A skilled role is a position at occupational levels 1 to 5, requiring an attested qualification above secondary school, with a monthly salary of at least AED 4,000 excluding commission. Skilled roles form the denominator your Emiratisation target is calculated against.
Source: UAE Government portal, skill levels of jobs, updated August 2025 · Checked August 2026
Part of the full Emiratisation compliance guide.
The three tests for skilled classification
All three must hold:
- Occupational level 1 to 5
- An attested qualification above secondary school
- Monthly salary of at least AED 4,000, excluding commission
This definition applies to any employee, of any nationality. It decides what goes into your denominator.
The threshold that is not this one
Here is the distinction that produces more wrong answers than anything else in Emiratisation.
| Skilled classification | Counting toward your target | |
|---|---|---|
| Threshold | AED 4,000 | AED 6,000 |
| Applies to | Any employee | Emirati employees only |
| In force | Current | From 1 July 2026 |
| What it decides | Your denominator | Your numerator |
Both figures are current. Neither has replaced the other.
The confusion is understandable: the minimum salary for Emiratis also began at AED 4,000 before rising to AED 5,000 and then AED 6,000. Two rules that happened to share a number, moving apart.
The practical consequence: an Emirati earning AED 4,500 in a qualifying role is still in your skilled-role denominator, but from 1 July 2026 does not count toward your target. Your rate goes down, not up. See minimum salary for Emirati employees and how to calculate Emiratisation.
Why the denominator decides everything
Your target is a percentage of skilled roles, not of total staff.
The 50-employee threshold that brings you into scope uses total registered headcount. The target is calculated against the skilled subset.
This matters most for businesses with large manual workforces. A construction or logistics company with 400 employees, of whom 60 are skilled, is in scope because of the 400 and calculates on the 60. The obligation is often smaller than feared, though with a small skilled base each percentage point rounds up to a whole person sooner.
What to check across your Emirati staff
- Is the role at level 1–5 with an attested qualification above secondary?
- Is the salary at least AED 4,000, excluding commission?. This puts the role in the denominator
- Is the Emirati employee paid at least AED 6,000?. This is what makes them count toward the target
- Is salary paid through WPS? Wage protection compliance underpins both counting and Nafis eligibility
Expatriates count too, in the denominator
Every skilled expatriate role is part of the base. Hiring a skilled expatriate raises the denominator and therefore raises the number of Emiratis you need to hit the same percentage target.
Worth modelling before a hiring round, not after.
Where the published guidance stops
Basic salary or total package. The skilled-role definition specifies “monthly salary excluding commission”. The AED 6,000 minimum for Emiratis is described only as “minimum salary”, without addressing whether it means basic pay or total contractual salary. MOHRE has not published guidance resolving this (unconfirmed at the time of writing).
Part-time employees. No published guidance has been identified confirming how part-time roles are treated in the calculation (unconfirmed at the time of writing).
Employees on probation. No published provision excluding probationary employees has been identified. Employment, and therefore counting, appears to begin once the work permit is active and registration is complete, but this is not expressly stated (unconfirmed at the time of writing).
We would rather show you where the guidance stops than fill the gap. See how we check.
Read next: How to calculate Emiratisation, with a worked example showing both thresholds in action.
Last checked August 2026 · Sources: official platforms
