Is end-of-service calculated on the same salary in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE?

No. Kuwait uses the last full wage, which is the basic wage plus regular allowances and benefits. Saudi Arabia uses the last actual wage. The UAE uses the last basic salary.

How many days per year do you get in each country?

In Kuwait, 15 days per year for the first 5 years, then 1 month per year. In Saudi Arabia, half a month per year for the first 5 years, then 1 month per year. In the UAE, 21 days per year for the first 5 years, then 30 days for each year after the first 5.

Is there a cap on end-of-service?

In Kuwait it is capped at one and a half years' wage. In the UAE it is capped at two years' basic salary. The Saudi law text sets no cap.

What happens to end-of-service if the employee resigns?

In Kuwait, on open-ended contracts, the employee gets half from 3 years of service, two thirds from 5 and the full amount from 10. In Saudi Arabia, it is one third from 2 years, two thirds once service passes 5 years and the full amount from 10. Saudi Arabia also pays in full in some cases under Article 87, such as force majeure, or a woman resigning within 6 months of marriage or 3 months of childbirth.

Do these figures apply to every employee?

No. The Kuwait figures are for monthly-paid staff. Daily, weekly, hourly and piece-rate staff get 10 days a year for the first five years, then 15, capped at one year's wage. The UAE figures are for expat employees on full-time contracts, and staff in the optional savings scheme have their own rules.

Is this legal advice?

No. It is a summary of the official texts as of 15 October 2026. Check your contract and the official source before you act on a real case.

End-of-service in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE: how each country calculates it

Published 17 November 2026 · اقرأ هذا الدليل بالعربية

Same salary, same years of service, one person in Kuwait and one in Dubai. Will their end-of-service match? Not necessarily, and the reasons are worth knowing before you work out a figure for a real person.

All three countries agree on the principle: the longer someone stays, the more they receive when they leave. After that, each country picks a different salary as the base, builds the amount up at a different rate, and stops it at a different limit.

This guide puts Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE side by side for private-sector employees. It follows the official texts as of 15 October 2026: Kuwait Law No. 6 of 2010 (Articles 51 to 53), the Saudi Labor Law (Articles 84 and 85) with the HRSD end-of-service award regulations, and UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 (Article 51) as published on u.ae. It is a summary, not legal advice. For any real case, check your contract and the official source.

Step one: which salary counts

Settle this first, because the rest of the formula builds on it.

Kuwait: the last full wage. That means the basic wage plus regular allowances and benefits.
Saudi Arabia: the last actual wage.
UAE: the last basic salary.

If you use one country’s base for another, the answer will be wrong even when the rest of the formula is right. A spreadsheet formula built for one country can carry the wrong base into another, because nobody looks at the base again once it is in the formula.

Step two: how much for each year

	Kuwait	Saudi Arabia	UAE
Base	Last full wage (basic + regular allowances and benefits)	Last actual wage	Last basic salary
Years 1 to 5	15 days per year	Half a month per year	21 days per year
After year 5	1 month per year	1 month per year	30 days for each year after the first 5
Cap	1.5 years’ wage	No cap in the law	2 years’ basic salary
Minimum service	None (pro-rata)	None (pro-rata)	1 year of continuous service

Read the table in two passes. First read across a row to see how the countries differ. Then read down a column to see how one country builds the amount over time.

Step three: where it stops, and when it starts

The cap. In Kuwait the total stops at one and a half years’ wage. In the UAE it stops at two years’ basic salary. The Saudi law text sets no cap.

The minimum. The UAE asks for at least one year of continuous service. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have no minimum, so shorter service is paid pro-rata. That holds when the employer ends the contract or it expires. If the employee resigns early, step four applies, and Saudi law pays no end-of-service for a probation period.

Step four: if the employee resigns

Resignation changes the amount in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The longer the service, the larger the share.

Kuwait (open-ended contracts): half from 3 years of service, two thirds from 5, and the full amount from 10. Under 3 years, nothing is due on resignation.
Saudi Arabia: one third from 2 years of service, two thirds once service passes 5 years, and the full amount from 10. Under 2 years, nothing is due on resignation.

