Live-in or live-out maid: cost, rules and which suits your family

Live-in suits a family with space for her and varying hours; live-out suits one that wants privacy or set hours. Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, the employer must provide a domestic worker with suitable accommodation. On MaidMatch, live-in-only and live-out-only helpers had the same median asking salary, AED 3,000 a month (13 and 49 profiles, 29 September 2026).

A live-in helper lives in your home; a live-out helper lives elsewhere and comes to you for her working hours. Live-out describes where she lives, not her visa. The Domestic Workers Decree-Law is Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022, and MOHRE, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, issues domestic workers' work permits. As of September 2026, the Decree-Law lets a family employ a domestic worker only with a MOHRE work permit for the job.

What is the difference between a live-in and a live-out maid?

Where she lives, and with it who provides her housing and who can sponsor her. A licensed recruitment office holds a MOHRE licence to recruit domestic workers or place them with families temporarily; many of the service centres on MOHRE's approved list are branded Tadbeer. As of September 2026, MOHRE recognises three packages from licensed recruitment offices: Traditional, where the worker is on the family's own file and lives with the family; Temporary, where a worker registered with the office works for the family; and Flexible, where a worker registered with the office works for the family by the hour, day, week, month, six months or year.

In the table, salaries are asking salaries on MaidMatch. The median is the figure in the middle when helpers are lined up from the lowest asking salary to the highest, and the middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile.

Do you have to provide accommodation for your maid?

Yes, if you employ her. Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, the employer must provide a domestic worker with suitable accommodation. We found no official page that defines suitable accommodation, sets a minimum room size or requires a separate room, so if your home is small, check with MOHRE on 600 590000 before you apply.

Meals and clothing have a rule of their own. Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, the employer must provide a full-time domestic worker with meals and work clothing, unless they agree otherwise. We found no official figure for what either should cost. Our guide to maid room requirements has a checklist for setting up her room.

Who sponsors a live-out maid?

A licensed recruitment office: it holds her visa in its Flexible package, or sponsors her in its Temporary package if you agree with it that she lives out. If you would sponsor her yourself, we found no official page that says whether she may live outside your home, so ask MOHRE first (see below). Where she sleeps doesn't change the visa rules, and a helper's own visa isn't enough on its own.

Through a licensed recruitment office

Under MOHRE's operations manual for recruitment agencies, the agency sponsors the worker in the Temporary package and holds the worker's visa in the Flexible package, and in both it pays the worker's salary, legal entitlements and medical costs.

In the Flexible package, she lives in housing the office provides. Under MOHRE's operations manual for recruitment agencies, a worker on the Flexible package may not work more than 8 hours a day, and the agency provides housing and transport to and from the family, compensates the family for damage the worker causes, and refunds unused hours if the arrangement ends early.

In the Temporary package, the office is her legal employer and your family directs her daily work. The International Labour Organization (ILO), in its May 2024 summary of UAE rules, says she lives at the work site your family specifies, unless you and the office agree otherwise. So for her to live out, you agree it with the office.

Before you pay, check the office on MOHRE's list of approved domestic worker service centres (opens in a new tab), or call MOHRE on 600 590000. Our guide to Tadbeer centres explains how they work.

If you sponsor her yourself

You are then her employer, so the accommodation duty above is yours. MOHRE's description of the Traditional package, where your family sponsors her through an office, has her living with your family.

If she is on another family's visa, a visit visa or her own

• Another family sponsors her. The Decree-Law's Executive Regulations are Cabinet Resolution No. 106 of 2022. Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, a domestic worker may not work for anyone other than their employer, except as its Executive Regulations or MOHRE decisions allow. We found no official page that lists those exceptions.
• She is on a visit or tourist visa. She may not start work on one. Employing a domestic worker without a work permit for that job is punishable by a fine of AED 50,000 to AED 200,000.
• Her husband or a relative sponsors her residence. We found no official page that says whether MOHRE will issue you a domestic worker permit for her, so ask MOHRE on 600 590000 before she starts.

Our guide to own-visa, visit-visa and part-time help explains each case, and our guide to hiring a helper who is already in the UAE covers moving her to your sponsorship.

Do live-in and live-out maids get the same rest and day off?

