UAE onboarding, explained from both sides.

Wage Protection System (WPS): The UAE Employer's Guide to Paying Salaries Compliantly

The Wage Protection System (WPS) is the UAE Central Bank and MOHRE electronic channel through which private-sector employers must pay wages, submitting a Salary Information File (SIF) via a Central Bank-approved bank or exchange house. Under Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026 (effective 1 June 2026), wages for the preceding Gregorian month are due on the 1st of each month, employers must transfer at least 85% of total wages due on time, and the old grace period is gone - enforcement now escalates from Day 2. New hires must be onboarded into WPS from their first pay cycle, as the previous first-30-days exemption has been removed.

1. 1Confirm you are in scope. All private-sector establishments licensed by MOHRE must pay wages through WPS. Under Resolution 340 of 2026, exemptions are narrow (e.g. employees paid abroad with ministry approval, mission/short-term permit holders up to 3 months, court-restricted individuals). The prior exemption for a new employee's first 30 days has been removed, so a new hire must be in WPS from their first cycle. Free zones with their own employment regimes (e.g. DIFC, ADGM) sit outside MOHRE's mainland WPS - check your free zone's own payroll rules.
2. 2Register with a Central Bank-approved paying agent. Open a corporate account with a WPS agent - a bank or exchange house authorised by the Central Bank of the UAE (e.g. Emirates NBD, ADCB, Mashreq, Al Ansari Exchange and others). Each employee needs a UAE bank account or a WPS-linked salary/payroll card so wages can be credited to a valid AE IBAN.
3. 3Generate the Salary Information File (SIF). The SIF is a comma-separated text file with two record types: one SCR (Salary Control Record) header - record type, 13-digit MOHRE employer ID, bank routing code, file creation date/time, salary month, employee count, total salary, currency (AED) - followed by one EDR (Employee Details Record) per worker: 14-digit MOHRE labour card number, employee bank routing code, 23-character UAE IBAN, pay-period start/end dates, days in period, fixed salary and variable pay. The filename is the employer ID plus creation date/time with a .sif extension. Totals in the SCR must reconcile against the EDR rows.
4. 4Submit the SIF through your agent and pay. Upload the SIF to your WPS agent bank/exchange house. The agent validates the file structure, then routes the payment instructions and file to the WPS. Fund the account so wages actually clear - a submitted SIF without settled funds does not count as payment.
5. 5Pay by the 1st and clear at least 85% on time. Wages for the preceding Gregorian month are due on the 1st of each Gregorian month. An establishment is treated as compliant only if at least 85% of total wages due are transferred on time; any shortfall below that (beyond lawful deductions) flags the file as non-compliant. Electronic monitoring is automatic and does not need an employee complaint to trigger.

Fees and timelines vary by emirate, free zone and nationality - confirm the current figure with the regulator before you rely on it.