Probation, notice and resigning in the UAE

Your contract and the MOHRE offer letter

Every private-sector contract in the UAE is for a fixed term and can be renewed. The law as it now stands sets no maximum length (u.ae (opens in a new window)). Before your work permit is issued you get an offer letter through MOHRE, which the visa process uses. The contract you sign should carry the same terms, so compare the two before you resign at home.

Check these in the offer, because they decide what happens when you leave:

• The probation period: the law allows at most 6 months.
• The notice period after probation: at least 30 days and at most 90.
• Any non-compete clause, and what it stops you doing.
• How the package splits into basic salary and allowances: your gratuity is worked out on basic pay only.

Our offer review flags a probation or notice period the law doesn't allow and a low basic share. Your employer may not keep your passport or other official documents, whatever the contract says.

Before you resign at home, check the offer is registered: the MOHRE offer letter check. Then compare it with the MOHRE labour contract you sign.

Probation, and leaving during it

Probation can last up to 6 months from your first day. You serve only one probation with each employer, and it counts as service, for your gratuity among other things. If your employer ends your job during probation, it must tell you in writing 14 days ahead.

If you want to leave during probation, the notice depends on where you go next:

1. 1

   To another employer in the UAE

   Give 1 month's notice in writing. Your new employer pays your first employer's recruitment costs, unless you agreed otherwise.
2. 2

   Out of the UAE

   Give 14 days' notice in writing. If you come back on a new work permit within 3 months, the new employer pays your first employer's compensation.
3. 3

   Without the notice

   The side that breaks these rules pays the other the wage for the notice period. A foreign worker who leaves without following them can be refused a new work permit for 1 year.

Notice after probation, and pay in lieu

After probation, either side can end the contract with written notice. It must be at least 30 days and no more than 90 days, and your contract sets the number. You're paid in full during your notice.

You and your employer can agree to waive the notice or shorten it. If one side skips it without agreement, that side pays the other the wage for the whole notice, or what's left of it, at your last wage. So you can leave earlier than your notice, but you either agree it or pay for it.

• When your employer gives you notice, you may take 1 unpaid day a week to look for work, telling your employer which day at least 3 days ahead.
• Notice given while you're on leave starts the day after you come back.
• You can quit without notice if your employer breaks the contract, after telling MOHRE 14 working days ahead.
• Your employer can dismiss you without notice only for the reasons the law lists, such as absence without a valid reason on more than 20 separate days in a year or more than 7 days in a row.
• If you're dismissed because you filed a serious complaint with MOHRE, or a court case against your employer that is proved valid, the dismissal is unlawful: a court can award up to 3 months' wage, on top of your notice pay and gratuity.

Resigning doesn't reduce your gratuity: the same formula applies whether you resign or are let go. See how gratuity is worked out. For leave you haven't taken, see working hours and leave.

Is there still a labour ban?

Not an automatic one. A new work permit is refused for 1 year only in a few cases: you quit during probation without giving the notice above, and your employer wasn't at fault; a report that you abandoned your work (often called an absconding case) is proven; or your permit was with a company that existed only on paper.

Even then, some people are exempt: those with skills in demand, people on a visa sponsored by their family, Golden Visa holders, and other groups the Minister sets. To check whether a ban is on your record, call MOHRE on 600590000 or see u.ae's page on the ban (opens in a new window).

Non-compete clauses

Your contract can stop you working for a competitor, or starting a competing business, after you leave. The law caps this at 2 years after the contract ends.

• It doesn't apply if the contract ends during probation, or if your employer caused the contract to end.
• You're released from it if you or your new employer pay the old employer up to 3 months' wage, with its written consent.
• Your old employer must bring a claim within 1 year of finding out about a breach.

What a non-compete is, and when an employer may ask for one

A non-compete clause (the law calls it a non-competition clause) is a term in your employment contract. It says that after the contract ends you won't compete with your employer or work on a competing project in the same sector. An employer can't ask this of everyone. Art. 10(1) of the labour law (opens in a new window) allows it only where your work lets you get to know the employer's clients or gives you access to its work secrets.