Yes. The Decree-Law's rest rules are written for every domestic worker it covers, so they apply whether she lives in or out:

• A domestic worker is entitled to one paid day off a week.
• A domestic worker is entitled to at least 12 hours of rest a day, of which at least 8 must be consecutive.
• If a domestic worker works on the weekly day off, the employer must give another day off or pay cash instead.

We found no maximum number of working hours in the Decree-Law itself, so in practice her rest hours are what limit her day. In the Flexible package, MOHRE's operations manual also caps her daily hours (see above).

Living in can blur the line between work and rest, so agree her daily timetable and her day off when you hire her. For a live-out helper, agree her start and finish times and how she will get to you. Our guide to day off, working hours and rest goes further.

Is a live-out maid more expensive than a live-in maid?

Only at the lower end of asking salaries, in our data, and each arrangement brings other costs. On 29 September 2026, helpers on MaidMatch who listed live-in only and those who listed live-out only had the same median asking salary, AED 3,000 a month (13 and 49 profiles).

The live-in group's middle half started lower: AED 2,000 to AED 3,500, against AED 2,500 to AED 3,500 for live-out (13 and 49 profiles, 29 September 2026). Helpers open to either arrangement had a median of AED 2,500, with a middle half of AED 2,500 to AED 3,000 (37 profiles, 29 September 2026). Our data doesn't show why, and with only 13 live-in-only profiles, treat the live-in figures as a rough guide.

These are asking salaries on one platform, not a market survey: the bottom of each helper's own range, from every public profile that was active and marked available on MaidMatch that day. The UAE sets no statutory minimum wage for domestic workers, the ILO's May 2024 summary says, so you and she agree her pay; her home country may set a floor for contracts it verifies. Our salary guide has the full data, and our guide to minimum salaries by nationality covers home-country floors.

Beyond her salary, the costs differ by arrangement:

• Live-in. Her accommodation. If she is full-time, also her meals and work clothing, unless you agree otherwise (see above).
• Live-out. Ask what her figure is meant to cover, such as her own housing and transport, and agree it in writing. We found no official page that sets a housing or transport allowance for a domestic worker.
• In an office's Temporary or Flexible package. You pay the office's package price, and the office pays her salary. MOHRE's employer guide says its approved recruitment offices offer recruitment prices determined by the Ministry, but we found no official page that publishes them, so ask for the price in writing.

If you sponsor her yourself, the costs of sponsoring her come on top, from her visa and work permit to insurance. Our guides to maid visa costs, health insurance by emirate and a live-in maid's first-year budget break them down.

Live-in or live-out: which suits your family?

It comes down to your space, the hours you need and how much privacy you want. As a rough guide:

Then work through these steps:

1. Check your space. If she will live in, you provide her accommodation (see above). Our guide to maid room requirements has a setup checklist.
2. Write down the hours you need. Include early mornings, evenings and weekends, and check them against her rest rules (see above).
3. Decide who will sponsor her. You, or a licensed office in one of its packages. To hire a live-out helper directly, ask MOHRE on 600 590000 first. Our guide to agencies, Tadbeer and direct hire compares the routes.
4. Set a budget. Start from what helpers ask for, then add her accommodation and meals if she lives in, or ask what her figure covers if she lives out.
5. Talk to helpers. Ask each what visa she holds now and whether she wants to live in or out, and use our interview questions to compare them.

How can MaidMatch help?

By letting you filter helpers by live-in or live-out work, so you can compare them before you get in touch. MaidMatch is a free platform for families: they can browse every profile at no cost, with no registration or subscription required. Families contact helpers directly on WhatsApp, through the Hire button on each profile.

Each helper lists her own salary range on her profile. Most helpers listed on MaidMatch are already in the UAE and ready to work, so ask each helper what visa she holds now, and don't let her start until a MOHRE work permit covers the job.

Sponsorship is the employer's responsibility; families can manage the visa themselves or ask MaidMatch to connect them with its visa partners. MaidMatch's visa partner offers a two-year employment visa, with the visa, medical test, Emirates ID and insurance handled end to end. Ask the partner who sponsors her on that visa, what the two years cover and whether she may live out. Our partners page has the details and the current price.