KHALEEJ TIMES, Thursday, Dec 23, 2021 | Jumada Al-Uola 17, 1443
UAE insurance protection extension system attracts GCC employees
Emirates:
The UAE is one of the most attractive Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
countries for GCC citizens to work in, as per 2021 statistics announced by the
General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA).
They amount to 6,903 out of 19,808 GCC employees working outside their
countries.
Hanan Al-Sahlawi, executive director of the Pensions Sector and chairman of the
Technical Committee, representing the UAE in the meetings of the Permanent
Technical Committee for Civil Retirement and Social Security Apparatus in the
GCC countries, stressed that the insurance protection extension system offered
to the GCC citizens has created further unity and employment transfer
opportunities within their countries.
“Social, economic and political ties between the GCC countries have resulted in
encouraging employees to easily transfer from one GCC country to the other,
offering them the right to enjoy insurance protection as if they were working in
their own home country," he said.
Al-Sahlawi explained that GPSSA plays the mediator role between the insured and
their pension authority in their home country and that is to ensure that they
are registered and to follow the contribution settlements and finally their end
of service when applicable.
“I urge GCC citizens working in the region to make sure their employers register
and pay contributions to the pension authority in the employees’ home country.
It is extremely important that employers commit to paying contributions
according to employees’ actual salaries to ensure that contributions and end of
service benefits are made on time. The monthly contribution rates for insured
individuals covered by the system differ in each country," he said.
In the UAE, the insured is expected to pay 5 per cent, public entities 15 per
cent and private entities 12.5 per cent, and the rest of the 2.5 per cent
covered by the government as a means of support and encouragement for Emirati
employees working in the private sector.
Insured individuals in Kuwait who work in either public or private entities
contribute 7.5 per cent, while the employer bears 11 per cent. In Saudi Arabia,
the employer in the public and private sector bears 9 per cent, and the insured
bears the same percentage. In Qatar, the insured bears 5 per cent and the
employer 10 per cent.
In Oman, the insured in the public sector contributes 7 per cent, and the
employer bears 15 per cent, while in the private sector, the insured contributes
7 per cent. In comparison, the employer pays 10.5 per cent of the value of these
contributions. In Bahrain, the insured working in either the public or private
sector bears 6 per cent and the employer in the public sector 15 per cent, while
in the private sector employers pay 9 per cent.
Any service period before the date of application of this system with the
current employer may be merged with the employees’ previous service period under
the conditions of accumulating the service periods in each country.