Art. 10(1) describes it as a requirement made in the employment contract, so that is where to look for it. If your job gives you neither clients nor secrets, the law's condition for asking isn't met.

What makes a non-compete valid

The clause has to be specific. Art. 10(1) says it must be set out by time, place and type of work, and only “to the extent necessary to protect the legitimate business interests” of the employer. The Executive Regulations (opens in a new window) (Cabinet Resolution 1 of 2022, Art. 12(1)) name the same three things:

• Place: the geographical area the clause covers.
• Time: how long it lasts, which can't be more than 2 years from the day the contract ends.
• Type of work: work whose nature would cause significant harm to the employer's legitimate interests.

When a non-compete doesn't apply

Besides the two ways out further down, the two texts list these cases:

• Your employer ends the contract in breach of the labour law: the clause is then void (Art. 10(2)).
• The reason the contract ended lies with your employer, or with its breach of its duties under the law or the contract (Regulations, Art. 12(3)).
• The contract ends during probation (Regulations, Art. 12(5)).
• Your job is in a professional category that is in demand in the UAE and that a resolution of the Minister names (Regulations, Art. 12(5)). The Regulations themselves don't list any.

Neither text lifts the clause when the reason lies with you. So it can still apply after you resign for reasons of your own, or after a dismissal without notice for one of the reasons the law lists.

How a non-compete can be dropped

1. 1

   By written agreement

   You and your employer can agree in writing that the clause won't apply after the contract ends (Regulations, Art. 12(4)). Ask for this when you sign or when you leave, and keep the signed copy: a spoken promise isn't what the Regulations describe.
2. 2

   By paying compensation

   You or your new employer pay your old employer compensation of no more than 3 months of your wage, as agreed in your last contract (Regulations, Art. 12(5)). The Regulations make this release “subject to the previous employer's written consent”, so get the consent in writing before anyone pays.

If your old employer says you broke it

A dispute that you and your old employer can't settle between you goes to court. There the employer has to prove the damage it says you caused (Regulations, Art. 12(2)). It also has a deadline: under Art. 10(3), its claim isn't heard once 1 year has passed since it discovered the breach.

Neither text says what a court can order beyond that, and we don't have a source we can cite for how the courts have applied these rules, so we don't describe it here. If a claim or a warning letter reaches you, ask a lawyer licensed in the UAE before you answer it.

In the DIFC and the ADGM

Two financial free zones have their own employment law for employers based there: the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC Employment Law (opens in a new window)) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM Employment Regulations (opens in a new window)). Neither text has an article on non-compete clauses, so the limits in this section, which are the federal law's, aren't written in them. If your contract is with an employer in either zone, have the clause read against that zone's rules before you sign.

Before you sign: what to check in a tech job's non-compete

Read the clause itself, not a summary of it, and check these:

• Scope: does it name the type of work you do, or any job at all in the sector? The law asks for the type of work to be specified.
• Length: how long does it last? More than 2 years is over the legal limit, and a shorter period is yours to ask for.
• Place: the UAE, one emirate or a wider region? The clause has to say.
• Which competitors: a named list or a defined sector is easier to check against your next offer than “any competitor”.
• Whether it survives a dismissal: a clause that claims to apply however the job ends goes further than the law, which lifts it in the cases above.
• Your access: does the job give you the employer's clients or its work secrets at all? That is the law's condition for asking.

The scope and the length are open to negotiation, and you can ask for the clause to be left out: see how to negotiate a Dubai job offer. Our offer review reads the clause in your offer against the law: how long it lasts, and whether it is limited in place and type of work.

Job-loss insurance (ILOE)

Unemployment insurance, known as ILOE (Involuntary Loss of Employment), is compulsory for private-sector and federal government employees. Investors, domestic workers, people on temporary contracts, under-18s and pensioners who work are exempt. Whether it's compulsory in the free zones isn't clear, so check with your employer. You subscribe and pay yourself, on the ILOE website (opens in a new window) or app.

If your basic salary is up to AED 16,000 (≈ ₹4.2 lakh) a month, you're in category A and pay AED 5 a month plus VAT. Above that, category B costs AED 10 a month plus VAT.

