Expected salary and notice period: how to answer (UAE, KSA)

Short answer: for expected salary, give a researched monthly figure or a narrow range, in a named currency, and say whether it's the basic salary or the total package. In the UAE that difference matters, because end-of-service gratuity for non-UAE nationals is calculated on the basic salary only. For notice period, give the number your current contract actually says, in days or months. UAE law keeps it between 30 and 90 days; Saudi law sets at least 30 days when a monthly-paid employee on an open-ended contract resigns.

Both are easy to get wrong. This guide covers how to answer each one on a form and in an interview, what the UAE and Saudi labour rules say about notice, and how to keep your answers consistent everywhere an employer can see them.

Not legal advice. This article explains the rules in general terms. Labour rules change, and your contract can set terms within them. Check the official sources linked in each section, and read your own contract, before you give a date or sign anything.

Why forms ask these two questions

Salary and notice period are cheap ways for an employer to sort applications before anyone reads a CV. A salary far above the budget, or a start date months after the team needs someone, ends the conversation early. Some applicant-tracking systems can even reject an application automatically based on a form answer, which we cover in ATS CVs for UAE and Saudi jobs.

That cuts both ways. A careful answer keeps you in the running for roles that genuinely fit you. A careless one (a guess, a dodge, a number you can't explain) can take you out of a process you'd have done well in.

Expected salary: what to research first

You can't answer well without a number you believe. Build it from three things.

1. Market data for the same role, seniority and city. Recruitment firms publish salary guides for the Gulf: Hays's GCC Salary Guide and Michael Page's UAE Salary Guide (it asks you to sign up). Bayt also publishes salary pages by job title for the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Treat all of them as estimates. Compare like with like: a "Senior Accountant" in Dubai and one in a smaller city are not the same data point.
2. Your floor. The number below which you would genuinely say no, after your costs. Keep it to yourself.
3. The posting itself. If it shows a range, that's the clearest signal you'll get of the employer's budget. Our job-fit checklist says it plainly: if the range is clearly below what you need, applying wastes both sides' time.

Comparing with a salary in another country? Compare take-home pay with take-home pay. The UAE "does not levy income tax on individuals" (u.ae), so a gross UAE salary and a gross salary from a country with income tax aren't the same number. Then subtract what the package doesn't cover: if there's no housing allowance, rent comes out of the salary.

Basic salary vs total package (and why it matters in the UAE)

A Gulf offer may be split into a basic salary plus allowances, such as housing and transport. When a form or a recruiter asks for your expected salary, it's rarely clear which one they mean. So say it:

• "AED 18,000 per month, total package" or
• "SAR 15,000 per month, basic plus housing and transport"

Those figures are illustrative, not a market rate. The point is the format: amount, currency, period, and what's included.

In the UAE the split has a direct cost for non-UAE nationals (UAE citizens fall under the pensions and social security law instead). The government portal states that end-of-service gratuity "is calculated on basis of last wage which the worker was entitled to, namely the basic salary", and that it "will not include allowances such as housing, transportation, utilities, furniture etc." A worker with at least a year of continuous service gets 21 days' salary for each of the first five years, and 30 days for each year after that, and the total "shall not exceed the wage of 2 years" (u.ae). Two UAE offers with the same total can therefore pay very different gratuities. Ask for the breakdown before you accept, and compare offers on both numbers.

For Saudi offers, ask for the same breakdown, and ask how each component is treated in your contract.

How to answer "expected salary" on the form

• A free-text field: write the range or figure in the format above, and add "negotiable depending on the full package" if it is. Keep the range narrow and make sure you'd be happy at its bottom: an employer that sees "15,000 to 25,000" may read "15,000".
• A numbers-only field: enter one figure, monthly unless the form says otherwise. Use your realistic target, not your floor and not a stretch.
• Don't enter 0 or 1 to dodge it. That number is stored as your answer, and anyone filtering or reading it learns nothing except that you skipped the question.
• Match the field's currency and period. If the form asks for annual salary in USD, convert carefully. Twelve times a monthly figure in the wrong currency is an easy mistake to make.

"What are your salary expectations?" in the interview

The answer should match what you wrote on the form. Changing it in the interview without a reason looks careless. A few ways to say it:

• If you know the band: "The range in the posting works for me. Based on what we've discussed, I'd expect to be toward the middle of it."
• If you don't: "Could you share the budgeted range for this role? I'd like to make sure we're aligned." Asking first is reasonable, and the answer often saves you from anchoring too low.
• If they insist on a number: give the figure from your research, say whether it's basic or total, and give one reason: "Around AED 18,000 a month total, based on salary guides for this role in Dubai and my four years in the same function."
• "What's your current salary?" Answer honestly, or politely move to what you're asking for: "I'd rather focus on what this role is worth. My expectation is…". Never inflate it. If your salary comes up again later in the process, a gap is hard to explain.

Notice period: what to write

Give the notice period that's in your current contract, as a number: "30 days", "two months". Not a hope, and not what you think the employer wants to hear.

