What must a UAE experience certificate include?

What does Article 13 actually require?

Article 13(11) of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 is an employer's obligation. On the worker's request, when the employment contract ends, the employer gives a certificate of experience, without fees. It indicates the date work started, the date it ended, the total period of service, the job title or the kind of work, the last wage, and the reason the contract ended. It must not include anything that might harm the worker's reputation or reduce the chance of finding another job. That wording is in the English text of the decree published by the UAE legislation portal and in the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation copy of the same law. I am relying on those texts, not on a company handbook.

The right is at the end of the contract, and it is triggered by a request. It is not a letter the employer must volunteer on your first day, and it is not a letter you can sign in the employer's place. The draft here lists the Article 13 fields so you can ask for them, or hand HR a shape to copy onto letterhead. Until they sign it, the banner at the top is the whole status of the paper.

What goes in each line?

Date of joining and date the work ended, as they appear on the contract or the cancellation, not as you wish they were. If both dates are real calendar dates, the draft adds the number of calendar days between them, counted the same way as the settlement calculator: 1 January through 31 December 2025 is 365 days. That count is a convenience. The certificate's "total period" should still be the period the employer is willing to state. Last wage is split into basic and allowances when you type both, because the last wage in the decree is the wage you were receiving, and basic wage is the part gratuity uses. You can estimate that gratuity on the settlement calculator from the same dates.

The reason line is the one people are tempted to soften. If you leave the box empty, the draft says the employer should add the reason and that this page does not guess it. It will not write "resigned" or "terminated" for you. If you type "contract term ended", that phrase is what appears. Do not type a reason you cannot stand next to. Article 13 also limits what the employer may add: nothing aimed at harming your reputation or blocking the next job. A certificate that is a complaint in disguise is the thing that sentence is about.

When do employers issue one earlier?

Some companies give a "to whom it may concern" letter during the job, for a bank or a visa, and call it an experience letter. That is a favour or an internal policy. The statutory certificate is the one at the end. If you are still employed and someone wants proof of salary, use the salary certificate or the request. If you are resigning, the resignation page has the notice count and a line you can use to ask for the certificate and for final settlement. Ask while the last day is still in writing, so the dates on the certificate match the dates you served.

The portal's page on ending a contract does not set a number of days for how fast the certificate must arrive, beyond the decree's statement that it is given on request at the end, without fees. If it does not come, the practical step is a written request to the employer and then MoHRE's contact channels on the fraud and enquiry page, which lists 009716-802-7666 and ask@mohre.gov.ae for contract questions. I am not describing a court timetable.

What the draft refuses to do

It will not invent a job title, a wage, or a reason. It will not say the employer has praised your work. Praise is optional and, if it is untrue, it is the wrong thing to put in a document the next employer may check. The letter hub links the other three drafts. A no-objection letter is a different request and does not satisfy Article 13.