Key takeaways
- Six months maximum, and it cannot be extended. Not by agreement, not for a further term. An employer asking you to sign a probation extension is asking for something the law does not permit.
- There are three different exits, with three different notice periods — 14 days, one month, or 14 days again — and which one applies depends on who is ending it and where you are going next.
- Probation counts as part of your service once you complete it and continue. It is not a trial period that resets the clock.
- Leaving for another UAE employer during probation triggers a recruitment-cost payment — from your new employer to your old one, not from you.
- Leave the UAE during probation and return within three months on a new permit, and your new employer becomes liable for those costs too.
Probation is where the most avoidable mistakes in UAE employment happen, because people apply the ordinary notice rules to a period that has its own regime entirely. The 30-to-90-day band in Article 43 does not apply here. Article 9 does, and it works differently.
This guide sets out the whole probation framework from Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 and the Official Portal of the UAE Government, including the two recruitment-cost mechanisms that almost nobody explains properly.
Article 9: the six-month ceiling
The published position is short and absolute:
“The probation period of the employee must not exceed six months, or be extended for another term.”
| Question | Position |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | Six months |
| Can it be extended? | No — not for another term |
| Can it be shorter? | Yes. Six months is a ceiling, not a requirement |
| Must there be one at all? | No. Probation is optional |
| After completion | The probation is calculated as part of the employee’s service |
This is one of the most common non-compliant practices in the market, and it is usually done without any bad intent — a manager wants more time to decide, and extending feels kinder than dismissing.
The law does not permit it. Probation must not exceed six months or be extended for another term.
If you are asked to sign an extension: the practical reality is that most people will not want to start a fight in month six of a new job. But know that your probation ended when the original period ended, and that from that point you are a confirmed employee with ordinary Article 43 notice rights — whatever the extension letter says. That matters enormously if you are dismissed a month later.
Employers: if six months is not enough to assess someone, the answer is a better assessment process, not an unenforceable extension that converts a clean probationary exit into a contested dismissal.
Probation counts as service — and what that means
“When the employee completes the probation period and continues in service, the probation will be calculated as part of his service.”
That single sentence has consequences people routinely miss:
| Entitlement | Effect |
|---|---|
| End-of-service gratuity | Your service date is your start date, not the date probation ended |
| Annual leave accrual | Counted from the start date — the six-month accrual threshold runs from day one |
| The one-year mark | Reached twelve months after you started, not eighteen |
| Length-of-service calculations generally | Include the probationary months |
So an employer who tells a departing employee “your service only started after probation” is wrong, and the difference on a gratuity calculation is six months of accrual. Our guide to end of service gratuity covers how that is calculated.
The three exits from probation
This is the table to remember. Which notice period applies depends entirely on who is ending the relationship and what happens next.
| Situation | Notice required | Who pays recruitment costs |
|---|---|---|
| Employer terminates, for any reason | 14 days prior written notice | Nobody |
| Worker moves to another UAE employer | Minimum one month written notice | The new employer compensates the current one |
| Worker resigns and leaves the UAE | 14 days prior written notice | Nobody — unless you return within three months |
| Worker leaves the UAE, then returns within 3 months on a new permit | — | The new employer compensates the previous one |
Note the asymmetry, because it is deliberate and it is the whole design of the provision.
The employer needs 14 days to let you go. You need a full month to move to a competitor down the road. But only 14 days if you are leaving the country entirely.
Read the three rows together and the logic is clear: the law is protecting the employer’s investment in recruiting you.
Bringing someone into the UAE costs real money — permit, entry, medical, Emirates ID, often flights and agency fees. If a new hire could walk to a competitor after two weeks, that investment would be trivially transferable, and the market would reprice for it.
So moving within the UAE carries a longer notice and a cost transfer. Leaving the country carries the shorter notice, because the original employer is not losing you to a rival — unless you come back within three months, at which point the same protection applies.
Understanding that logic makes the rules easy to remember and hard to fall foul of.
