Pension eligibility for GCC nationals working in the UAE - Q&A - Legal Advice Middle East

Question

Q: Can GCC nationals contribute towards Pension & Social Security fund maintained in UAE? What are the procedures? A: GCC nationals employed in the UAE are entitled to a pension in accordance with the schemes established in their home countries. GCC nationals pension scheme is governed under GPSSA…

Rajasree Ravivarma · Accepted Answer

Dear Questioner, Please find the answers below:- GCC nationals employed in the UAE are entitled to a pension in accordance with the schemes established in their home countries. The employers in the UAE are liable to mandatory subscriptions for their GCC employees according to the social security law in their home countries in terms of registration and subscriptions, provided that the same may not exceed the subscription share designated for the employers to the UAE nationals. GCC nationals pension scheme is governed under GPSSA. Once an employee is registered with GPSSA, funds are deposited in his account as follows: 1. Both the employee and employer share in contributing to the pension fund which is eventually used as end of service benefit to the employee. 2. The insured employee contributes an amount equal to 5 per cent of his monthly salary 3. Parallelly, his employer (if a government entity) would contribute 15 per cent of his salary 4. If his employer is a privately owned company, the employer would contribute 12.5 of his salary and the government would contribute 2.5 per cent. Only the UAE national employees who hold a ‘family book’ are entitled to be enrolled in the GPSSA pension scheme and are therefore not entitled to receive the end of service gratuity. Those UAE nationals who are ineligible for registration are entitled to receive an end of service gratuity payment (or be registered with a qualifying company pension scheme) in accordance with the UAE labour law. In contrast, GCC nationals qualify for registration solely based on their nationality and the ability to prove this – there is no requirement to provide a family book or equivalent. For the GCC nationals who obtain Emirati nationality, pension eligibility will be based on the family book. Regards, Rajasree Ravivarma

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