Prior to the Federation's establishment in 1971, the Trucial States followed a mix of local and regional timekeeping practices. After unification, the UAE adopted Gulf Standard Time (UTC+04:00) as the official time zone, aligning with neighboring Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries like Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Did you know?

Things about United Arab Emirates's time.

Fact · 01

Given its geographic location, UAE clocks run about an hour ahead of solar noon, meaning sunrise and sunset occur relatively late by the clock. This has little effect on social life since most of the population works indoors and air-conditioned spaces long past midday heat. The uniform time zone also simplifies scheduling across the seven emirates, unlike larger federal nations that span multiple time zones.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about United Arab Emirates's time zone, daylight saving rules, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].

What is the time difference between UAE and GMT?: UAE is 4 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+04:00).
Does UAE observe daylight saving time?: No, UAE does not observe daylight saving time and remains at UTC+04:00 year-round.
What is the time difference between UAE and the UK?: UAE is 4 hours ahead of the UK when the UK is on GMT, and 3 hours ahead during British Summer Time.
What is the time difference between UAE and the US?: UAE is typically 8-12 hours ahead of the US, depending on the US time zone. For example, UAE is 8 hours ahead of New York and 11 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
Is there any difference in time across the UAE?: No, there is no difference in time across the entire country; the whole nation uses Asia/Dubai (UTC+04:00).

Free · Developer API

Time, as JSON.

Every IANA time zone with live offsets, DST status, and the countries and cities that use them — clean, dependable JSON. Sign up free and get an API key in seconds.

GET /v1/timezones Live

countries, cities, convert, DST transitions coming next.

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// France's time zones, right now

GET /v1/timezones?country=fr

{

"data": [

{

"iana": "Europe/Paris",

"display_name": "Paris",

"current": {

"utc_offset": "+02:00",

"abbreviation": "CEST",

"is_dst": true

}

]

}