Exit one: the employer terminates during probation
“If the employer wants to terminate the employee for any reason during the probation period, he has to give 14 days’ prior written notice.”
| Element | Position |
|---|---|
| Notice | 14 days, prior, and written |
| Reason required? | The provision says “for any reason” |
| Form | Written. A conversation is not notice |
| During the 14 days | The contract is live — work continues, pay continues |
| What you are still owed | Wages to the end, accrued annual leave, and anything else contractually due |
Two things worth being clear about, in both directions.
For employees: probation is genuinely easier for an employer to end. “For any reason” means the ordinary framework of warnings and investigations does not have to be run first. That is the deal probation represents, and it is not unfair — it is the trade for a shorter commitment on both sides.
For employers: “for any reason” is not “for no notice”. The 14 days is mandatory and it must be written. A dismissal delivered verbally on a Thursday with immediate effect is not a probationary termination; it is a termination without the required notice, and the allowance follows.
“Any reason” does not extend to a reason the law separately prohibits.
Under Article 47, dismissal is unlawful where it results from a worker filing a serious complaint with MoHRE or a valid lawsuit against the employer. That protection is not suspended because someone is in their first six months.
Equally, sexual harassment, bullying and verbal, physical or psychological violence against a worker are prohibited outright — and a probationary dismissal that follows a complaint about any of those is not insulated by the word “any”.
Exit two: moving to another UAE employer
The longest notice of the three, and the one with a money transfer attached.
“If an employee wants to change the job while on probation, to join another employer in the UAE, he has to give the employer a written notice of minimum one month. In this case, the new employer has to compensate the current employer for the employee’s recruitment cost, unless it is otherwise agreed between the current employer and the employee.”
| Element | Position |
|---|---|
| Notice | Minimum one month, written |
| Who pays recruitment costs | The new employer pays the current employer |
| Does the employee pay? | No — the liability sits with the incoming employer |
| Can it be varied? | Yes, “unless it is otherwise agreed between the current employer and the employee” |
Employees are routinely told, at the point of resigning during probation, that they must personally repay their visa and recruitment costs before they can leave.
That is not what the provision says. It says the new employer has to compensate the current employer.
There is a genuine escape clause — “unless it is otherwise agreed between the current employer and the employee” — so a worker can agree to bear it. But that is an agreement you enter into knowingly, not a default obligation you owe.
If you are being told you must personally pay to leave, ask which agreement creates that obligation. If the answer is a clause you signed, that is a real conversation. If the answer is “that’s the law”, it is not.
What are “recruitment costs”?
Here we have to be honest about the limits of the published material.
The Decree-Law establishes the liability but does not publish an itemised definition of what may be claimed or a ceiling on it. In practice the categories at issue are the ones an employer can evidence — work permit and visa fees, medical, Emirates ID, agency or recruitment fees, and inbound travel.
What we will not do is publish a figure or a formula, because none is published. What we would say practically:
- Costs should be actual and evidenced, not a round number asserted at the moment someone resigns.
- It is a matter between the two employers, which is often resolved commercially without the employee being involved at all.
- If a figure is being put to you personally, ask for the breakdown and the agreement it rests on.
- Where it is disputed, it is a labour matter and MoHRE is the forum — see our guide on filing a labour complaint with MoHRE.
Exit three: resigning and leaving the UAE
“If an employee resigns from his employment during the probation period, with the intention to leave the job and the UAE, he must provide prior written notice of 14 days.”
Shorter notice, and no recruitment-cost transfer — on one condition.
The three-month return rule
“Should the resigning employee return to the UAE within three months of his departure on a new work permit, the new employer will be liable to compensate the previous employer for the employee’s recruitment costs, unless otherwise agreed between the current employer and the employee.”
| Scenario | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Leave the UAE on 14 days’ notice, stay away | No recruitment-cost liability arises |
| Leave, then return on a new work permit within three months | Your new employer becomes liable to the previous one |
| Leave, return after three months | The provision does not bite |
You will see the three-month rule described online as a “three-month ban” on returning to the UAE. It is not a ban. Nothing in this provision stops you coming back.
