UAE Domestic Worker Visa Sponsorship: Eligibility, Process & Costs

Hiring a maid, nanny, cook, gardener, or driver to live and work in a UAE household requires sponsoring that person on a dedicated domestic worker residence visa, a category governed by Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 on Domestic Workers rather than the general private-sector labour law. The law recognises a specific list of domestic occupational categories, and any role outside that list, a personal assistant handling business tasks, for example, is treated as regular employment under a different channel rather than domestic worker sponsorship.

Not every UAE resident automatically qualifies to sponsor. The sponsor needs a valid UAE residence visa, suitable accommodation for the worker, and a minimum monthly income that is most commonly cited around AED 25,000, whether from a single income or a combined household income, though some sources describe lower thresholds when paired with specific accommodation arrangements. Golden Visa holders are generally treated more flexibly on this income threshold than standard residence visa holders.

Two distinct sponsorship paths exist, and the cost difference between them is significant. Going through a government-regulated Tadbeer centre, which handles recruitment and management under MOHRE oversight, commonly runs somewhere in the region of AED 8,500 to AED 12,000 for the first year, bundling the entry permit, medical test, health insurance, Emirates ID, and a WPS-compliant bank account into one package. Private sponsorship, where the household sponsors a worker directly rather than through Tadbeer, is typically costlier, often cited in the range of AED 15,000 to AED 22,000, partly because of the separate refundable deposit and recruitment agency fees involved.

Whichever path a household chooses, the process runs through licensed channels only; hiring someone on a visit visa to do domestic work, or informally taking over someone else's sponsored worker, is illegal and exposes the sponsor to fines. Since income thresholds, permitted nationalities under UAE's bilateral domestic worker agreements, and package pricing are all reviewed periodically, prospective sponsors should confirm current figures with MOHRE or a licensed Tadbeer centre before budgeting for a hire.