While schools lay the foundation for theoretical learning, students and recent graduates get practical experience through internships. It bridges the gap between education and professional life.
With hands-on experience, these internships help students understand their key strengths, develop skills, build a network, and improve resumes, making individuals more competitive in the job market. But what are the rules and regulations surrounding student internships in the UAE?
The UAE has issued many resolutions enabling students to work and get trained at operating establishments. It is regulated to ensure both the intern and the employer understand their rights and obligations.
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Age limitations
Children who are younger than 15 years old are not allowed to be employed in the UAE.
Teenagers aged 15 to 18 can work in the UAE, subject to several conditions. Additionally, they must obtain juvenile work permits to be legally employed.
Students who are 15 years old and above are allowed to work and receive training at businesses or operating establishments. However, this is only permitted if there is a formal written contract outlining the terms of their employment and training.
The contract
Any establishment is permitted to train students aged 15 years and above, on condition of a written contract. The contract shall include:
- Contract must clarify the nature of work
- Training areas
- The wage (if any)
- Daily working hours
- Length of the training period
- Weekly and other holidays
- Value of the bonus (if any) and any privileges granted to the trainee in accordance with the system adopted by the establishment
Companies are permitted to recruit students aged 15 and above during their academic year holidays (school breaks), for a period not exceeding three consecutive months at a time, unless otherwise decided.
Required documents
Students shall not be trained or employed unless the following documents and conditions are met:
1. A written consent from the student’s parent or legal guardian
2. Emirates Identity Card (EID)
3. Proof of student status
4. A valid UAE Residence Visa for expatriate students
5. A physical fitness certificate issued and endorsed by a competent medical doctor.
However, in the case of training, a written letter from the student’s parent or legal guardian will suffice as a substitute for this certificate.
6. In case of training, a no-objection certificate/letter from the educational institute in which the student is enrolled.
7. Students are not allowed to get trained or work at an establishment that’s be suspended.
Working hours, breaks…
The company in which the juvenile student is being trained or employed during the school holidays is obliged to abide by the following:
1. Companies shall not train or employ juvenile students in any prohibited jobs stated by in 2018 decree (Ministerial Decree No. 519).
2. Juvenile students shall not work at night in industrial projects. The term “night” refers to a period of at least 12 consecutive hours, including the time from 8pm to 6am.
3. The maximum number of actual working hours for juvenile students is six hours daily. During these working hours, they are entitled to one or more breaks for rest, meals, or prayers, with the total break time not less than one hour. These breaks should be scheduled so that no more than four consecutive working hours occur without a break.
Orientations and/or trainings given to the juvenile student during his period of work shall be calculated within his/her working hours. In all cases, the juvenile student should not be kept at the workplace for more than seven hours continuously.
4. Juvenile students shall not be assigned to work overtime or remain at the workplace beyond the working hours under any circumstances. They shall not be asked to work on holidays.
5. Juvenile students shall be trained on how to apply occupational health and safety measures. They should be monitored while applying these measures, and ensure their proper use. They shall be provided with a proper work or training environment provided to all workers, but with consideration to the juvenile’s conditions.
6. Establishments shall notify the juvenile student’s guardian or custodian in case of the student’s sickness, absence, or any conduct that requires guardian or custodian’s knowledge during working or training hours.
The company should give the student an experience certificate at the end of training or employment, which shall note their responsibilities during the set period, and an appraisal of their performance.
While internships do not have to be paid, companies are encouraged to reimburse interns for any expenses they incur related to the internship.
The trained or employed student, is not entitled to end-of-service gratuity and any other leaves, except as stipulated in the contract.
Prohibited jobs
The following are the jobs prohibited for students under the age of 18 years:
- Working underground in mines, quarries, and all works related to extraction and excavation of metals and stones.
- Working at furnaces prepared for incinerating, refining, or maturing metal.
- Oil refinery plants.
- Working in front of ovens at bakeries.
- Cement factories.
- Ice and Cooling factories.
- Processing / manufacturing of mirrors by using mercury.
- Manufacturing of fireworks, explosives and all related works.
- Melting and maturing of glass.
- Welding with oxygen, acetylene and electricity.
- Painting using Duco.
- Treatment, preparation and reduction of ash containing lead and extracting silver from lead.
- Manufacturing of Zinc and metal compounds containing more than 10% of lead.
- Manufacturing lead monoxide (golden spirit) or yellow lead oxide, lead dioxide (sulfonamides), lead carbonates, orange lead oxide, and lead sulfate, chromate, and silicates.
- Mixing and making paste in the manufacturing or repair of electric batteries.
- Cleaning workshops where works mentioned in items (12, 13, 14 and 15) are performed.
- Managing or monitoring driving machines, or their repair or cleaning during operation.
- Asphalt manufacturing.
- Oils production using mechanical methods.
- Manufacturing fertilisers, mineral acids coefficients, chemical crops or working at their warehouses.
- Working at tanneries.
- Skinning, cutting and scalding animals, melting their fats.
- Manufacturing rubber
- Working in filling cylinders with pressurized gases.
- Loading and unloading cargo at basins, berths, ports and warehouses.
- Transporting passengers by land or internal waters.
- Manufacturing coal from animal bones, with the exception of sifting bones before burning.
- Bleaching, dyeing, and printing textiles.
- Working as waiters at nightclubs.
- Working in bars.
- Lifting, pulling, or pushing heavy loads if their weight exceeds what is shown in the table attached to this decree
Internships for undergraduate students
The Ministry of Education offers internships to Emirati students who performed very well in higher education institutes. Through the internship portal, Emirati students can find internship opportunities at some key companies in knowledge-based industries in the UAE’s private sector. The companies offering opportunities include 30 global multinational private sector companies and top UAE government-owned companies in the private sector.