UAE Public Holidays & Working Days
Every holiday with a countdown, a working-days counter that excludes weekends and holidays, and a planner showing how to turn one day of leave into a long weekend.
All holidays
Fixed Gregorian dates are confirmed in advance. Islamic dates depend on official moon sighting and can move by a day or two.
Based on UAE Cabinet announcements and astronomical predictions — not an official source. Private sector observance follows MoHRE announcements, and individual employers or free zones may add days. Confirm before booking travel or committing to a payroll date.
Working days between two dates
Excludes Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Useful for deadlines expressed in business days — VAT deregistration is 20 business days, for example.
Leave planner
How much annual leave it takes to bridge each upcoming holiday into the weekend, and how long the break becomes.
Why business days and calendar days both matter
UAE deadlines are not counted consistently, and assuming they are is how people miss them. VAT deregistration must be applied for within 20 business days, so weekends and public holidays extend the real-world window. An employee's final settlement is due within 14 calendar days, so weekends and holidays do not extend it at all. Corporate tax registration for a new company runs in months from incorporation.
A twenty business day window that straddles a five-day Eid break is a very different amount of real time from one in a quiet month. The calculator above counts it properly rather than leaving you to guess.
The payroll trap since June 2026
Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026 removed the fifteen day grace period for salary payments and set a single deadline: wages must be credited by the first day of each Gregorian month. That deadline does not move when the first falls on a weekend or a public holiday.
The practical consequence is that payroll has to clear before the first in those months, not on the next working day. Employers who built their payroll cycle around the old fifteen day buffer, or who assume a deadline rolls forward to the next business day, are the ones now accumulating violations. Enforcement begins the day after the deadline.
Public holidays are not annual leave
Under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 public holidays sit separately from annual leave entitlement. A holiday falling inside a period of booked leave does not consume a leave day, and an employee required to work a public holiday is entitled to a compensatory day off or additional pay. Employers cannot quietly absorb holidays into the leave balance.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many public holidays does the UAE have in 2026?
There are seven holiday occasions spanning at least twelve days off, applying to both public and private sector employees across all seven emirates. New Year's Day, Commemoration Day and National Day are fixed Gregorian dates confirmed well in advance. Eid Al Fitr, Arafat Day, Eid Al Adha, the Islamic New Year and the Prophet's Birthday follow the Hijri calendar and are confirmed by official moon sighting, usually only a few days before they begin.
Why do some dates say predicted rather than confirmed?
Islamic holidays depend on the sighting of the new moon, so their Gregorian dates cannot be fixed far ahead. Astronomers predict them reliably, and the UAE Cabinet announces the official dates shortly before each occasion, but a predicted date can still shift by a day or two. This tool marks each holiday as confirmed or predicted rather than presenting them all as settled, because planning travel or payroll around a predicted date carries real risk.
What is the UAE weekend?
The federal government and most of the private sector operate a Saturday and Sunday weekend, following the change in January 2022. Sharjah government entities work a four-day week with a Friday to Sunday weekend, and some private employers still use different arrangements. The working-days calculator here assumes a Saturday and Sunday weekend, which fits most private sector employment contracts.
Do public holidays count as annual leave?
No. Public holidays are separate from your annual leave entitlement under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, so a holiday falling inside a period of annual leave does not consume a leave day. If an employee is required to work on a public holiday they are entitled to a compensatory day off or additional pay, and employers cannot simply absorb the holiday into the leave balance.
Why does the tool warn about salary payment dates?
Because since Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026 came into force on 1 June 2026, wages must be credited by the first day of each Gregorian month and the previous fifteen day grace period no longer exists. When the first falls on a weekend or a public holiday the deadline does not move, so the bank transfer has to clear before it. Payroll runs built around a working-day assumption are exactly how employers now miss a deadline they used to have two weeks of slack on.
Which UAE deadlines are counted in business days?
Several, and mixing them up is costly. VAT deregistration must be applied for within twenty business days of the triggering event, whereas final settlement of an employee's dues is within fourteen calendar days, and corporate tax registration for a new company is within three months. Business days exclude weekends and public holidays, so a twenty business day window across a long Eid break is considerably shorter in real time than it sounds.
How can I make the most of the remaining holidays?
Holidays falling on a Tuesday or a Thursday are the most efficient to extend, because a single day of annual leave bridges them to the weekend and turns one day off into four. The leave planner below calculates this for each upcoming holiday, showing how many leave days are needed and how long the resulting break becomes. Booking early matters, since flight and hotel prices around Eid and National Day rise sharply once dates are confirmed.