What it does is create a financial liability for your next employer if you return within that window on a new permit.
The practical effect is real — a prospective employer told they will owe your previous company’s recruitment costs may prefer to wait, or may factor it into the offer. But that is a commercial conversation, not an immigration prohibition, and the distinction matters if you are being told you “cannot come back for three months”.
Note also that separate one-year work permit restrictions exist under Ministerial Resolution No. 47 of 2022 in defined circumstances. Those are a different mechanism from this one and should not be conflated — our guide to notice periods touches on them.
What you have and do not have during probation
Probation is not a rights-free zone, and the boundaries are more specific than most people assume.
| Entitlement | During probation |
|---|---|
| Full wage, on time | Yes. Paid through WPS like any other employee |
| Written contract and permit | Yes. Probation does not delay either |
| Annual leave accrual | Yes, counted from your start date |
| Taking annual leave | Statutory accrual begins after six months of service |
| Sick leave | After probation ends. The 90-day entitlement applies once the probationary period is over |
| Public holidays | Yes, as normal |
| Gratuity accrual | Service counts from your start date once probation is completed |
| Protection from unlawful dismissal | Yes — Article 47 is not suspended |
| Protection from harassment and violence | Yes, absolutely |
| Ordinary Article 43 notice | No — Article 9 applies instead |
The 90-day annual sick leave entitlement applies after the end of the probationary period.
That means an employee who falls seriously ill in month three is in a genuinely difficult position — and it is worth knowing before it happens rather than discovering it from a bed.
Two practical points. First, an employer may still grant sick leave during probation as a matter of policy or goodwill, and many do — ask what the company’s policy is when you join, not when you need it. Second, whatever the entitlement position, the notification obligations still apply: notify within three days and obtain the medical report. A documented illness handled properly is a very different conversation from an unexplained absence.
And be aware of the harder edge: absence without lawful excuse beyond seven successive days is a ground for dismissal without notice at any stage of employment.
Non-compete clauses: Article 10
Leaving during probation is exactly when people discover a non-compete clause in a contract they skimmed. Here is what the law permits.
Article 10 permits employers to include non-compete restrictions in employment contracts, subject to limits:
| Requirement | Position |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Limited to the extent necessary to protect the business’s legitimate interests |
| Must be defined by | Time, place, and the nature of the work |
| Maximum duration | Two years from the date of expiry of the employment contract |
Three tests, and a clause failing any of them is on weak ground. A restriction that is unlimited in geography, or covers work the employee never did, or runs beyond two years, is not what Article 10 authorises.
The moment to assess a non-compete is when you are considering an offer — because it may affect whether you can accept it, and because you have leverage to negotiate it out or narrow it while you are still wanted.
Once you have resigned, you are asking for a concession rather than negotiating a term.
Check three things: how long it runs, where it applies, and what work it covers. If any of the three is missing or unlimited, that is worth raising.
Your visa and permit during probation
The immigration side runs on its own logic, and it does not pause for probation.
| Stage | Position |
|---|---|
| On joining | Full work permit and residence process — probation does not delay or reduce it |
| During probation | Permit and residence are live and tied to the employer |
| On exit | The employer cancels; your grace period runs from the recorded cancellation date |
| Moving employer | Requires the ordinary transfer or new-permit process |
| Leaving the country | Cancellation should still be completed properly before you go |
The practical consequence: someone who fails probation at month four has had a complete visa process done for them and is now facing a cancellation and a grace period. That is why the recruitment-cost provisions exist, and it is also why leaving badly during probation is disproportionately expensive relative to how short the employment was.
Our guides to cancelling an employment visa and the four grace period tiers cover what follows.
Short employments produce the messiest files we see, precisely because everyone treats them as unimportant.
