Employment rules · 9 min read · Updated October 2026

The salary file, country by country: what each Gulf wage file carries, and why one fails

What the salary file carries in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman: how it reaches the authority, how it names each employee, the account details, how the pay is broken down and what makes a file fail.

What does a Gulf salary file carry?

Each country's salary file is different. Each names every employee and the account their pay goes into. Saudi Arabia's names each worker by national ID or Iqama number. Bahrain's uses the CPR, and Oman's the civil or resident card number. These three also set out how the month's pay is broken down for the authority to check. A file fails on a total that does not add up, an account the bank rejects or a missing identity number.

See how each country's file reaches the authority

The salary file is the month's instruction to pay and its record at once. How it travels differs by country.

Country	The file	How it reaches the authority
Saudi Arabia	A text file in the ministry's tagged layout: one header for the establishment, then a group of fields for each employee	Your entity sends it to its bank, which pays each line, adds the result and signs the file. Your entity then uploads the signed file to Mudad
The UAE	A salary file for each establishment registered with MOHRE	Through a bank, an exchange house or another institution the UAE Central Bank authorises
Qatar	A salary file	Through your entity's bank, into each worker's account at a financial institution in Qatar
Kuwait	A salary file	Through a local bank, on the Central Bank of Kuwait's wage payment system
Bahrain	A spreadsheet on the LMRA's own template, or the same details entered in the portal	Uploaded to the WPS portal in the LMRA's Expat Management System, and approved there. Your entity then approves the payment through its bank's own channel. The file goes through BENEFIT, Bahrain's network for electronic payments, and the bank pays
Oman	A CSV file in the Ministry of Labour's unified layout. Its name joins the employer's commercial registration number, the bank's short name, the date and a sequence number	Through your entity's bank

In Saudi Arabia, the file makes the journey twice: to the bank to pay, then to Mudad with the bank's results. Our guide to Mudad sets out that month in full.

Name each employee the way the authority does

Every line names the employee by a number the authority already holds.

Country	How the file names each employee
Saudi Arabia	By the national ID number for a Saudi national, and the Iqama number for an expatriate. The name on the line is the one the bank holds for the account
The UAE	By the personal number MOHRE gives each employee, from your entity's own MOHRE records
Bahrain	By the CPR number, or by the GCC ID for a national of another Gulf country, with the worker's name
Oman	By the civil or resident card number, marked C, or by the passport number, marked P. The name is written as it appears on that document
Qatar and Kuwait	Payroll holds each employee's QID in Qatar, and civil ID number in Kuwait

In Bahrain, the identity number must also match the bank's own record. An account held under a different number cannot be activated for pay.

Give account details the bank will accept

Each line names the account the pay goes into.

Country	The account details
Saudi Arabia	The employee's IBAN, in capital letters, or the record number of a prepaid salary card at your entity's own bank. Where the account is at another Saudi bank, that bank's SARIE code. In the header, your entity's own account, its bank, its ministry establishment number and a file reference used only once. Every amount is in riyals
The UAE	The account the wages go into, at the institution that pays them
Qatar	An account in the employee's name at a financial institution in Qatar
Kuwait	An account at a local bank
Bahrain	The IBAN, or a wallet number from a payment service provider approved by the Central Bank of Bahrain and registered with the LMRA. The account must be active, a payroll or current account, and in the worker's own name. A worker can hold more than one, with one set as the default
Oman	The SWIFT code of the employee's bank, and their account number or IBAN. In the header, the employer's commercial registration number, the payer's, the bank's short name and the account wages are paid from

In Bahrain, the employee's own bank need not be one of the banks taking part in WPS.

In Oman, another company in the same group can pay the wages. Both have to be registered as one group with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion.

Break the pay down the way each authority reads it

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman each publish how the pay on a line is broken down. The breakdown lets the authority check the pay against the contract.

Take one employee whose contract fixes a basic salary, a housing allowance and a transport allowance. This month they also work overtime and earn a bonus. Each country's file puts the same pay in different places.

