside of the UAE; and (b) whose normal place of work is not the Employer’s premises in the ADGM.” The ADGM Employment Regulations also contemplate hybrid working arrangements whereby the employee regularly works at the employer’s premises in addition to other locations agreed by the employer.

In each case, remote working is a recognised work pattern and must be implemented through the employment contract. 

The UAE Labour Law and the DIFC Employment Law each require the employment contract to state the employee’s place of work while the ADGM Employment Regulations require the employment contract to include the employee’s place of work or, if applicable, confirmation that the employee is a remote employee/has a hybrid working pattern. 

The applicable employment laws do not provide a general standalone right for an employer to unilaterally force remote working or reverse a contractually agreed remote working pattern in ordinary circumstances. Any variation to the contractually agreed work pattern would usually be considered a material change of terms and require the written agreement of the employee.

However, the implementing regulations to the UAE Labour Law provide that in extraordinary emergency cases determined by a Cabinet decision, appropriate work mechanisms may be applied, including remote work. This provision was introduced following the Covid-19 pandemic when extraordinary measures and compulsory work from home mandates were issued. There have also been more recent examples where relevant UAE authorities have advised that remote working be implemented by employers on a temporary basis to ensure health and safety of employees e.g. in response to extreme weather warnings or war. 

A general right to “force” an employer to allow remote work does not appear in any of the applicable private sector employment legislation. The determination of whether an employee works remotely is a matter of mutual agreement between the parties, as reflected in the employment contract. 

In respect of employees falling under the UAE Labour Law, the Remote Work Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) state that the employer must provide the technical services, electronic devices, and tools essential for the employee to perform duties efficiently. 

The ADGM Employment Regulations expressly provide that where a remote work pattern has been agreed, the employer shall provide the employee with, and maintain, the technical equipment which is necessary for the employee to carry out the remote work. However, this obligation may be varied if the employer and employee agree otherwise.

The DIFC Employment Law does not contain a specific provision requiring an employer to provide office equipment and supplies to an employee working from home, although it is common practice to do so and an employer has a general obligation to enable employees to perform their duties.

There are no statutory provisions specifically mandating the reimbursement of remote working expenses. Accordingly, this matter shall be determined through mutual agreement in the contract or in accordance with the employer’s expenses policies and procedures.

The applicable employment laws do not provide for any specific “working from home allowance”. Accordingly, any such allowance would only be payable where it is contractually agreed between the parties in the relevant employment contract or employer policies.

Under the UAE Labour Law, employers must provide the necessary means of prevention to protect workers from occupational injuries and diseases, provide guidance and awareness materials, provide appropriate training, and periodically evaluate compliance with occupational health and safety requirements. The MOHRE Remote Work Guidelines make it clear that remote employees shall generally enjoy the same rights and be subject to the same obligations as their on-site counterparts and that this extends to the provision of a safe working environment by the employer.

Under the ADGM Employment Regulations, the employer’s general duty to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all its employees continues to apply to remote employees. However, for remote employees (whether residing inside or outside the UAE), specific physical workplace obligations, including in respect of ventilation, temperature, lighting, cleanliness, room dimensions, workstations, sanitary conveniences and drinking water, do not apply. In addition, for remote employees who do not reside or perform work in the UAE, employers are relieved of their obligations to provide information, instruction, training and supervision on health and safety. 

Similar to the ADGM position, under the DIFC Employment Law, an employer has a general duty to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all its employees. This duty continues to apply to employees working from home. However, where an employee is required or permitted to work from home, specific workplace health and safety obligations do not apply to the employer, including those relating to fire hazard and dangerous substances systems, safe access to and from the workplace, ventilation, temperature, lighting, cleanliness, room dimensions and space, workstations and seating, sanitary conveniences, and drinking water. The employer’s duties to provide health and safety information, instruction, training and supervision and to inform each employee of the dangers connected with the employment remain applicable. 

Employers are required to comply with those statutory obligations which apply equally for remote employees, including in relation to the timely payment of remuneration, observation of maximum daily and weekly working hours, provision of leaves, maintenance of employment records etc. 

In respect of DIFC entities that are regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) (Regulated Entities), the DFSA issued a letter in April 2022 to Senior Executive Officers of DFSA-regulated entities regarding remote working (the DFSA Letter). The DFSA Letter sets out the DFSA’s expectations in relation to remote and hybrid working arrangements for: (i) persons licensed to carry on financial services as defined in the DFSA Rulebook; (ii) registered auditors specified under the DFSA Rulebook; and (iii) Designated Non‑Financial Businesses and Professions as defined in the DFSA Rulebook operating within the DIFC. 

The DFSA expects Regulated Entities to put policies and procedures in place where they wish to permit hybrid working, and to be able to explain to the DFSA, upon request, how and why the Regulated Entity reached the conclusions set out in its policies.

