Dreaming up your next big holiday? Us too. And to make things easier to start planning for next year, the UAE public holidays 2025 have already been announced.
It looks like we’ll have at least 12 public holidays in the UAE in 2025, with an additional day off if Ramadan is a 30-day month like it was in 2024.
The early announcement for UAE public holidays 2025 was made in May on the UAE’s official gazette following a review of several federal laws in the constitution.
The announcement saw a new resolution, under part two of UAE Cabinet Resolution No.27 of 2024. This outlined changes to how some public holidays are to be announced as of next year.
According to the resolution, if a holiday falls on the weekend, it “may be carried over by a Cabinet decision to the beginning or end of the week”. Although this doesn’t apply to Eid Al Fitr or Eid Al Adha, if a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, an extra day off could be announced on the Friday or Monday.
So, for example, if the resolution was in place this year then we could have had the Friday or Monday off of work for the Islamic New Year since it fell on the weekend.
Laws concerning labour relations, human resources and public holidays in the state were all reviewed and led to this resolution. Public holidays apply to both the private and public sector in the UAE.
The resolution on public holidays will come into effect from Wednesday January 1, 2025.
While we won’t know the exact dates until much closer to some of the public holiday dates as we rely on moon sightings for several major holidays, we do know the occasions we’ll be off for.
When are the UAE public holidays 2025?
- January 1 2025: New Year’s Day
- Ramadan 30: If Ramadan is a 30-day month
- Shawwal 1: Eid Al Fitr holiday
- Shawwal 2: Eid Al Fitr holiday
- Shawwal 3: Eid Al Fitr holiday
- Dhu Al Hijjah 9: Arafat Day
- Dhu Al Hijjah 10: Eid Al Adha
- Dhu Al Hijjah 11: Eid Al Adha
- Dhu Al Hijjah 12: Eid Al Adha
- Muharram 1: Islamic New Year
- Rabi Al Awwal 12: Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) birthday
- December 2: UAE National Day
- December 3: UAE National Day
Predicted UAE public holidays 2025
- New Year’s Day: January 1, 2025
- Eid Al Fitr: March 31 – April 2, 2025
- Arafat Day: May 30, 2025
- Eid Al Adha: May 31 – June 2, 2025
- Islamic New Year: June 27, 2025
- The Prophet Mohammed’s birthday: September 1, 2025
- National Day: December 2-3, 2025
A public holiday may not be carried forward if it falls on the same date as another public holiday or a weekend.
And local governments are allowed to approve any other official holidays not already outlined by the national cabinet.
