Annual leave in Saudi Arabia and the UAE: how many days, and when it can be sold
In Saudi Arabia, 21 days, then 30 after five years, and it cannot be swapped for cash while you are still employed. In the UAE, 30 days, two days a month after six months, and carry-over capped at half.
Leave is a right in the statute. The air ticket is a right in the contract, if it was written. Mixing them up is how “no leave this year” gets heard as if both had lapsed. The ticket is in the leave and flights guide. The days are here.
Saudi Arabia: Article 109
Article 109: prepaid annual leave of not less than 21 days, rising to not less than 30 days once the worker has spent five consecutive years with the employer. The worker takes the leave in the year it falls due, and may not waive it or take cash instead while still in service. The employer sets the dates according to the work, and tells the worker not less than 30 days ahead.
Article 110: the leave, or part of it, may be postponed to the following year with the employer’s approval. The employer may postpone it for not more than 90 days after the end of the year it was due, if the work requires that. If the postponement has to run longer, the worker’s written consent is required, and the postponement still cannot pass the end of the year after the year the leave was due.
Cash comes when the relationship ends, not during it. Article 111: if you leave without having used the leave, you are owed a wage for the accrued days you did not take, and leave pay for the part of the year in proportion to the time you worked. That line belongs in the final-exit settlement. It is not something you sign away in a release with no figure next to it.
The UAE: Article 29
Annual leave is 30 days for each year of service. If service is more than six months and less than a year, the entitlement is two days for each month. Leave also accrues for the last part-year when service ends. That is not the same as the claim that leave only starts after a full year. After six months a different count starts. It is not zero.
Carry-over: what moves into the next year is not more than half the annual leave, or you agree with the employer on a cash allowance calculated on the wage at the time it was due. Someone who banks leave for five years and then claims all of it runs into that cap. Plan the days. Sickness and working hours are in the UAE hours and leave guide.
What to ask for in writing
- A balance once a year, with days used and days left.
- The date you were told the leave would start, so you can see whether the Saudi 30 days’ notice was kept.
- At the end: unused days times a day’s wage, as its own line in the settlement.
A contract term that gives you less than these figures does not beat the statute. A term that gives you more stands. Free zones and special contracts can add detail. They do not reduce the floor. Check the text on the ministry site or the legislation portal before you let a balance lapse because you never asked for it.
What is not taken out of the annual balance
Eid leave set by the regulations is not part of the 21 or the 30. Article 112 in Saudi Arabia gives fully paid leave on the Eids and occasions the regulations name. Taking Eid days out of your annual balance mixes two entitlements. Hajj leave, once during the service, for someone who has not performed it and after two consecutive years, is not less than ten days and not more than fifteen including the Eid Al-Adha holiday (Article 114). It is not annual leave and it is not a substitute for it.
In the UAE, sick leave is a separate path. Its pay steps down, and it is not mixed into annual leave unless you are asked to accept that against the decree. Ask for the name of the leave that was deducted: annual, sick, or absence. Absence without permission is not leave. A day’s wage may be withheld for it, and that is not the same as taking a day from a balance you have earned.
Sources
Rules and fees change and differ by country and employer. Always check with the official authorities before paying or signing anything.