UAE entities required to register GCC employees in pension, insurance system: GPSSA
Abu Dhabi, 23 July 2022: The General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) called on UAE-based entities to register their employees from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the unified system for extending insurance protection, explaining that it includes those who are employed in both the government and private sectors, including free zones, as well as in the hotel and tourism sector.
Registering GCC employees in the UAE is mandatory according to law No.18, which was issued by the UAE Cabinet on 22 July 2007 to regulate the provisions of insurance protection for Gulf citizens working in civil entities in any GCC country, GPSSA said today in a statement.
“GPSSA has been entrusted, in the UAE, to implement the system for Emiratis working in the GCC region as well as for GCC citizens working in the UAE.
“According to the system, a Gulf citizen who works in any of the GCC countries enjoys social insurance (registration, contribution and disbursement of his/her insurance rights) as if he/she were working in their home country. For the GCC employee to be subject to receiving an insurance, they should meet the requirements of the pension and social security law in their home country, given that they are a GCC national and work for a civil entity.”
The registration mechanism is based on the pension system in the country where the employee works, in coordination with the pension authority in their home country. The contributions should not exceed the employer’s share determined in the country where they are located.
Accordingly, UAE-based government entities bear 15 percent in contributions for GCC nationals and the private sector pays 12.5 percent. Any differences in contribution amounts, based on the requirements of the pension authority in the employee’s home country, should be paid by the latter.
“Employers are responsible for transferring the employee’s contribution on a monthly basis to the bank account of the pension authority in the employee’s home country,” GPSSA explained.
“The protection extension system provides the advantage of adding previous service periods (including service periods in their home country) to the employee, according to the conditions of adding service periods in their home country’s pension authority.
“Employers are also required to pay the end-of-service gratuity for their GCC employees in accordance with the civil service regulations or applicable labor laws for the periods prior to the application of the provisions of the system.”
The General Pension and Social Security Authority of the UAE affirmed that this system does not conflict with other rights or benefits entitled to the employee, according to employee-employer regulations prior to the issuance of this decision.
