The General Pension and Social Security Authority, GPSSA, said that it received about 296 applications within the last two months from employers to register the GCC citizens working in the UAE in the Expansion of Insurance Protection Scheme, EIP, against 137 applications received in January and February 2017.
This marks a higher level of awareness among employers and GCC citizens working in the UAE of this EIP Scheme, following the awareness seminar that was held on the sidelines of the 39th meeting of the Permanent Technical Committee for Civil and Social Security Schemes in the Gulf Cooperation Council states, in Dubai from 14th to 16th March, with employers and the GCC citizens working in the state.
GPSSA stressed that the EIP Scheme provides an insurance cover against work risks for GCC citizens as if they are working in their home countries. Under the EIP scheme, a GCC citizen can receive a pension if he/she meets the requirements prescribed in the pension scheme of their respective countries. The EIP scheme also ensures that pensioner dependent beneficiaries will have the opportunity to benefit from the pension, which they are eligible for, immediately after the demise of the pensioner. However, in the worst case, they can receive the pension at the end of service if the pension requirements were not met.
The GPSSA stressed that the UAE public and private employers must register and subscribe on behalf of their respective GCC workers. The registration and subscription are obligatory and should be done in co-operation with the GPSSA. According to Pension Law, the contributions will be collected from the employer and the insured according to the percentages applied in the worker's home country. However, the UAE employer will not be charged for more than the percentages applicable to the UAE citizens working for the employer under the applicable pension law, while the GCC insured worker will bear any variations in contributions if any.
EIP statistics show that the on-the-job GCC employees covered by this scheme hit about 16,861 citizens by the end of 2016, including 6,923 workers in the UAE the highest percentage among GCC countries. The statistics also show that the UAE citizens who work at other GCC countries and benefit from this scheme were 161 citizens, in both public and private sectors.

Source: WAM