Why background screening is becoming critical in the Middle East’s hiring landscape
The Middle East is scaling fast, with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar hiring across borders and building new capabilities at pace. In the UAE, Emiratisation targets now apply to more companies, including firms with 20 to 49 employees that must add one Emirati hire in 2024 and another in 2025. In this environment, structured background screening helps employers hire confidently, protect their reputation, and stay aligned with evolving local rules.
What screening means in the region
Most employers verify identity, employment history, education, and professional licenses, with additional checks for regulated roles. Many also request a police clearance or “good conduct” certificate when a role requires it. In the UAE, candidates can obtain these certificates through Dubai Police or the UAE Ministry of Interior.
Why now
Compliance is rising. Emiratisation targets are tracked through official systems and enforced on a regular cadence, which makes accurate documentation and auditable processes non-negotiable. The policy expansion to the 20 to 49 segment reinforces the need for disciplined hiring controls and clear records. Read the policy details on MoHRE’s media centre.
Privacy laws are maturing. The UAE’s federal Personal Data Protection Law and the national overview of the PDPL set expectations for consent, purpose limitation, security, and cross-border transfers. Saudi Arabia’s rules add transfer conditions and safeguards through the PDPL implementing regulation.
Risk is visible. Global benchmarks continue to show frequent discrepancies uncovered during screening, especially in employment and education history across EMEA. The HireRight 2024 Global Benchmark Report provides current data points that support a verify-first mindset.
Country lens: hiring with the right controls
United Arab Emirates. The UAE PDPL and the national portal guidance set expectations for lawful basis, transparency, minimisation, and cross-border controls that should flow through HR processes and vendor contracts. Employers also work under Emiratisation oversight and are encouraged to plan hiring throughout the year. When roles or licensing require it, candidates can apply for police clearance through MoI or Dubai Police.
Saudi Arabia. The PDPL implementing regulation requires accuracy, security, and appropriate safeguards for cross-border processing, which shapes how HR teams collect and store candidate data. Financial services and other regulated firms often need to demonstrate the fitness and propriety of key personnel, supported by screening and record-keeping aligned to SAMA’s fit and proper criteria.
Qatar. Screening programs should reflect controller duties and data subject rights in Qatar’s Personal Data Privacy Protection Law No. 13 of 2016 and follow the National Cyber Governance and Assurance Affairs guidance.
A practical note that often comes up in UAE hiring conversations. Visa grace periods after job loss can extend up to 180 days depending on visa type, which is why internal guidance should reference the official residence visa provisions rather than a single fixed figure.
The business risks of not screening in a maturing market
Credential inflation, unverifiable experience, and misalignment with licensing standards create avoidable risk, particularly when regulators track outcomes and expect clear records. The HireRight 2024 report highlights where discrepancies most often appear in EMEA, which supports disciplined verification before offers are finalised. Regulated sectors add another layer through fitness and propriety requirements in DIFC and Saudi Arabia, outlined in the DFSA rulebook and SAMA’s criteria.
What good looks like: a compliant, human-centred screening program
Lead with relationships and clarity. Explain to candidates why you screen and how it protects both parties. Obtain informed consent, collect only what is necessary, set clear retention periods, and secure data throughout the process in line with the UAE PDPL and Saudi transfer rules. Plan for cross-border checks early and align vendor contracts with transfer conditions. For financial services and other regulated sectors, match the depth of checks to fitness and propriety standards and keep auditable records for supervisors using the DFSA guidance and SAMA rulebook. When roles require official clearances, guide candidates to government channels such as MoI or Dubai Police.
How Veremark helps employers in the Middle East
Veremark delivers source-verified checks for employment, education, licenses, and more, with workflows that respect UAE, Saudi, and Qatari privacy requirements. Reports and dashboards support audit readiness and give HR teams clarity over screening status and outcomes, which helps organisations stay ahead of Emiratisation tracking and internal compliance.
Build a trusted hiring program in the Middle East
The Middle East is hiring for growth. A thoughtful screening program helps you build trust with candidates, reduce risk, and keep pace with local rules without slowing your process. If you are hiring in the UAE, start with MoHRE’s guidance on target expansion, then align your screening, consent, and data flows with the UAE PDPL.
If you would like a quick walkthrough or a sample screening plan tailored to your roles, reach out to our UAE team and we will set it up.
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FAQs
FAQs
This depends on the industry and type of role you are recruiting for. To determine whether you need reference checks, identity checks, bankruptcy checks, civil background checks, credit checks for employment or any of the other background checks we offer, chat to our team of dedicated account managers.
Many industries have compliance-related employment check requirements. And even if your industry doesn’t, remember that your staff have access to assets and data that must be protected. When you employ a new staff member you need to be certain that they have the best interests of your business at heart. Carrying out comprehensive background checking helps mitigate risk and ensures a safer hiring decision.
Again, this depends on the type of checks you need. Simple identity checks can be carried out in as little as a few hours but a worldwide criminal background check for instance might take several weeks. A simple pre-employment check package takes around a week. Our account managers are specialists and can provide detailed information into which checks you need and how long they will take.
All Veremark checks are carried out online and digitally. This eliminates the need to collect, store and manage paper documents and information making the process faster, more efficient and ensures complete safety of candidate data and documents.
In a competitive marketplace, making the right hiring decisions is key to the success of your company. Employment background checks enables you to understand more about your candidates before making crucial decisions which can have either beneficial or catastrophic effects on your business.
Background checks not only provide useful insights into a candidate’s work history, skills and education, but they can also offer richer detail into someone’s personality and character traits. This gives you a huge advantage when considering who to hire. Background checking also ensures that candidates are legally allowed to carry out certain roles, failed criminal and credit checks could prevent them from working with vulnerable people or in a financial function.
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