The permit gets left live on the employer’s quota. The cancellation is never lodged, so the worker’s grace period never starts. Months later one party is blocked from hiring and the other is accruing an overstay neither of them intended.
A four-month job still needs a properly recorded ending. Get the cancellation date in writing, from both sides.
Probation across the different work models
The law recognises several work arrangements, and probation applies within each of them — but what it means practically differs.
An employment contract may be full time or part time, and the arrangement may be temporary work, flexible work, remote work or job sharing.
| Model | Probation consideration |
|---|---|
| Full time | The standard case. Six-month ceiling, three exits as above |
| Part time | Same ceiling. Assessment is harder in fewer hours — set a shorter, clearer probation rather than defaulting to six months |
| Temporary work | Where the engagement is shorter than six months, a six-month probation is meaningless. Match the period to the work |
| Flexible work | Hours vary, so define what is being assessed in output terms, not attendance |
| Remote work | The most common place probation goes wrong — assessment without observation. Write down what success looks like |
| Job sharing | Two people, one role. Assess each against their own contract, not against each other |
Our guide to UAE employment contract types covers the models themselves in detail; here the point is simply that the probation ceiling and the three exit routes do not change because the model does.
The national student employment contract
A distinct arrangement worth knowing about, because it sits outside the ordinary probation logic.
A national student employment contract is made between an employer and a student enrolled in a programme approved and supported by the Emirati Cadre Competitiveness Council — NAFIS, in professions and specialties determined by MoHRE.
| Feature | Published position |
|---|---|
| Position type | Full time |
| Minimum salary | At least AED 4,000 per month |
| Contract duration | One year, renewable by agreement until graduation |
| After graduation | The student must remain with the same firm for not less than the study period, in a profession within the same specialty |
| Emiratisation | Counts towards the company’s required Emiratisation percentage |
| Governed by | Ministerial Resolution No. 240 of 2023 |
For employers under Emiratisation obligations this is a genuinely useful instrument, and the post-graduation commitment period is the part most often overlooked when the arrangement is set up.
Fixed-term contracts and what happens at expiry
Probation sits inside a fixed-term contract, so the contract’s own mechanics matter.
| Rule | Published position |
|---|---|
| Term | May be extended or renewed for a similar or shorter duration |
| If not renewed but both carry on | The contract is considered renewed on the same terms as the original |
| Effect on gratuity | Any extension or renewal is added when calculating end-of-service benefits |
| Old unlimited contracts | Were to be converted to fixed-term under the Decree-Law |
The second row is the one that surprises people. Letting a term lapse while everyone keeps working does not create a gap or a fresh start — it is treated as a renewal on the same terms, and the service continues to accumulate for gratuity.
A probation checklist for both sides
What a well-run probation looks like from day one.
| When | Employer | Employee |
|---|---|---|
| Before you start | Set the period deliberately; state it in the contract; check the non-compete is limited properly | Read the probation length and the non-compete before signing, not after |
| Week one | Write down what success looks like at the end of the period | Ask for it if you are not given it |
| Month one | Confirm permit and residence processing is complete | Confirm your permit is issued and your details are correct |
| Midpoint | A documented review — on track or not, and what would change it | Ask for the review if it does not happen |
| Two weeks before the end | Decide. This is the last day you can give 14 days’ notice inside probation | If you have heard nothing, ask — silence is not confirmation |
| On completion | Confirm in writing that probation is complete | Get that confirmation and keep it |
| If it ends early | 14 days written notice; pay through; cancel promptly | Confirm the final date and the recorded cancellation date |
Almost nobody issues one, and it costs a single email.
It matters because it fixes the date on which your ordinary Article 43 notice rights began. If you are dismissed four months later and the employer argues you were still probationary, that email ends the argument in a line.
Employees: ask for it. Employers: send it — it is also your record that the decision was made deliberately and on time.
The short version
- Six months maximum, no extension. An extension letter does not extend anything.
- Employer ends it: 14 days, prior, written, for any reason.
