The UAE labour law that took effect in February 2022 quietly ended the idea that a job in this
country means one employer, one contract and full-time hours. Federal Decree-Law 33 of 2021 recognises
six different shapes a job can take, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation issues a
separate licence — a work permit — for more than a dozen situations. Getting a part-time work
permit is what makes a second job lawful rather than a fineable offence.
Almost every explainer online muddles two different things. This one separates them, because the
distinction is where people get caught.
Work model versus work permit
A work model — the official English translation of the Decree-Law calls it a “work
pattern”, MoHRE and the government portal say “work model”, the Implementing Regulation says “work
type” — is the shape of the contract between you and your employer. It is set by Article 7 of the
Decree-Law.
A work permit is the licence MoHRE issues that makes it lawful for you to work for
that establishment at all. It is set by Article 6. Article 6(1) is blunt: nobody may work in the UAE,
and no employer may recruit or employ anyone, except after obtaining a work permit from the Ministry.
You need both. A part-time contract without the matching permit is not a grey area — it is
unlicensed work.
The six work models
Article 7 of the Decree-Law names four, then adds a clause allowing the Implementing Regulation to
create more. Cabinet Resolution 1 of 2022 used it to add two.
| Model | What the law says |
|---|---|
| Full time | Working for one employer for full daily working hours throughout the working days |
| Part time | Working for one or more employers for a specified number of working hours or days |
| Temporary work | Work requiring a specific period, or based on a certain task and ended by its completion |
| Flexible work | Hours or days change according to work load and the employer’s economic and operational variables |
| Remote work | All or part of the work performed outside the workplace, with electronic communication in lieu of physical presence |
| Job sharing | Tasks divided among more than one worker as agreed in advance, reflected in each one’s wages |
Two details are worth pulling out. Job sharers are expressly “dealt with pursuant to the rules of
part-time work” — so the pro-rata rules below apply to them. And Article 5(2) of the Regulation lets
the Ministry add further work types “according to the needs of the labour market”, which is why this
list is not the last word.
Changing model mid-contract is allowed, but Article 10(3) attaches three conditions: both sides
must agree, all entitlements arising under the original contract must be paid out first, and MoHRE’s
procedures must be followed.
The permits MoHRE issues
Cabinet Resolution 1 of 2022 listed twelve permit types. The government portal now says thirteen —
the addition is the private teacher permit, granted free of charge for two years, and MoHRE runs a
live service page for it. The gap is not an error: Article 6(2) says new work permits may be created
by resolution of the Minister, so the list is open-ended by design. Anyone still telling you there are
twelve is working from the 2022 text.
| Permit | Who it is for | Validity |
|---|---|---|
| Recruitment from outside the UAE | Bringing a worker in | Two years |
| Transfer permit | Moving a worker between establishments | Two years |
| Family-sponsorship permit | Residents sponsored by family | Two years |
| Temporary work permit | A worker already here, lent to another company for a limited period, then returning | Not stated |
| Mission work permit | Bringing someone in for a specific time-bound project | Not stated |
| Part-time work permit | Fewer hours or days than a full-timer; more than one employer allowed with approval | One year |
| Juvenile permit | Ages 15 to 18 | One year |
| Student training and employment | Students from age 15 already in the UAE | Three months |
| UAE/GCC national permit | Citizens | Two years |
| Golden visa holder permit | Long-term residency holders | Two years |
| National trainee permit | Training a UAE citizen against approved qualifications | 12 months, renewable |
| Freelance permit | Independent self-employment, no sponsoring employer | Not stated |
| Private teacher permit | Qualified professionals giving private lessons | Two years, free |
We are not quoting a single flat fee for these. Article 7(2)(d) of the Regulation ties the fee to
the permit type and the establishment’s MoHRE classification, so any one number circulating
online is wrong for most readers.
Working for two employers
Yes, lawfully — with the part-time permit. Article 6(1)(f) of the Regulation puts it plainly: the
worker may work for more than one employer after obtaining a permit from the Ministry.
The government portal sets out the practical conditions: the permit runs for one year and is open
to Emiratis, GCC nationals and expatriates on work visas; the work must be under eight hours a day;
family-visa holders need a no-objection certificate from their sponsor and must be aged between 18 and
65. The portal gives the cost as an AED 100 application fee plus an AED 500 approval fee, and warns
that a company employing someone without the permit faces a fine of AED 50,000. The statute itself,
Article 60, gives a range rather than a flat figure — AED 50,000 to AED 200,000 — and Article 62
multiplies it by the number of workers involved, capped at AED 10 million.
One protection is easy to miss. Article 17(5) says that where you are on any model other than
full-time, neither your original employer nor any other may require you to work beyond the hours in
your contract without your written consent.
What part-timers actually get
Reduced hours mean reduced entitlements, not absent ones, and the law does the arithmetic for you.
Annual leave is calculated on actual hours worked, under Article 29(2) of the Decree-Law. Article 18
of the Regulation gives the formula — total hours converted into working days, divided by the working
days in the year, multiplied by the statutory leave — with a floor of five working days a year and any
fraction of a day rounded up.
End-of-service is handled by Article 30 of the Regulation: divide your contracted hours per year by
full-time hours per year, express it as a percentage, and apply that to the full-time gratuity. So a
genuine half-timer earns half the gratuity, not none. The exception is temporary employment lasting
under a year, which carries no end-of-service at all. Our guide to
calculating
end-of-service gratuity works through the full-time version of the sum, and our explainer on
UAE pensions and
gratuity covers where that money sits in a wider retirement picture.
What employers have to do
Article 8(1) requires a written contract on MoHRE’s prescribed form, matching the agreed work
model, in two copies with one held by each side. Article 8(3), as amended by Federal Decree-Law 14 of
2022, requires a fixed term subject to renewal — and that amendment removed the previous cap on how
long the term may be, so the “maximum three years” line still repeated in HR handbooks is out of date.
Article 13 sets the standing obligations: keep worker files for at least two years after service
ends, do not withhold official documents or force a worker to leave the country, publish work rules and
penalties, provide accommodation or an allowance, invest in skills, and protect occupational safety.
Article 6(4) prohibits charging the worker recruitment costs, directly or indirectly. Normal hours are
capped at eight a day or 48 a week by Article 17(1), with no more than five consecutive hours without a
break under Article 18.
And the permits themselves are conditional on good standing: Article 7(4)(c) lets MoHRE refuse,
decline to renew or cancel work permits where the Wage Protection System is not complied with — see our
guide to what
WPS requires of employers. Employers building a workforce here should also read our guides to
hiring under
the labour law and to
Nafis and Emiratisation
obligations. If you are considering going independent instead, our guide to the
freelance
and remote-work visa covers that route — bearing in mind the Regulation’s own wording, that a
freelancer is “in no way a worker” for the people who pay them, which is precisely why freelancers have
no gratuity and no employee claim.
Primary sources: MoHRE’s published English text of
Federal
Decree-Law 33 of 2021 and its amendments and of
Cabinet
Resolution 1 of 2022; the UAE Government portal on
work
permits,
employment
contracts and models and
working
for two employers; and MoHRE’s
private
tutor licensing service. This article is general information, not legal advice.
