Abu Dhabi: ‘Shourak’ requests will only be considered applicable for eligible insured Emiratis who submit their end-of-service employment applications to the General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) after July 1, 2023, the UAE Pension Authority clarified on Tuesday (May 30, 2023).
Insured individuals who apply for Shourak based on the date of their employment termination and/or resignation, and not based on their end-of-service date, will not be applicable to benefit from Shourak, according to GPSSA.
Due to several inquiries received by insured members regarding Shourak, the authority highlighted situations whereby individuals cannot benefit from Shourak.
Those include insured individuals who are eligible to receive an end-of-service gratuity for their employment years, yet cannot benefit from Shourak due to terminating their employment contract prior to July 1, 2023.
Merging employment years
Additionally, pensioners are not eligible to apply for Shourak, despite meeting all other eligibility conditions, since the aim behind merging employment years is to support insured individuals.
Similarly, individuals who have worked for less than one year cannot apply for Shourak, since they do not qualify to receiving an end-of-service gratuity.
Some of the procedures that prevent individuals from applying for Shourak includes submitting a merge request one month ‘after’ joining a new employer/entity, or reaching the legal retirement age of 60.
Moreover, insured individuals who voluntarily withdraw from merging their service years prior to completing the required procedures and those who join a new employer/entity after a six-month period, or become deceased prior to completing the merge procedures, will not be able to benefit from Shourak.
The authority also noted that it is not acceptable to request a return in the end-of-service gratuity after the merge procedures have been successfully completed and by the GPSSA.
