Khalid Al Mazrouei, 29, leaves his flat in Sharjah at 6:40 every morning, joins the crawl down the E311 into Dubai, and spends his day as a customer-service officer at a private bank in DIFC. His salary is Dhs5,500 a month — decent, but with a wife, a four-year-old, a one-year-old, and Sharjah rent, the Nafis top-up on his payslip has been the difference between getting by and getting ahead. It made a private-sector job viable for an Emirati graduate like him.

Now that support is on a timer. Nafis is being overhauled: the employment benefits for Emiratis earning below Dhs6,000 a month are being wound down in three stages, ending in January 2028 — while new family benefits are being introduced alongside. Here's the exact timeline, who's affected, what replaces part of it, and what to do at each stage. (We're an independent guide, not a government body — confirm everything on the official Nafis portal.)

The phase-out timeline

Three phases, no ambiguity. Phase 1 (September 2026 to February 2027): full benefits continue — nothing changes for Khalid yet. Phase 2 (March to August 2027): benefits are cut by 30%. Phase 3 (September to November 2027): the cut deepens to 70%. From January 2028, the employment support ends.

The reduction applies to Emiratis earning below Dhs6,000 a month, primarily those in the private sector — exactly the group Nafis was designed to pull into private jobs. Use the timeline calculator at the top of this page to see how the phase-out hits your own household month by month.

The new family benefits

It isn't all takeaway. Alongside the phase-out, new family support was announced: there's no cap on the child allowance, and spouses — plus children of Emirati mothers — can receive up to Dhs3,000 a month in support.

These are separate from the phased employment support, and they'll likely need their own applications. For a father of two like Khalid, the child allowance could offset a meaningful chunk of what the employment support took away — but run your own numbers on the calculator above rather than assuming.

What to do before each phase

Before Phase 2 (March 2027): rebuild your household budget with the 30% cut applied, and start the conversation with your employer about your salary trajectory — the whole point of the phase-out is to push private-sector wages up. Before Phase 3 (September 2027): check whether the new family benefits offset your loss, and make sure any applications for them are in. Before January 2028: have a plan that doesn't rely on Nafis employment support at all — whether that's a raise, a promotion, or new skills.

Khalid's move: he's enrolled in an evening banking certification course, aiming for a promotion before Phase 3 bites. The phase-out is programme policy, not an individual decision — you can't appeal the timeline, so the only winning move is to get ahead of it.

Don't trust the WhatsApp forwards

Every policy change in the Emirates spawns a wave of forwarded messages — and this one is no exception. Fake 'Nafis extension' announcements and bogus 'register here to keep your benefits' links are already circulating. The official Nafis portal is the only place to check your status and apply for the new family benefits.

Never enter your Emirates ID or bank details on a link that arrived by WhatsApp. If a message promises the phase-out is cancelled, it's fiction — this guide, and the official portal, are where the real timeline lives.

Why Nafis is changing

To understand the phase-out, you have to understand what Nafis was for. Launched to pull Emiratis into private-sector jobs, it topped up salaries so that a private-sector offer could compete with the higher pay and shorter hours of government roles. It worked — thousands of Emiratis, like Khalid, built careers in banks, insurers, and private companies.

The phase-out is the programme declaring partial victory: the idea is that by now, private-sector salaries and career paths should stand on their own, and the new family benefits — the uncapped child allowance, the Dhs3,000 spouse support — shift help from employment top-ups toward family support. Whether wages actually rise to fill the gap is the open question every affected household is watching.

Khalid's read is pragmatic: 'The top-up got me in the door. Now I have to make the salary do the talking.' His evening certification course finishes in November — just before Phase 3.