- You move to another UAE employer: one month’s written notice, and your new employer pays the recruitment costs.
- You leave the UAE: 14 days’ written notice — and if you return within three months on a new permit, your new employer picks up those costs.
- Probation counts as service for gratuity and leave, from your start date.
- Sick leave comes after probation ends; Article 47 protection applies throughout.
- Non-compete must be limited in time, place and nature of work, and cannot exceed two years.
What we will and will not do
We will tell you which of the three exit routes applies to your situation and what notice it actually requires; check whether a purported probation extension has any effect on your rights; explain who is liable for recruitment costs and on what basis, before you agree to pay anything; make sure a short employment ends with a properly recorded cancellation so your grace period starts; and review a non-compete against the three Article 10 tests.
We will not tell an employee they personally owe recruitment costs when the published liability sits with the incoming employer; publish a figure or formula for recruitment costs when none is published; describe the three-month return rule as a ban, because it is not one; or advise an employer that a verbal probationary dismissal satisfies the written notice requirement.
Before probation starts: the job offer stage
Probation is set at the beginning, and the beginning is where you have leverage. Once you have resigned from somewhere else and flown in, you have none.
MoHRE operates a standard job offer and contract framework, and the sequence matters:
| Stage | What to check |
|---|---|
| Job offer | The probation length, the notice periods, the salary split between basic and allowances, and any non-compete |
| Signed offer → contract | That the contract matches the offer. Discrepancies here are the single most common early dispute |
| Work permit application | That the job title and salary on the permit match the contract |
| On arrival | That what you sign at the office is the same document you agreed to |
The pattern we see repeatedly: a candidate agrees terms by email, relocates, and is presented with a different contract on day one — a longer probation, a lower basic, a non-compete that was not discussed.
By then the person has resigned elsewhere and moved countries, and the practical pressure to sign is enormous.
Keep the offer. Keep the email chain. If the document in front of you differs from what you agreed, say so in writing before signing, even if you then sign. A contemporaneous written objection is worth a great deal later; a silent signature is not.
And check the basic-versus-allowance split specifically, because it determines your gratuity and your leave payout for the whole of your employment.
The salary split deserves its own look
Two offers of the same total package can be worth materially different amounts over time, depending on how much of it is basic salary.
Basic salary is the measure used for end-of-service gratuity and for the annual leave balance paid out when you leave. A package that is heavily weighted towards allowances looks identical monthly and is worth less at exit.
This is not something to raise after two years. It is a question at offer stage, and it is entirely legitimate to ask.
If something goes wrong during probation
Probation disputes are handled the same way as any other labour matter, and the route is free.
| Situation | First step |
|---|---|
| Salary not paid | Raise in writing. If unresolved, this is an Article 45 route — and that requires notifying MoHRE 14 working days before quitting |
| Dismissed with no notice | Ask in writing for the 14 days or the allowance in lieu |
| Told you personally owe recruitment costs | Ask which agreement creates that obligation, in writing |
| Passport or documents withheld | Confiscating a worker’s passport is prohibited. Raise it and escalate |
| Contract differs from the offer | Put the discrepancy in writing immediately, with the offer attached |
| Harassment or violence | Prohibited outright. Report it — this does not wait for a notice question |
MoHRE’s Labour Claims and Advisory Call Centre is available to workers on the toll-free number 80084, and the complaint process itself costs nothing. Our guide on filing a labour complaint with MoHRE sets out how it works.
Walking out.
A new employee in a bad situation — unpaid, misled about the role, treated badly — often reasons that they have only been there a few weeks, nothing is really established, and leaving quietly is simplest.
It is not. Absence without lawful excuse beyond seven successive days is a ground for dismissal without notice and can lead to an absence-from-work complaint. That record does not care that you had only been there six weeks or that your grievance was legitimate.
Serve the notice, or use the Article 45 route properly. Two more weeks of an unpleasant job is a far smaller cost than a report on your file. Our guide to the types of ban and who lifts each one sets out what that costs to unwind.
