Emiratisation compliance calculator
The target in force on your date — the cumulative one, not the 2% annual growth figure everybody quotes — measured against skilled roles rather than total headcount. With the gap in people, the next checkpoint, and what the gap costs for every year it stands.
Enter the skilled headcount and how many of those roles are held by UAE nationals, and the answer appears here — the target in force on your date, the gap in people, what the gap costs a year, and the next checkpoint.
Questions this raises
- What is the Emiratisation target for 2026?
- 10% of skilled roles by 31 December 2026, reached in two steps: 9% by 30 June and 10% by 31 December. MOHRE's headline is '2% a year', and that is the annual growth rather than the requirement — the requirement is cumulative and has been rising by two points a year since 2022.
- Is the target a percentage of all employees?
- No, and this is the mistake that makes most Emiratisation sums wrong. It is a percentage of skilled roles as MOHRE classifies them, not of total headcount. A company of 400 with 120 skilled roles owes nationals against the 120.
- Which companies does Emiratisation apply to?
- The percentage target applies to mainland private-sector establishments with 50 or more employees. Establishments with 20 to 49 employees in 14 listed economic activities are covered by a separate rule that requires a fixed number of UAE nationals rather than a ratio. Below 20 employees, no target applies at all — which is not the same as being at zero compliance.
- What is the fine for missing an Emiratisation target?
- A monthly financial contribution for each unfilled position. It began at AED 6,000 a month in January 2023 and has risen by AED 1,000 each year, reaching AED 9,000 a month — AED 108,000 a year per position — from January 2026. It recurs for as long as the gap stands.
- Do DIFC and ADGM companies have an Emiratisation target?
- No. Both sit outside MOHRE entirely and have their own employment regulators, so no MOHRE quota applies to them. That is a different answer from being at zero, and a tool that showed them a red 0% would be inventing an obligation.
The number depends on a classification you have to hold
Everything above rests on the skilled headcount, and that is MOHRE’s occupational classification rather than a job title. Real Workforce resolves each employee’s category from the work permit first and the designation second, keeps a dated snapshot of the ratio so a trend is a record rather than a recollection, and reports anybody unclassified instead of quietly leaving them out of the denominator.