The major change to expect from UAE public holidays in 2025
… and it’s a good one!
In May 2024, the UAE Cabinet unveiled the UAE public holiday calendar for 2025, indicating all the official holiday days we’ll get off next year.
As with previous years, it covered all of the days off we’ll get that are fixed on the Gregorian calendar; as well as the days off that follow the lunar calendar, for which the dates are dependent on the sighting of the moon.
But with the announcement of the UAE public holidays of 2025 came a new resolution, under part two of UAE Cabinet Resolution No.27 of 2024. This new resolution will see changes to how certain public holidays are announced as of next year.
According to the resolution, if a holiday falls on the the weekend, it “may be carried over by a Cabinet decision to the beginning or end of the week.” This applies to all UAE public holidays except for Eid. So, going forward, if a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, an extra day off would be announced for the Friday or Monday.
The resolution also added that “local governments may approve any other official holidays not mentioned in this resolution for their government departments and institutions on special occasions or for any other reason.” So, next year may also see the addition of further public holidays, which could be emirate specific.