In particular, the DFSA expects that: (i) hybrid working policies and procedures should be commensurate with the nature, scale and complexity of the Regulated Entity’s activities; (ii) there should be no material reduction in control and oversight of staff and their activities under any hybrid working arrangement, and where any reduction occurs, additional controls and risk mitigants should be applied; (iii) hybrid working arrangements must be consistent with DIFC employment visa requirements; (iv) any financial services must be provided “in or from” the DIFC as required by applicable law; (v) the “mind and management” of the Regulated Entity should remain in the DIFC, meaning that senior management should spend the clear majority of their time in the DIFC; and (vi) all cyber security risks associated with hybrid working must be identified and addressed prior to implementation.

There are no incremental statutory insurance obligations on employers by reason of an employee working from home.

The provision of health insurance is a general mandatory employer obligation across the UAE, there is no exemption for employees working remotely in the UAE and coverage should be provided on a parity basis with any other office based employees.

Onshore employers are also required to issue a Workers’ Protection Insurance policy in respect of all of its employees (whether office based or remote working) and all onshore employees are also required to enrol in the national Involuntary Loss of Employment insurance scheme (ILOE).

The general work-injury regimes apply where the accident or illness is sufficiently connected with the performance of work, whether that is on or off company premises. 

The UAE Labour Law defines a “Work Injury” to include an occupational disease or any other injury arising during or because of the worker’s performance of work.

Neither the ADGM Employment Regulations nor the DIFC Employment Law vary employer’s work place injury obligations or liability for remote workers so the usual provisions shall apply also to remote workers, including potential claims for compensatory damages where the employee suffers accident or illness as a result of the employer’s negligence.

In each case, remuneration is required to be specified in the employment contract, wages must be paid as agreed and on due dates, with deductions from remuneration permitted only in the statutory cases and within the statutory limits. 

While an employee’s remote work status may be taken into consideration by an employer when making an offer of employment, the amount will be subject to agreement between the parties and employers should avoid arbitrary or inconsistent reductions in remuneration (e.g. making offers for remote workers doing identical roles at lower pay without justification).

Once agreed, remuneration cannot be unilaterally reduced by the employer to reflect any additional deemed cost savings, including in response to changing work patterns. 

In each case, the general duties of employees apply to remote employees equally. These include (among other things) performing employment duties with reasonable diligence and care, complying with the employer’s lawful and reasonable instructions, taking reasonable care of the employer’s property and returning it following termination, serving the employer faithfully, and not disclosing the employer’s confidential information except in the proper course of employment duties, as authorised by the employer, or as required by law.

The UAE has implemented the Virtual Working Programme (Virtual Work Visa), which allows foreign nationals employed by overseas companies to reside in the UAE while performing their work remotely. This programme enables eligible individuals of any nationality to obtain a renewable residence visa (typically for a one‑year period) without the need for a UAE-based employer sponsor. The visa also provides access to essential services within the UAE, including housing, utilities, schooling for dependants, and the ability to sponsor family members.

Eligibility for the Virtual Work Visa generally requires applicants to (i) be employed by a non-UAE company under a contract of at least one year; (ii) demonstrate that their role can be performed remotely; and (iii) meet a minimum salary threshold (currently USD 3,500 per month or equivalent). Importantly, while the programme facilitates residence in the UAE, it does not permit individuals to work for UAE-based employers, and the underlying employment relationship must remain with a foreign company.

In October 2025 the ADGM established a framework for the issuance of Temporary Work Permits for Non-Employees (i.e. persons who perform work or provide services for an ADGM Entity without an employment contract) who are engaged for a period of at least 30 days in any 12-month rolling period. Temporary Work Permits can be issued for validity periods of 3, 6 or 12 months and may be renewed. In order to be granted a Temporary Work Permit, the individual, if not a UAE or GCC national, must hold a valid UAE residence visa which is valid for longer than the requested duration of the Temporary Work Permit.

Remote work abroad means that the employee performs work outside the UAE while remaining employed by an employer entity in the relevant UAE jurisdiction.

The UAE employment regulatory regimes do not address remote working from outside the UAE in any substantive way. While the various items of legislation recognise homeworking in a limited context, they are largely silent on cross-border remote working arrangements. Accordingly, employers must manage the risks associated with overseas remote work (such as immigration compliance, tax exposure and potential application of foreign employment laws) through internal policies and contractual arrangements rather than relying on any UAE statutory framework.

Subject to the disapplication of certain provisions (see below), the relevant UAE employment law frameworks will generally continue to govern the employment relationship where an individual remains employed under a relevant UAE/DIFC/ADGM law employment contract. In particular, the provisions relating to agreed work patterns and employment contracts, working hours, rest periods, overtime, wages, leave, health and safety, work-related injuries, termination, and workplace savings/end-of-service gratuity entitlements generally remain applicable. Employers will need to take advice on the extent to which local employment law would also mandatorily apply in the relevant host jurisdiction and manage any risks of “double counting”, conflicting provisions or additional obligations.

In each case, under the applicable laws, UAE employers are not generally required to provide health insurance for employees that are based outside of the UAE and are not sponsored by the employer for UAE residence visa purposes.