Two situations people ask about
Pregnancy during probation
Maternity entitlements are set by the Decree-Law and the protections against discrimination apply to all workers. Probation does not create an exception to the prohibition on discrimination, and dismissal that is in reality a response to pregnancy is a different matter from a genuine probationary assessment.
If this is your situation, the position turns on facts and evidence, and it is worth taking advice rather than relying on any general guide — including this one.
Moving between companies in the same group
Whether a move between related entities is a transfer or a new employment determines whether a fresh probation can be imposed and what happens to your accrued service.
The published framework treats probation as attaching to the employment relationship, and provides that completed probation is calculated as part of service. Where a group move is structured as a new contract with a new entity, expect the entity to treat it as a new employment — which is precisely why the terms of any internal move should be agreed in writing before it happens, particularly what happens to your service date for gratuity.
This is one of the genuinely grey areas, and anyone telling you there is a single clear answer without seeing the structure is guessing.
Why probation is worth getting right
A closing thought, because probation is treated as a formality by both sides and it is the period in which the most damage is done per week employed.
For employers, it is the only window in which you can end an employment relationship on fourteen days’ written notice for any reason. Once it closes, you are into a thirty-to-ninety day exposure with a documented process attached. Companies that drift past a probation end date without deciding have not been generous — they have given away the one flexibility the law offered them, usually without noticing.
For employees, it is the period in which your entire UAE position is least established and most easily damaged. You have no sick leave entitlement yet. You can be let go for any reason on a fortnight’s notice. And if you handle an exit badly — by walking out rather than serving notice — you can acquire a record that outlasts the job by years and follows you to the next employer.
Both of those are manageable with a small amount of attention at the right moments: a diary entry two weeks before the end date, a written confirmation when it completes, and a properly recorded cancellation if it does not.
The people who get hurt by probation are almost never the ones who understood the rules and applied them. They are the ones who assumed a short employment could be ended informally — and discovered that the immigration and labour records do not distinguish between a job of six weeks and a job of six years.
Seven situations, worked through
1. You have a better offer from another Dubai company, month three
Notice: minimum one month, written. Costs: your new employer compensates your current one, unless something else has been agreed between you and your current employer.
Do: tell the new employer this liability exists before you accept, because it is their bill and they should price it in. Serve the month properly. If your current employer asks you personally for the money, ask which agreement creates that obligation.
2. Your employer says it is not working out, month two
Notice: 14 days, prior, written. Reason: they may terminate for any reason.
Do: confirm the last working day in writing. Expect full pay through the 14 days and payment for any accrued annual leave. Ask when cancellation will be lodged and get the recorded date afterwards.
3. They want you to sign a three-month probation extension
Probation must not exceed six months or be extended for another term.
Do: understand that whatever you sign, your probation ended when the original period expired — and from that point ordinary Article 43 notice applies to you. If you are dismissed during the purported “extension” on 14 days’ notice, that is a confirmed employee being given probationary notice, and the shortfall is compensable.
4. You are going home for good, month five
Notice: 14 days, prior, written, where you are leaving the job and the UAE.
Do: make the intention clear in the resignation, because the 14-day route depends on it. Complete the cancellation before you fly. And note the three-month return rule — if you come back on a new permit inside three months, your new employer picks up the previous employer’s recruitment costs.
5. You left, and a great offer appears six weeks later
You are not banned. You can return.
Do: tell the prospective employer about the three-month rule up front. It is their liability, and a good employer will either absorb it or ask you to start after the window closes. Discovering it at permit stage is a worse conversation than raising it at offer stage.
6. You fall ill in month three
The 90-day sick leave entitlement applies after probation ends, so you may be outside it.
Do: notify your employer within three days regardless, and obtain the medical report. Ask what the company policy provides during probation. Whatever the entitlement position, a documented illness handled properly is a completely different matter from an unexplained absence — and absence beyond seven successive days is a dismissal ground at any stage.
