GCC Employer Health Insurance Mandates 2026: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait

Three regimes apply. Under Dubai Law No. 11 of 2013, employers must insure their employees at least to the Essential Benefits Plan, which carries an annual limit of AED 150,000 and a premium in the AED 500 to 700 range; the visa sponsor, who may be the employee, insures dependants. Under Abu Dhabi Law No. 23 of 2005, the employer must also cover one spouse and up to three children under 18. In the other five emirates, a federal Cabinet decision made cover mandatory for private-sector employees and domestic workers from 1 January 2025, administered by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation and linked to residence-permit processing. The MOHRE basic package costs AED 320 a year, covers ages 1 to 64 and provides inpatient cover of AED 50,000 and outpatient cover of AED 10,000 a year. Work permits issued before 1 January 2024 fall under the mandate when the residence permit is renewed.

Fines run from AED 500 to AED 150,000 a month in Dubai and AED 300 to AED 500 per uninsured person a month in Abu Dhabi. How international cover fits: the basic packages set a floor. Employers with staff who travel, hold dependants abroad or need treatment outside the local network add an international group plan on top; the UAE guide linked above explains the choice emirate by emirate.

Saudi Arabia requires expatriate employees and their dependants to hold health insurance from an insurer registered with the Council of Health Insurance as a condition of the iqama. From December 2025 the requirement moved earlier in the process: health insurance must now be obtained before a temporary work visa is issued, rather than after visa approval. KPMG’s flash alert of 10 December 2025 records that the rule applies to all employers sponsoring foreign workers on temporary work visas with immediate effect, and that the insurer must submit the applicant’s passport copy and temporary employment contract to the Council so that cover is linked to the passport record.

How international cover fits: the Saudi policy must come from a locally registered insurer, so an international group plan acts as a top-up for higher limits, treatment outside the Kingdom and evacuation, or is fronted by a local insurer. The Saudi employer guide covers iqama timing and dependant rules in detail.

Law No. 22 of 2021 regulating health care services came into force on 4 May 2022. Its Executive Regulations were published on 1 September 2022 and took effect the next day. Employers must arrange basic health insurance for all non-Qatari employees and for eligible family members, defined as a spouse and up to three children under 18. Cover may be provided only by insurers licensed under Qatar law and registered with the Ministry of Public Health; international insurers cannot sell the mandatory cover through intermediaries. Basic cover means the emergency and accident services listed in the regulations; everything else is additional cover that employers may add. An employee’s residence permit is not renewed unless the employer has put basic cover in place. Visitors holding a global policy that covers Qatar for basic care do not need a Qatari policy.

How international cover fits: the mandatory layer is narrow. Most employers of professional staff add outpatient, maternity and regional cover, which is where an international group plan or a local insurer’s additional cover is compared.

Oman’s Capital Market Authority introduced the unified health insurance policy, known as Dhamani, in 2019; the regulator has since become the Financial Services Authority. All private-sector employees, including domestic workers, must be covered, and the employer pays the premium. Cover extends to spouses and children under 21. The unified policy sets an inpatient limit of OMR 3,000 covering hospital stay, treatment and medicines, an outpatient limit of OMR 500 for consultations, diagnostics, medicines and laboratory fees, and OMR 1,000 for repatriation of remains. Some summaries quote OMR 4,500 as the policy limit; that figure is the sum of the three limits, not a separate benefit. Pregnancy and childbirth are left to the employer’s discretion, and pre-existing conditions are excluded from the basic policy. Implementation was phased, starting with larger local and international companies.

How international cover fits: the Dhamani limits are low for professional staff. An international group plan raises the inpatient limit, adds maternity and chronic-condition cover and extends treatment beyond Oman.

Law No. 23 of 2018 made health insurance compulsory for citizens, residents and visitors from 1 January 2019 and created the Sehati programme under the Supreme Council of Health. Employers pay contributions for their expatriate employees, collected with work-permit and renewal fees through the Labour Market Regulatory Authority. In return, foreign workers receive state medical services for emergency and primary care only. Dependants are included only where the employment contract requires it. Employers that fail to enrol foreign workers face penalties of up to BHD 50,000.

How international cover fits: because the state package stops at emergency and primary care, most employers of expatriate professionals buy supplementary private cover. An international group plan fills that gap and covers staff on regional travel.

Kuwait’s system is a state health assurance fee rather than a private group mandate. Under Law No. 1 of 1999 on health insurance for foreigners and executive regulations issued by the Minister of Health, the annual fee for issuing or renewing a residency rose to KD 100 for most categories from 23 December 2025, double the previous KD 50. The KD 100 fee applies to government and private-sector employees, foreign partners and investors, students, self-sponsored residents and property owners. Reduced fees apply to entry visas and to some employment-related categories, at KD 5 or KD 10, and the first three domestic workers in a household are exempt. A residency permit is not issued or renewed without valid health insurance, and the residency period may not exceed the insurance validity.

How international cover fits: the fee buys access to state services. Employers who want private hospitals, higher limits or cover outside Kuwait for their expatriate teams add a private group plan as a benefit rather than as a legal requirement.

A local mandatory policy answers one question: can the residence permit be issued? An international group medical plan answers the others. It raises annual limits well above the local basic package, adds outpatient, maternity, dental and chronic-condition cover, pays for treatment in other countries and at home, includes evacuation, and moves with an employee who transfers between Gulf offices. Where the law requires a locally licensed insurer, as in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the international plan is arranged as a top-up or is fronted by a local partner insurer.

For pricing, the guide to international group medical insurance pricing explains census factors and size bands. For timing, the implementation and switching guide sets out the steps from census to enrolment. Employers weighing the benefit case can read the guide to expat group benefits, and the group medical insurance for expat teams hub covers compliance across the region. Existing policies can be checked against these mandates through a policy review.