Introduction For the last few decades, socioeconomic and political developments in UAE have made the country one of the leading destinations for expatriates in the Gulf region. These developments have been made possible by the boom in the oil industry. Expansion in oil and service industries has resulted in huge infrastructure developments calling for expatriate labor to supplement the Emirati’s skills. With the arrival of expatriates, the UAE’s population has risen drastically. According to government reports, expatriates make up to 80% of the country’s total population. Just like Qatar and Oman, the country is faced with numerous human resource challenges. To secure its future stability, the country must enhance the skills of its citizens, promote their employment opportunities, and retain its expatriates. Currently, the country has formulated and implemented some reform efforts to tackle the challenges. In this regard, this paper focuses on the country’s new Emiratisation schemes, pension plans for expatriate workers, and proposed amendments to the employment law. New schemes to encourage Emiratisation Emiratisation is an initiative supported by the government of the United Arab Emirates to tackle the imbalance in the employment of the local population about that of expatriates. The imbalance has been evidenced in the private sector where 93% of the total workforces are expatriates (Khondker 2009, p. 4). Over the last decade, several labor market policies have been developed and implemented to encourage the employment of the natives through Emiratision programs. These programs are aimed at increasing the number of natives in employment sectors. As compared to education and training initiatives, Emiratisation programs would ensure that the number of natives in the employment sectors is increased within a shorter period. However, in the last few years, it has been noted that not all Emiratisation goals have been realized. Therefore, new schemes have been developed and implemented to enhance Emiratisation. Some of these plans include the Khalifa fund, the Seha Emiratisation drive, the Absher initiative, and Etihad Emiratisation programs (Balakrishnan 2011, p. 34). Through these programs, the government aims to increase the number of natives employed in the private sector. Through the Khalifa fund scheme, the government has provided another boost to Emiratisation empowerment. According to Ahmad Al Tayer, who is in charge of the Human Resource Development Committee in the banking and financial sector, the program will eventually increase the number of native employees in the private sector. Ever since its launch, the scheme has been the best nationwide initiative for the empowerment of Emiratisation in the private sector. After the launch of the Khalifa fund, UAE has taken the issue of the absorption of the Emiratis as an imperative nationwide act for everyone. The fund program offers subsidies to private firms. Through this, the firms are encouraged to employ and retain the skilled and unskilled native labor force while providing incentives that will enable the wages to be the same as those offered in the public sector. Another current Emiratisation scheme being implemented is the Absher initiative. Sheikh Mohammed, who is the current vice president of the United Arab Emirates, started the initiative. Apart from this initiative, the vice president has participated in priorit