7. You are dismissed shortly after raising a complaint
Probation does not suspend Article 47. Dismissal is unlawful where it results from a worker submitting a serious complaint to MoHRE, or filing a lawsuit, that is proven valid.
Do: keep the chronology — the date of the complaint, the date of the dismissal, and anything said in between. Sequence is the evidence here.
Where employers get it wrong
| Error | The published position |
|---|---|
| Extending probation for another term | Must not exceed six months or be extended |
| Dismissing during probation with no notice | 14 days, prior and written |
| Giving notice verbally | The provision requires written notice |
| Telling the employee they personally owe recruitment costs | The liability sits with the new employer, absent a separate agreement |
| Treating service as starting after probation | Probation is calculated as part of service |
| Withholding a passport or documents to force repayment | Confiscating a worker’s passport is prohibited |
| Delaying cancellation on a short employment | Leaves the permit on your quota and the worker in limbo |
| An unlimited non-compete | Must be limited in time, place and nature of work, max two years |
Where employees get it wrong
| Assumption | Reality |
|---|---|
| “I can leave with no notice during probation” | 14 days, or a full month if moving to another UAE employer |
| “I have to repay my visa costs to leave” | The liability is the new employer’s, unless otherwise agreed with you |
| “There’s a three-month ban if I leave” | Not a ban — a cost liability for your next employer if you return inside three months |
| “Probation doesn’t count towards gratuity” | It does, once completed — service runs from your start date |
| “They extended my probation so I’m still on it” | Extension is not permitted. Ordinary notice rights applied from the original end date |
| “I have 90 days’ sick leave from day one” | That entitlement applies after probation ends |
| “Probationers can be dismissed for literally anything” | Article 47 and the harassment protections still apply |
| “A short job doesn’t need a proper cancellation” | Short employments produce the messiest files precisely because of that belief |
For employers: running probation properly
| Control | Why |
|---|---|
| Set the period deliberately | Six months is a ceiling. Three may be enough, and it is a better signal |
| Diarise the end date at the start | The decision must be made before it expires. There is no extension available |
| Structured check-ins | A month-two and month-four review makes the final decision evidenced rather than instinctive |
| A 14-day notice template | Written, dated, acknowledged — removes the argument entirely |
| Keep recruitment cost records | If you ever need to claim them, actual evidenced costs are claimable; asserted round numbers are arguable |
| Cancel promptly on exit | Frees your quota and starts the worker’s grace period |
| Review your non-compete clause | Time, place, nature of work, two years maximum |
Two weeks before the probation period ends.
Because that is the last point at which you can give the required 14 days’ notice and have it expire inside the probationary period. Miss it, and the person becomes a confirmed employee with full Article 43 notice rights — a 30-to-90 day exposure instead of a fortnight.
That single diary entry is worth more than any policy document, and it is the one most often missing.
Probation questions
How long can probation be in the UAE?
A maximum of six months. Article 9 provides that the probation period must not exceed six months or be extended for another term. It may be shorter, and there need not be one at all.
Can my employer extend my probation?
No. The provision expressly prevents extension for another term. If you are asked to sign an extension, understand that your probation ended when the original period expired — and from that date ordinary Article 43 notice rights apply to you, whatever the extension letter says.
How much notice must my employer give to dismiss me during probation?
14 days’ prior written notice, and the provision allows termination during probation for any reason. The contract stays live through those 14 days, so pay continues and accrued leave remains payable.
How much notice must I give if I want to join another UAE company?
A minimum of one month, in writing. That is longer than the 14 days your employer needs to dismiss you, and longer than the 14 days required if you were leaving the country — the difference is deliberate.
How much notice if I am leaving the UAE altogether?
14 days’ prior written notice, where you are resigning with the intention of leaving both the job and the UAE. Make that intention explicit in your resignation, because the shorter notice depends on it.
Do I have to repay my visa and recruitment costs if I leave during probation?
