Health insurance is **mandatory and tied to the visa** — a residence visa will not issue or renew without it. The requirements differ by emirate, and the cost cannot be passed to the employee. Everything beyond that is a benefits decision, and the one to get right early is the **basic-to-allowance split**, because it silently determines gratuity.
Health Insurance and Benefits
What is mandatory and what is a choice
Health insurance is mandatory and tied to the visa — a residence visa will not issue or renew without it. The requirements differ by emirate, and the cost cannot be passed to the employee. Everything beyond that is a benefits decision, and the one to get right early is the basic-to-allowance split, because it silently determines gratuity.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Employer | [COMPANY NAME], [licence] [NUMBER] |
| Emirate where employees are based | [EMIRATE] — requirements are emirate-specific |
| Employees covered | [NUMBER] |
| Insurer and plan | [NAME], [PLAN] |
| Policy number and renewal | [NUMBER], renews [DATE] |
| Dependants — whose obligation? | [Employer / employee — confirm for the emirate] |
| Work injury cover | [INSURER], expiry [DATE] |
| [Life or income protection] | [DETAIL / none] |
| Benefits reviewed | [DATE] |
1. Mandatory
| Item | Position |
|---|---|
| Health insurance | Employer must provide. Requirements, minimum benefits and enrolment rules are set by emirate. The visa depends on it |
| Work injury compensation | Cover for injury and occupational illness arising out of and in the course of employment |
| End-of-service gratuity | Mainland and most free zones — accrued on basic salary |
| Funded scheme contributions | DIFC and ADGM — monthly, in place of gratuity |
| GPSSA | Emirati employees — employer and employee contributions |
| ILOE unemployment insurance | The employee’s obligation, but tell them — non-subscription attracts a fine and can block a future permit |
| [Dependant cover] | Confirm for the emirate — whose obligation it is varies |
| Statutory leave and pay | Annual, sick, maternity, parental, bereavement, study |
1.1None of these costs may be recovered from the employee. Health insurance premiums, work injury cover, permit and visa costs are employer costs by law.
1.2The dependant question genuinely varies by emirate. Confirm whether cover for spouses and children falls on the employer or the sponsoring employee, because it materially changes the cost of a hire.
2. Health Insurance in Practice
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These notes accompany the template and explain the drafting choices, the compliance points and the mistakes most often made with this document. They appear as a final page in the Word file, intended to be deleted before the document is executed.
A residence visa will not issue or renew without valid cover. Requirements and minimum benefits are set by emirate, so confirm for the emirate where employees are actually based rather than where the company is licensed.
Whether cover for spouses and children falls on the employer or the sponsoring employee genuinely varies. It materially changes the cost of hiring someone with a family, and assuming the wrong answer distorts the budget.
Health insurance premiums, work injury cover, permit, visa, medical test and Emirates ID are all employer costs by law, and indirect recovery through salary structure or a repayment clause is equally prohibited.
Employees fall off insurer lists at renewal or are never added after joining, and nobody notices until a claim is refused or a visa renewal is blocked. A monthly reconciliation is the control that catches it.
Cover should end on the correct date, not when the leaver process starts. An employee whose insurance ended silently mid-treatment has a legitimate grievance, and confirming the end date to them costs nothing.
Gratuity is calculated on basic salary alone, so two packages with identical totals can produce very different end-of-service payments. Set the split deliberately rather than copying a template.
Candidates comparing total packages rarely know that only basic salary drives gratuity. Discovering it at the end of service feels like a trick and generates disputes that a single sentence at offer would have prevented.
Scheme contributions are a percentage of basic salary, so the split has an immediate cash consequence rather than a deferred one. That changes the calculus compared with a mainland package.
Rebalancing a package to reduce basic salary is a variation requiring written consent and a formal contract amendment. Doing it quietly to reduce gratuity accrual is both unlawful and visible in the registered contract.
A discretionary bonus paid at the same level for several consecutive years becomes an expectation, and withdrawing it produces a dispute regardless of the wording. Either exercise the discretion genuinely or make it contractual.
A benefit written into the contract is a term. A benefit described in a handbook expressed as non-contractual policy can be varied. Decide which each benefit should be before offering it.
Salary is often well under the true annual cost once gratuity accrual, insurance, permit, visa, flights and repatriation provision are included. Employers budget the salary and are surprised by the rest.
Unemployment insurance subscription is the employee’s own obligation, but non-subscription attracts a fine and can block a future work permit when they change employer. Mentioning it at induction prevents a problem the employer will hear about later.
Enrolment, claims and medical fitness results are sensitive personal data. Restrict access, retain for a shorter period than the personnel file, cover the insurer in the privacy notice, and keep managers out of claims histories.
Reflects UAE requirements current as of {{DATE OF USE}}. Health insurance requirements and minimum benefits differ by emirate and change, as do dependant obligations, GPSSA rates, DIFC and ADGM scheme rates and ILOE rules — confirm with the relevant health authority, MOHRE and your broker before setting or renewing benefits.
This is a ready-to-use template provided for convenience. Laws and requirements change, and every situation is different — please have it reviewed by a qualified professional (a lawyer, corporate secretary, or accountant as relevant) before you rely on it.