Can my employer refuse annual leave while I'm on probation in the UAE?

There is no rule in the Labour Law banning annual leave during probation, but your entitlement does build with service, which is where your manager's six-month idea comes from — in distorted form. The law gives thirty calendar days of annual leave per completed year, and once you pass six months of service you become entitled to leave on a pro-rated basis. Before that point you have little accrued statutory leave to insist on, and the employer also controls timing: leave dates are set according to work requirements, so a refusal during probation is usually lawful even where a blanket nothing-for-six-months policy appears nowhere in writing. What the company cannot do is erase the leave you are accruing — it stays on your balance and follows you. Practically: ask whether the refusal is about timing or policy, request unpaid leave if the need is urgent, and get any arrangement in writing. If refusals continue after your entitlement has clearly accrued, that becomes a matter you can raise with MOHRE. A UAE-licensed employment lawyer can read your contract and tell you exactly what you can demand, and when.