Annual Leave in UAE 2026: Rules Under Article 29

Annual leave in the UAE is 30 days of fully paid leave a year once you complete one year of service, and 2 days for each month if you have worked more than six months but less than a year. Below six months there is no statutory entitlement. The days you take are paid on your full wage, basic plus allowances, while days still unused when you leave are paid on basic salary only. All of this sits in Article 29 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021.

Article 29 has ten clauses, and most summaries of UAE labour law on annual leave stop after the first. The others decide who picks your leave dates, what happens when a public holiday lands in the middle of your leave, how long leave can pile up, and what it is worth when you go. Count your own balance below, then read the rules clause by clause.

UAE annual leave rules at a glance

Annual leave entitlement in the UAE

The entitlement works in three bands, and the UAE annual leave calculator applies them to your completed months of service.

• Under six months: no statutory leave yet.
• More than six months but less than a year: 2 days for every month worked. The first six months count once you pass the six-month mark, so nine months of service gives you 2 × 9 = 18 days.
• A year or more: 30 days a year, which works out at 2.5 days for each month of service.

Leave keeps building in your final year. Clause 1(c) gives you leave for the part of your last year that you worked, so someone who leaves 14 months after starting has 30 days for the first year plus 5 for the two extra months: 35 days. If 20 of those were already taken, the balance is 15.

Article 29 counts leave in days, not working days, and clause 7 even counts official holidays that fall inside your leave. So rest days inside a block of leave count towards it too.

What you are paid while on leave, and what unused days are worth

This is the rule most often got wrong, because Article 29 uses two different wage bases for the same leave day.

• Leave you take is paid at your Wage (clause 6), which Article 1 defines as the Basic Wage plus allowances, whether in cash or in kind, under your contract.
• Leave still unused when you leave is paid on the Basic Wage (clause 9), with allowances left out.

Take an employee on AED 9,500 basic and AED 4,500 of allowances:

Now say that employee joined on 1 February 2024 and leaves on 1 October 2026. That is 32 completed months, so 2.5 × 32 = 80 days accrued. With 52 days taken, 28 are unused: 28 × 316.67 = AED 8,866.67, and the allowances do not change it. The UAE leave salary calculator works out that figure for you.

So if your payslip pays the leave you take on basic salary alone, check it against clause 6. The repealed 1980 law paid leave on basic pay plus housing allowance; the current law pays it on the full Wage.

Who chooses when you take your leave

Your employer sets the dates "in accordance with the work requirements", but must give you at least 30 days' notice of them (clause 4). The same clause expects leave to be used in the year it is earned. In practice, that means you can ask for particular dates, but the law does not give you the final say on them.

Carrying leave forward, and the two-year rule

You can carry all or part of your balance into the next year with your employer's approval and in line with the company's rules (clause 5). Article 29 itself sets no limit on how many days can be carried.

Clause 8 then protects leave that has built up: the employer may not prevent you from taking leave accrued for more than two years, unless you yourself want to carry it forward again or be paid for it under the company's rules and the Implementing Regulation.

Carried days are not lost when you leave. Someone on AED 10,000 basic who leaves after exactly four years (1 October 2022 to 1 October 2026) has accrued 120 days. If they took only 50, the 70 unused days are paid at 10,000 ÷ 30 per day: AED 23,333.33. Clause 9 pays every unused day "regardless of the number", so a balance above 30 days is not trimmed.

Can you get your annual leave paid out?

While you are still employed, the law gives no general right to swap leave for cash. The cash option appears only in clause 8, for leave older than two years, at your wish and under company rules. Where carried-over days are paid out, the government portal u.ae states that they are paid on basic salary.

When you leave, yes, always. Every unused day is paid on basic salary, together with the leave earned in your final part-year, whether you resign, are terminated or reach the end of a fixed-term contract. The payment is part of your end-of-service dues, which Article 53 requires within 14 days of the contract ending. The UAE final settlement calculator adds it to your gratuity, notice pay and unpaid salary.

Public holidays and weekends inside your leave

Clause 7 is short and catches people out. Holidays "stipulated by the law or by agreement" that fall during your paid leave "shall be deemed as part of his paid leave period", unless your contract or the company's rules are more favourable to you.

So if Eid falls inside a 14-day block of leave, you have still used 14 days of leave, not 11. Some popular guides say the opposite. If you want the holiday on top of your leave, book your leave to start after it, or check whether your contract or handbook gives you the better treatment clause 7 allows.

Part-time workers and probation

• Part-time workers earn leave "in accordance with the actual number of working hours spent at Work", with the period set in the employment contract (clause 2).
• On probation, your employer may approve leave from your balance (clause 3). Leave still only vests once you pass six months, but nothing stops an employer granting it earlier.

Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the free zones

Article 29 applies across all seven emirates: an employer in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah follows the same federal rules. Most free zones apply the federal minimum too. The two financial free zones, DIFC and ADGM, set their own minimum, commonly 20 working days a year, so check your contract if you work there.

What changed from the 1980 law

Common mistakes with UAE annual leave

• Writing off the first six months. They count in full once you pass six months of service.
• Paying leave taken on basic salary only. Clause 6 pays the leave you take on your full Wage.
• Expecting unused leave to be paid on gross salary. On leaving, clause 9 pays it on basic.
• Assuming a public holiday inside your leave is free. Clause 7 counts it as leave unless your contract is better.
• Assuming a 30-day cap on the payout. Every unused day is paid, carried-forward days included.
• Forgetting the final part-year. The completed months since your last work anniversary add to your balance.

Work out your own figures

Start with your days: the UAE annual leave calculator counts what you have accrued and what is left. Then turn any unused days into money with the UAE leave salary calculator, or, if you are leaving, see everything you are owed in one place with the UAE final settlement calculator. For the gratuity side of the same law, see UAE gratuity law and Article 51.

The rules are summarised on the government portal at Types of leaves in the private sector (u.ae), and the full Decree-Law is linked from Employment laws and regulations in the private sector. These figures are estimates for guidance, not legal advice. For a dispute, MOHRE or a qualified labour lawyer should see your contract and leave records.

All articles