• Not working right now? Write "Available immediately". That's an advantage, so say it.
• On probation? In the UAE, different notice rules apply during probation. See below.
• Your employer might release you early? Say so only if you've asked: "One month; my employer may agree to an earlier release." In the UAE, the law explicitly allows the notice period to be "reduced or exempted on mutual agreement between the two parties" (u.ae).
• Add the start date it implies. "One month, so I could start in early December" saves a round of emails.

Notice period under UAE law

As of October 2026, the government portal's summary of the private-sector rules says (u.ae, terminating contracts):

• The notice period must be "not less than 30 days and not exceed 90 days", and it's given in writing. The contract stays in force during it, and the worker is "entitled to his full wage for the notice period".
• "The notice period must be the same for both parties unless it is in favour of the worker."
• A party who doesn't serve the notice owes the other a "notice period" allowance, even if no harm was caused.

During probation the rules are different (u.ae, employment contracts): probation can't exceed six months. A worker who wants to move to another employer in the UAE during probation must give "a written notice of minimum one month", and the new employer compensates the current one for the recruitment cost unless agreed otherwise. A worker who resigns during probation to leave the UAE gives 14 days' written notice.

Notice period under Saudi law

The Labour Law text published by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) sets these rules for contracts of indefinite duration, as of October 2026:

• Paid monthly: an employee who resigns gives written notice at least 30 days before the end date. An employer who ends the contract gives at least 60 days (Article 75).
• Not paid monthly: whoever ends the contract gives at least 30 days' written notice (Article 75).
• Notice not served: the party who doesn't observe it pays the other an amount equal to the worker's wage for the notice period, unless they agreed otherwise (Article 76).
• Silence counts: a resignation is considered accepted if 30 days pass after it's submitted with no reply from the employer (Article 79 bis). The same article allows the employer to postpone acceptance in some cases, so read it if you're planning a tight start date.

These notice rules are written for open-ended contracts. If your contract is fixed-term, read what it says about ending early, and check the law's provisions on fixed-term contracts, before you promise a start date.

Keep the form, the CV and the interview consistent

Gulf-style CVs often carry a notice-period line, and we suggest including it in CV format for Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Salary is different: leave it off the CV unless asked, and answer it on the form. Whatever you write, a recruiter can compare the CV, the form and what you say in the interview. Make them say the same thing.

Checklist before you answer

1. A researched figure or narrow range for this role, seniority and city, from more than one source.
2. Your private floor, after costs.
3. Currency, monthly or annual, and "basic" or "total package" stated.
4. For UAE offers: the basic salary known, since gratuity for non-UAE nationals is calculated on it.
5. Notice period copied from your contract, in days or months, with the start date it implies.
6. Probation or fixed-term contract? You've checked the rules that apply to you.
7. Form, CV and interview answers match.

FAQ

Should I give a range or one number for expected salary? Either works if it's researched. A range should be narrow, and you should be content with its bottom. A numbers-only field needs one figure: use your realistic target.

Should my expected salary be the basic or the total package? Say which one you mean. Total package is the easiest comparison, but in the UAE also ask for the basic salary, because end-of-service gratuity for non-UAE nationals is calculated on it.

What is the notice period under UAE labour law? At least 30 days and at most 90 days, as agreed in the contract, and the same for both sides unless the difference favours the worker. Different rules apply during probation.

What is the notice period in Saudi Arabia if I resign? For an open-ended contract with a monthly salary: at least 30 days' written notice from the employee, and at least 60 days from an employer who ends the contract.

Can I leave before my notice period ends? In the UAE the notice period can be reduced or waived by mutual agreement. Without an agreement, the party who doesn't serve notice owes compensation, in the UAE and in Saudi Arabia.

Should I put my expected salary on my CV? Usually not. Answer it on the form or in the interview, where you can add context.

Where Taqdim fits

Answers you choose to save to your Taqdim profile, such as your notice period, are stored so you don't retype them. When you apply, the browser extension fills them into the application form on the page you're viewing. You review every field, and you click Submit yourself. What Taqdim does and doesn't do.

Taqdim is in closed beta. Join the waitlist.

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Related: ATS CV for UAE and Saudi jobs: what matters, what's a myth · CV format for Saudi Arabia and the UAE · Should I apply for this job? The honest job-fit checklist.

Sources

• UAE Government portal (u.ae), Terminating employment contracts and arbitrary dismissal: u.ae
• UAE Government portal (u.ae), Employment contracts: duration and models in the private sector (probation): u.ae
• UAE Government portal (u.ae), End of service benefits for workers in the private sector: u.ae
• UAE Government portal (u.ae), Taxation: u.ae
• Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, Labor Relations (Labour Law, Articles 75, 76 and 79 bis): hrsd.gov.sa
• Hays, GCC Salary Guide: hays.ae
• Michael Page, UAE Salary Guide: michaelpage.ae
• Bayt, salaries by job title: UAE · Saudi Arabia