Saudi Arabia also has cases where resignation still pays in full (Article 87). Examples are force majeure, or a woman resigning within 6 months of marriage or 3 months of childbirth.

This guide doesn’t cover how resignation is treated in the UAE, so check u.ae and the contract for that case.

A worked example (an illustration only)

This example uses no currency amounts. It only shows how the Saudi rules above combine. It is an illustration, not a figure for anyone’s real case.

Take an employee in Saudi Arabia with eight years of service and set the resignation rules aside for a moment.

The first five years earn half a month each: five times half a month is two and a half months of the last actual wage.
The three years after that earn one month each: three months of the last actual wage.
Together that is five and a half months of the last actual wage.

If the same person had resigned at eight years instead, the resignation rule applies. Eight years is past 5 and under 10, so the share is two thirds of that amount.

You can run the same method for Kuwait and the UAE. Use the right base, the right rate for years 1 to 5, the right rate after year 5, then check the cap and the minimum. Only the numbers in the table change.

The small print

Kuwait: the figures above are for monthly-paid staff. Daily, weekly, hourly and piece-rate staff get 10 days a year for the first five years, then 15, capped at one year’s wage.
UAE: the figures are for expat employees on full-time contracts. Staff in the optional savings scheme have their own rules.
Saudi Arabia: a worker dismissed under Article 80 (the listed cases of serious misconduct) gets no end-of-service.
All three: private sector only. Government employees and special regimes sit outside this guide.

Check one person with the free calculators

When you need the figure for one person, use the free end-of-service calculator for the country:

A habit worth building

The base salary and the cap are the two places where it is easy to slip, because they differ by country. A short routine helps:

Write down which country’s rules apply to this contract.
Write down which salary is the base there.
Count the years of service, and check the minimum.
Check the cap.
If the employee is resigning, check which share applies.

Keep that note with the employee’s record, so the next person doesn’t start from zero.

How Ahlan Hamad can help

Everything above can be done by hand. If you would rather not rebuild the formula every time someone leaves, Ahlan Hamad calculates end-of-service automatically.

Try Ahlan Hamad free for 30 days, no credit card: ahlanhamad.com

Frequently asked questions

Is end-of-service calculated on the same salary in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE?: No. Kuwait uses the last full wage, which is the basic wage plus regular allowances and benefits. Saudi Arabia uses the last actual wage. The UAE uses the last basic salary.
How many days per year do you get in each country?: In Kuwait, 15 days per year for the first 5 years, then 1 month per year. In Saudi Arabia, half a month per year for the first 5 years, then 1 month per year. In the UAE, 21 days per year for the first 5 years, then 30 days for each year after the first 5.
Is there a cap on end-of-service?: In Kuwait it is capped at one and a half years' wage. In the UAE it is capped at two years' basic salary. The Saudi law text sets no cap.
How long do you need to work to qualify?: In the UAE, at least one year of continuous service. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have no minimum, so shorter service is paid pro-rata. That holds when the employer ends the contract or it expires. If the employee resigns early, step four applies, and Saudi law pays no end-of-service for a probation period.
What happens to end-of-service if the employee resigns?: In Kuwait, on open-ended contracts, the employee gets half from 3 years of service, two thirds from 5 and the full amount from 10. In Saudi Arabia, it is one third from 2 years, two thirds once service passes 5 years and the full amount from 10. Saudi Arabia also pays in full in some cases under Article 87, such as force majeure, or a woman resigning within 6 months of marriage or 3 months of childbirth.
Do these figures apply to every employee?: No. The Kuwait figures are for monthly-paid staff. Daily, weekly, hourly and piece-rate staff get 10 days a year for the first five years, then 15, capped at one year's wage. The UAE figures are for expat employees on full-time contracts, and staff in the optional savings scheme have their own rules.
Is this legal advice?: No. It is a summary of the official texts as of 15 October 2026. Check your contract and the official source before you act on a real case.