"End-of-service gratuity" sounds like one rule with six local variations. It's closer to six different rules that happen to share a name.
| Country | Early years | Later years | Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| UAE | 21 days/yr (yrs 1–5) | 30 days/yr (yr 6+) | 2 yrs' salary |
| Saudi Arabia | ½ month/yr (yrs 1–5) | 1 month/yr (yr 6+) | None |
| Qatar | 21 days/yr, flat | — (no change) | None |
| Kuwait | 15 days/yr (yrs 1–5) | 30 days/yr (yr 6+) | 18 months |
| Bahrain | 15 days/yr (yrs 1–3) | 30 days/yr (yr 4+) | None |
| Oman | 15 days/yr (yrs 1–3, pre-Jul 2023) | 30 days/yr (thereafter) | None |
Run three years of service through each formula and the difference shows up immediately: UAE and Qatar pay 63 days of basic salary (21 × 3). Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman's pre-2023 formula pay 45 days (15 × 3, or the equivalent half-month rate). Same tenure, roughly 40% more in the UAE or Qatar — at least in the early years, before the later-year rate and caps start to matter.
That early UAE/Qatar advantage doesn't last for very long service. The UAE caps total gratuity at two years' basic salary no matter how long someone's worked — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman don't cap it at all, so gratuity keeps accumulating year after year for long-tenured employees. Kuwait sits in between with an 18-month cap. A 20-year employee in an uncapped country can end up with meaningfully more than the same tenure in the UAE.
Every country except one calculates gratuity on basic salary only — housing and transport allowances don't count. Saudi Arabia is the exception: its wage base is the "Actual Wage," which includes fixed allowances like housing and transport. Two employees with identical basic salaries but different allowance structures can get different gratuity payouts in Saudi Arabia for that reason alone.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait both reduce gratuity if you resign rather than get terminated, on a sliding scale tied to years served (nothing under 2–3 years, rising to the full amount only after 10 years). Bahrain doesn't do this at all — full gratuity applies on resignation regardless of tenure, which is unusual in the region.
A law change on 31 July 2023 replaced Oman's old tiered formula (15 days/year for the first three years, then a full month) with a flat one month per year going forward. Anyone whose service spans that date gets a split calculation — the old formula for the years before the change, the new one for the years after.
Formulas are one thing — your actual number is another. Pick your country for an exact calculation.
Open the gratuity calculatorsFigures above reflect the standard statutory formula per country as researched in August 2026 — probation periods, termination for cause, and contract-specific clauses can all change an individual's actual entitlement. Each country's dedicated calculator page cites its source and disclaimer in full.