January 6, 2023
The UAE government has introduced a mandatory unemployment insurance scheme for workers working in private or government sector organizations. The system is called Involuntary Loss of Employment (ILOE) and employees can subscribe to it online or through other approved insurance providers. Employees should register for the ILOE on or before June 30, 2023. Any new employee who started their position after January 1st, 2023 will have a grace period of four months to enroll from the date of their arrival in the UAE or change of visa status.
To be eligible for compensation under the insurance scheme, the applicant must have worked at his/her previous job for at least 12 consecutive months, counting from the date the applicant joined the insurance scheme. Eligible applicants will receive 60 percent of their base salary for three months if they lose their job for reasons beyond their control.
There are some exempt categories of workers, mentioned below, who do not need to enroll in this program:
Excluded Categories
- Investors (owners of companies they work for)
- domestic help
- workers on temporary contracts
- young people under the age of 18
- Pensioners who are entitled to a pension and have started a new job
- Employees who work in the free trade zones
If employees working in mainland UAE do not subscribe to the program after the deadline, they will be fined AED 400 (unless the deadline is extended) and if the employee fails to pay the insurance premium after the subscription , imposed a further fine of AED 200.
Below is a list of authorized channels through which employees can enroll in the program.
- Insurance Pool Website – www.iloe.ae
- Al-Ansari Stock Exchange
- kiosk machines
- Payment channels for telecom bills (via du and etisalat)
- Insurance pool smartphone application – “iloe”
- ATMs and smartphone applications
- Service centers for business people
Insights into immigration
As always, if you have specific questions about this announcement, please do not hesitate to reach out to your Newland Chase representative or submit an inquiry here.