Part of the month's pay	Saudi Arabia	Bahrain	Oman
Basic pay	Basic pay	Fixed salary	Basic pay, which must be above zero
Housing allowance	Housing allowance	Fixed salary	Extra income
Transport allowance	Other earnings	Fixed salary	Extra income
Overtime	Other earnings	Variable salary	Extra income, with the overtime hours in a field of their own
Bonus	Other earnings	Variable salary	Extra income
What the line shows	Net pay: basic pay plus housing plus other earnings, less deductions	The total of fixed salary, social allowance and variable salary	Net pay: basic pay plus extra income, less deductions and social security deductions

In Bahrain, fixed salary is what the contract pays each month whatever the hours worked. So an allowance the contract fixes belongs in it. Social allowance is usually paid only to Bahraini nationals, and is entered as zero where it does not apply. The month on the line is the one the salary is for, not the month it is paid.

In Saudi Arabia, deductions include the employee's share of GOSI, unpaid absence and loan repayments. Other earnings also take in leave paid out.

In Oman, the employee's social security share has a field of its own, and the line records the days worked. Each other deduction is explained in the line's notes. The notes also justify any gap between the registered contract and the wage paid.

Catch what makes a file fail before it goes

A file can fail whole, or one line at a time. A failed line is an employee who has not been paid.

Where	What fails	Why
Saudi Arabia, at the bank	The whole file	A total that is not the sum of the lines, or a file reference used before
Saudi Arabia, at the bank	One line	A duplicate line, an invalid or closed account, a name that does not match the account, or an account blocked because the holder's ID or Iqama has expired
Saudi Arabia, at Mudad	The whole file	A file opened after the bank returned it, an establishment number missing or wrong, or pay in a currency other than riyals
Saudi Arabia, at Mudad	One record	A net amount that is not basic pay plus housing plus other earnings less deductions, a negative amount, a total of zero, or no ID or Iqama number
Bahrain, when the account is set up	One worker's account	An account that is closed, dormant or blocked, an account that is not a payroll or current account, a joint account at a bank that refuses them, or an identity number that does not match the bank's
Bahrain, in the portal	A worker left out of the file	A worker not registered with SIO, or whose details or bank account are incomplete, does not appear in the file at all

In Saudi Arabia, the file the bank returns gives a code for each failed line. In Bahrain, the portal shows the reason, and the file can be resubmitted.

A line that fails is a wage that has not arrived. The rules on late wages then apply, as our guide to wage protection in the Gulf sets out.

Send each payment in a file built for it

Bahrain and Oman each set what one file can hold.

Country	The rule
Bahrain	A salary file is confirmed every month, even when nothing has changed. Last month's file cannot be reused. One file can carry two months' salaries. One worker's salary can be split between two accounts
Oman	The header names the type of payment: wages, incentives, overtime, allowances or end of service. The ministry recommends a separate file for each pay frequency, monthly or every two weeks

Release a salary file that has already been checked

A rejected line can surface on payday, when an employee finds they have not been paid. The time to find the error is before the file is built.

On our payroll, each salary file is built from the approved run. Nothing is delivered until you have approved it. A new starter's bank details are checked as they arrive, against the rule the salary file uses. The file is not produced while an employee's ID number or bank account is missing. In Saudi Arabia and Qatar, every IBAN and ID number is checked before the file is released.

For Bahrain, the file is built to the LMRA's template, ready for its WPS portal. For Kuwait, it is set up to your bank's format when you start. In the UAE, a file is produced for each establishment, under its own MOHRE number. Our UAE file names each employee by their MOHRE personal number. It splits each line into fixed and variable pay, with the days of unpaid leave.

Your entity sends each file and pays its people.

Common questions.

Is the salary file the same in every Gulf country?

No. Each country's file has its own layout, its own identity number and its own route. Saudi Arabia's file goes to the bank first and to Mudad after. Bahrain's goes to the LMRA's portal first and to the bank after.

Which identity number goes on the salary file?

In Saudi Arabia, the national ID or Iqama number. In the UAE, the personal number MOHRE gives the employee. In Bahrain, the CPR, or the GCC ID for a national of another Gulf country. In Oman, the civil or resident card number, or the passport number.

What happens when one line of the file fails?

That employee is not paid until the line is put right. The bank or the portal gives the reason. Correct the record and send that payment again before the wage counts as late.

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