Not personally, as a default. Where you move to another UAE employer, the published position is that the new employer compensates your current employer for recruitment costs — unless it is otherwise agreed between your current employer and you. If you are being told you personally owe the money, ask which agreement creates that obligation.
Is there a three-month ban if I leave the UAE during probation?
No, it is not a ban. If you return to the UAE within three months of departure on a new work permit, your new employer becomes liable to compensate your previous employer for recruitment costs. Nothing prevents you returning — it creates a cost for whoever hires you inside that window.
Does probation count towards my end-of-service gratuity?
Yes. Once you complete probation and continue in service, the probation is calculated as part of your service. Your service date is your start date, not the date probation ended.
Do I get sick leave during probation?
The 90-day annual sick leave entitlement applies after the end of the probationary period. An employer may grant sick leave during probation as a matter of policy, so ask what yours provides. Regardless of entitlement, notify within three days and obtain a medical report — and be aware that absence without lawful excuse beyond seven successive days is a dismissal ground at any stage.
Does annual leave accrue during probation?
Your service counts from your start date, and statutory annual leave accrual begins after six months of service at two days per month. So the six-month clock runs from when you joined, not from when probation ended.
Can I be dismissed during probation for any reason at all?
The provision says the employer may terminate for any reason on 14 days’ written notice. But it does not override separate protections — Article 47 makes dismissal unlawful where it results from a serious complaint to MoHRE or a valid lawsuit, and harassment, bullying and violence against a worker remain prohibited.
What if my employer dismisses me during probation with no notice?
The 14 days is mandatory and must be written. A dismissal with immediate effect during probation is a termination without the required notice, and a notice allowance follows. Ask for it in writing along with accrued leave and any outstanding wages.
Is a non-compete clause enforceable if I leave during probation?
Article 10 permits non-compete restrictions, but they must be limited to what is necessary to protect the business’s legitimate interests and defined by time, place and nature of work, with a maximum of two years from expiry of the contract. A clause that is unlimited in geography, or covers work you never did, or runs beyond two years, is not what the article authorises.
Does the ordinary 30 to 90 day notice period apply during probation?
No. Article 9 governs probation and sets its own notice periods of 14 days or one month depending on the situation. The Article 43 band applies once probation has ended. See our separate guide to notice periods under UAE labour law.
What happens to my residence visa if I fail probation?
Your employer cancels the permit and residence, and your grace period runs from the recorded cancellation date — not your last working day. Get that date in writing, because short employments are exactly where cancellations are most often left unlodged.
Can I be put on probation again by the same employer?
The provision prevents probation exceeding six months or being extended for another term, and states that on completion it is calculated as part of your service. An employer seeking to place a continuing employee back onto probation is not operating within that framework.
If your probation has already ended badly — an absence recorded, a cancellation not lodged, a cost demand you do not recognise — start by establishing what is actually on your record before responding to anyone.
- The Official Portal of the UAE Government — Employment contracts: duration and models, including probation and non-compete
- The Official Portal — Terminating employment contracts and arbitrary dismissal
- MoHRE — Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 and its amendments (PDF)
- UAE Legislation — Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022, Executive Regulations
- MoHRE — Laws and Regulations FAQ
Please note. Provisions described here are as published by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation and the Official Portal of the UAE Government at the date of verification, under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, and are subject to amendment. Recruitment costs are established as a liability by the Decree-Law but no itemised definition or ceiling is published; figures should be actual and evidenced. Contracts may be more favourable to the worker than the statutory position, and where they are, they govern. Domestic workers, the government sector, DIFC and ADGM operate under separate legislation. Not legal advice; where a material sum or a non-compete is in dispute, take advice on your specific contract.
The administrative side, handled
Most of what this guide describes is an entitlement rather than a process. But the paperwork around it — contracts, permits, cancellations, WPS and renewals — runs on its own cycles and blocks things when it slips.
That administration is what our PRO services in Dubai exist for, across MoHRE, ICP and GDRFA together.
