Abu Dhabi: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) on Tuesday announced the expansion of its Emiratisation programme in the private sector.
The new plan will now include companies and individual establishments employing between 20 and 49 workers.
This requirement applies to private companies in 14 sectors including real estate, education, construction and healthcare.
They will be required to hire at least one UAE national in 2024 and another in 2025.
Companies that fail to hire a UAE national in 2024 will be fined Dirhams 96,000.
Those that fail to employ two Emiratis by the end of 2025 will incur a penalty of Dirhams 108,000.
14 sectors affected by the new ruling are
- Information and communications
- Financial and insurance activities
- Property
- Professional and technical activities
- Administrative and support services
- Arts and entertainment
- Mining and quarrying
- Transformative industries
- Education
- Healthcare and social work
- Construction
- Wholesale and retail
- Transportation and warehousing
- Hospitality and residency services
Earlier, only private sector companies with 50 employees or more needed to meet targets on hiring UAE citizens.
What is Emiratisation?
Emiratisation is an initiative launched by the UAE government to increase the employment of UAE nationals in the private sector (free zone companies are exempt).
It was announced in February that companies are required to increase the percentage of Emirati employees by 1 percent every six months.
Employers were required to hit a target of 4 percent by the end of the year, increasing to 6 percent by the end of 2024, 8 percent the following year, and 10 percent by the end of 2026.
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