If you lose your job, it pays 60% of your average basic salary over your last 6 months, up to AED 10,000 (≈ ₹2.6 lakh) a month in category A or AED 20,000 in category B. Each claim pays for at most 3 months, and 12 monthly payments in your whole working life.

• You must have been subscribed for at least 12 months without a break.
• Claim within 30 days of your job ending, while you're in the UAE. The insurer pays within 2 weeks.
• There's no payout if you resign or are dismissed for misconduct.

Not subscribing brings a fine of AED 400 (≈ ₹10,400). If you stop paying for more than 3 months, the policy is cancelled and there's another fine: Khaleej Times reports AED 200, but official pages don't agree on the amount, so check it with ILOE. Khaleej Times also reports that unpaid fines can be taken from your salary or gratuity and block a new work permit. See u.ae's page on the scheme (opens in a new window).

After your last day: final pay, visa and grace period

Your employer must pay your last wage, your gratuity and any other dues within 14 days of the end of your contract. If you live in housing your employer provides, you have 30 days to move out. For every line of that last payment, see final settlement in the UAE.

When the job ends, your employer cancels your work permit and residence visa. A grace period then lets you stay while you find a new job or leave, but the official pages disagree on its length. ICP gives 30 days by default, 90 days for skilled workers at MOHRE skill levels 1 to 3 and property owners, 60 days for permits with a guarantor or host, and 180 days for Golden, Green and Blue residence and their families. GDRFA Dubai's page gives 60 days.

Check your own grace period with GDRFA or ICP before you plan your dates. Once it's over, overstaying costs AED 50 (≈ ₹1,300) a day. See GDRFA Dubai (opens in a new window) and ICP (opens in a new window). With a new job, your next employer applies for your new permit: see the employment visa steps.

Getting help from MOHRE

If your employer doesn't pay you or breaks your contract, complain to MOHRE first: call 80084 (free) or file the complaint online. MOHRE tries to settle it, and it decides claims of up to AED 50,000 (≈ ₹13.0 lakh) itself. Bigger claims go to the labour court. The law bars any claim 2 years after the employment relationship ends (Art. 54(9), as replaced by Federal Decree-Law 9 of 2024), so don't wait.

The steps are on u.ae's labour disputes page (opens in a new window). That page still gives a limit of 1 year: it is the old rule, and the law now says 2 years. See also your rights at work (opens in a new window).

This guide explains the general rules. It isn't legal advice: your contract, a free zone's own law or a recent change can make your case different, so check with MOHRE or the law itself (opens in a new window) before you act.

Sources

1. Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022, the Executive Regulations of the labour law (opens in a new window), MOHRE, 10 October 2026
2. Grace period after a residence permit is cancelled (opens in a new window), ICP, 11 December 2024
3. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on employment relationships, with its amendments (opens in a new window), MOHRE, 10 October 2026
4. Employment Law, DIFC Law No. 2 of 2019 (consolidated version No. 5, July 2025) (opens in a new window), DIFC, 10 October 2026
5. Involuntary Loss of Employment insurance: subscribe, pay and claim (and FAQ) (opens in a new window), ILOE, 29 September 2026
6. Banning the issuance of a new work permit for one year (opens in a new window), u.ae (MOHRE), 12 August 2026
7. Employment contracts: duration and models in the private sector (opens in a new window), u.ae, 12 August 2026
8. Resolving labour disputes (opens in a new window), u.ae (MOHRE), 12 August 2026
9. Labour rights (opens in a new window), u.ae, 8 October 2026
10. Terminating employment contracts (opens in a new window), u.ae, 12 August 2026
11. Residence permit cancellation and grace period (opens in a new window), GDRFA Dubai, 29 September 2026
12. Unemployment insurance scheme (opens in a new window), u.ae (MOHRE), 8 December 2025
13. UAE: Dh400 fine can be deducted from salaries for not getting unemployment insurance (opens in a new window), Khaleej Times, 15 November 2023
14. Employment Regulations 2024 (consolidated text) (opens in a new window), ADGM, 28 October 2025