The DIFC Employment Law also provides for health and safety obligation carve-outs in respect of employees “required or permitted to work from home” regardless of location (i.e. in or outside of the UAE). In addition to employment law considerations, DFSA Regulated Entities must assess compliance with the DFSA’s “in or from” test, including the requirement that staff providing financial services should primarily be based in or from the DIFC, and the “mind and management” requirement when permitting employees to work remotely from abroad.

The ADGM Employment Regulations disapply certain provisions relating to visas and permits, health and safety duties, specific physical workplace requirements, and health insurance for Remote Employees who do not reside in and do not perform work in the UAE. 

Additionally, the employer’s obligations under law to provide a repatriation flight on termination of employment does not apply to remote employees who do not reside in and do not perform work in the UAE. 

Different employer obligations apply with respect to social security depending on the relevant employment jurisdiction in the UAE and the nationality of the employee.

All UAE employers must register UAE national employees with the General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) (or in the case of Abu Dhabi based employers, the Abu Dhabi Pension Fund (ADPF)) and make mandatory pensions contributions in respect of such UAE employees on a monthly basis. The UAE Pensions and Social Security Law does not make any exemption in respect of employees of UAE companies based outside the UAE so this obligation applies equally to such UAE national employees working remotely. A cross-border framework applies in respect of GCC nationals working in GCC countries and UAE established employers are also required to register GCC nationals with the relevant local social security authority.

Under the UAE Labour Law and the ADGM Employment Regulations foreign (non-GCC national) employees are entitled to an end of service gratuity (EOSG) payment upon termination, calculated by reference to their length of service and their final basic salary amount, provided they have completed a minimum of one year’s service. The UAE Labour Law does not make any distinction on workplace location of the employee so, if the remote working employee is employed under a MOHRE UAE Labour Law governed employment contract, they will be entitled to EOSG in the same way. 

In addition and as noted above, while not drawing a distinction in respect of remote workers working abroad, MOHRE Remote Work Guidelines states that remote employees should have Workers’ Protection Insurance and ILOE insurance on the same basis as other employees. 

The ADGM Employment Regulations also do not distinguish between employees working locally or remotely for EOSG purposes, although they do allow an employer to offer the employee an alternative option of participating in a pension or savings scheme in place of EOSG.

In the DIFC employers are obliged to make minimum monthly contributions to the DIFC Employee Workplace Savings scheme (DEWS), or an alternative qualifying scheme, in respect of each employee that is not an Exempt Employee (as defined by the DIFC Employment Regulations). Exempt Employees include secondees, certain government employees, employees registered with the GPSSA , equity partners of the employer and those exempted by the President of the DIFC. Employees working outside of the UAE/DIFC are not automatically considered exempt but applications can be made on an annual basis to seek exemptions where the employer is under a statutory duty in another country to make pension, retirement, saving or any substantially similar contributions into a scheme in such other country in respect of a remote working employee, or where the employer company is paying defined benefits to an employee under a group scheme where the defined benefits are in excess of minimum contributions mandated by the DIFC Employment Law and provided the group scheme is available in 4 or more countries.

If the remote work is performed abroad, the employer should separately assess whether host-country social security or mandatory insurance rules apply.

There is currently no income tax applicable to individuals in the UAE. Short-term remote work abroad, including before or after a holiday, should nevertheless be reviewed under the tax laws of the country where the work is physically performed, including employee residence, day-count thresholds, wage withholding or payroll obligations, treaty relief, social security, permanent establishment and corporate-tax risk.

Residence and work-permit status should be checked before approving any remote-working arrangement. All non-GCC nationals require a UAE residence visa to be able to reside and work in the UAE. Typically, an employee will be sponsored by their employer for residence visa purposes, but it is also possible for an employee to have a self-sponsored visa (e.g. a golden visa subject to qualification criteria) or be under the sponsorship of a family member under a dependant visa, in which case a no object certificate would be required from such sponsor permitting the individual to work in the UAE.  In all cases, an employer may not recruit or employ a worker, except after obtaining an appropriate work permit from the relevant issuing authority overseeing the location in which the employer operates (e.g. MOHRE, ADGM, DIFC). 

Work permit and residence visa costs are for the employer’s account and must not be charged to or deducted from an employee’s remuneration, including in the event of termination. Availability and requirements in relation to work permits and residence visas may vary based on the nationality, skill/experience and medical fitness of the applicant (the visa application process includes a mandatory medical assessment).

UAE residence visa and work permit requirements are not applicable to employees who work remotely outside of the UAE. However, in such case the employer should assess the employee’s legal right to work in the host country.

The UAE appears to be continuing to expand options for remote and digital workers as part of its wider strategy to attract global talent. Measures such as the Virtual Work Visa and related flexible residency pathways show a clear intention to make the UAE an attractive base for internationally mobile professionals, entrepreneurs and other digital workers, while maintaining the relevant immigration and regulatory controls.