Agency, Tadbeer, platform or direct hire: how to choose

Choose by who you want as her sponsor and what should happen if it doesn't work out. MOHRE's rules give a licensed agency or Tadbeer centre set packages and a duty to replace her or refund you in listed cases. With a platform or a direct hire, you find her yourself, sponsor her, and no office refund rules apply.

MOHRE, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, licenses recruitment offices and issues domestic workers' work permits. The routes differ mainly in whose file she is on: yours, as her sponsor and employer, or an office's. On every route, the Domestic Workers Decree-Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022) says a domestic worker may be employed only with a MOHRE work permit.

Is a Tadbeer centre different from a maid agency?

Not in MOHRE's rules that we found. Both are recruitment offices, and Tadbeer is a name many of MOHRE's approved domestic worker service centres use. MOHRE's packages, price rules and refund duties are written for licensed recruitment offices in general. Some home countries do name Tadbeer centres: see the Philippines, below.

So the difference that matters is the licence. Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, recruiting domestic workers or placing them temporarily requires a MOHRE licence, and doing either without one is punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine of AED 200,000 to AED 1,000,000, or both. MOHRE publishes its list of approved domestic worker service centres (opens in a new tab), and it warns that families who hire from unauthorised sources can be held liable for employing and illegally sheltering a worker who is in breach of the rules.

You can also use a service centre for the paperwork alone. MOHRE lists domestic worker service centres as one of the channels for its work permit service, along with its website, its app and Tawseel centres, so you can apply through one for a helper you found yourself. Our guide to Tadbeer centres covers what they do.

Maid agency vs direct hire: what's the difference?

The main differences are whose file she is on, who finds her, and who owes you what if it doesn't work out. In this guide, a platform means a site such as MaidMatch where you find helpers and contact them yourself; the platform column assumes you then hire her directly.

An agency or Tadbeer centre offers set packages. 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. As of September 2026, the four routes compare like this:

The last two columns match on the rules because a platform changes how you find her, not the legal set-up.

Agency or direct hire: which suits your family?

It depends on what you want to hand over to someone else:

• You want an office to find her, and a replacement or refund if it goes wrong: an agency or Tadbeer centre's Traditional package. You sponsor her and pay her salary.
• You'd rather not be her sponsor or employer: a Temporary package, where the office employs her and pays her salary.
• You need help by the hour, the day or for a set period: an office's Flexible package. Our guide to own-visa, visit-visa and part-time help explains what is legal.
• You want to find her yourself, and you meet MOHRE's sponsor conditions: a direct hire, found on a platform or through your own contacts.

What protection does an agency or Tadbeer centre give you?

A written contract, and set duties if it doesn't work out. Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, a family that recruits through an agency signs a MOHRE standard contract with the agency covering the worker requirements, the worker's rights, the costs the family pays and the recruitment timeline. In MOHRE's Traditional package, you are her sponsor and you pay for her visa, insurance and salary.

In a Temporary package, your family is the beneficiary: the Decree-Law makes the office her employer, and also governs her relationship with your family. 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.

A domestic worker's probation may not last more than six months from the start of employment. In a Traditional package, MOHRE sets out what the office owes you. During probation, a recruitment agency must replace the worker or refund the family if the worker is professionally or behaviourally unsuitable, is medically unfit, or ends the contract or refuses to work without a legitimate reason, or if the agency did not meet the recruitment conditions agreed with the family.

When a refund is due, a recruitment agency repays the full recruitment fee in the first month, the full fee plus government fees if the worker is medically unfit during probation, and otherwise a pro-rata share for the months left on the contract. In a Temporary package, the manual has the office replace her when needed, and if she is returned, you are refunded for the time she did not work.

Under MOHRE's operations manual for recruitment agencies, if an agency does not deliver a worker recruited from abroad within the agreed time, or within 30 days of getting the entry permit, the family may cancel and reclaim the recruitment and government costs.

That deadline is for a worker recruited from abroad. Under MOHRE's operations manual for recruitment agencies, when a family takes on a worker who is already in the UAE through an agency, the worker's file must be free of fines, it moves to the family after probation, and from then on the family is liable for fines on it.

An absconding report is an employer's report to MOHRE that a worker has abandoned her job. Under MOHRE's operations manual for recruitment agencies, an agency may not offer or place workers who have absconding reports or who are sponsored by someone else. Against all this, you pay a package price (see the costs below). Our guide to probation, replacement and refunds goes into more detail.

Can you hire a maid directly, without an agency?

Yes, as far as MOHRE is concerned, but you become her sponsor and employer, and her home country may restrict direct hiring from abroad. MOHRE's work permit service (opens in a new tab) is for employers recruiting a domestic worker "from inside or outside the country", and you can apply yourself on its website or app or at a Tawseel centre. Our guide to hiring a maid in the UAE walks through the steps.

As her sponsor, you have to meet MOHRE's conditions. To sponsor a domestic worker, an expatriate resident needs a recent salary certificate showing a family income of at least AED 25,000. Our guides to who can sponsor a maid and to hiring a helper who is already in the UAE cover the rest, including what applies if another family employs her now.

Hiring directly from abroad also depends on her home country, and some countries restrict it, so check the current rules with the worker's embassy or labour office before you commit. For example:

The Philippines: its Migrant Workers Office in Dubai (MWO Dubai) serves Dubai and the northern emirates, and its Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) sets the exemptions. MWO Dubai processes direct (name) hiring of Filipino domestic workers only under DMW's exemptions; otherwise, a worker newly recruited from the Philippines goes through an accredited Tadbeer service centre and a DMW-licensed Philippine recruitment agency. In Abu Dhabi, check the requirements with the Philippine Embassy. Our guide to which nationalities can work as maids covers other countries.

The trade-off: with no recruiting office, no office owes you a replacement or refund, and checking her documents, references and visa status is up to you. Our guide to checking references and documents shows what to look at.

Where does a platform like MaidMatch fit in?

It helps with the search, not the hire: you find a helper on the platform, then arrange the hire. 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.

Most helpers listed on MaidMatch are already in the UAE and ready to work, so you will usually be hiring someone who is already in the country. Each helper lists her own salary range on her profile.

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, and what that period covers. Our partners page has the details and the current price.

If a replacement or refund matters more to you than finding and vetting her yourself, a licensed office's package may suit you better.

How much does each route cost?

We found no official total for any route, so compare itemised quotes. As of September 2026, the official pages publish these points, among others:

• Office packages. MOHRE's employer guide says its approved recruitment offices offer recruitment prices determined by the Ministry. Under MOHRE's operations manual for recruitment agencies, an agency must use MOHRE-approved package prices, display them, and not charge anything extra. We found no official page that publishes the prices themselves, so ask each office for its price in writing.
• The office may not charge the helper. Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, a recruitment agency may not take any commission or expenses from a domestic worker.
• If you sponsor her. Before a work permit is issued, the employer must buy a domestic worker insurance policy that covers the worker's unpaid dues up to AED 20,000. Its premium isn't published on the official pages we checked, and MOHRE's permit card listed its fees by category, without amounts, when we read it on 29 September 2026.

Sponsors also pay residence fees. ICP, the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, handles residence, and its fees include this one: ICP charges foreign-resident sponsors AED 5,000 for each year of residence issued to a domestic worker, listed as a guarantee for the recruitment of domestic workers. ICP doesn't say whether it is refundable. The government's Work Bundle portal sends Dubai employers to the DubaiNow app for domestic-worker services, and links the other emirates to ICP's smart services.

On top come health cover under your emirate's rules and her salary, which you pay yourself unless she is on an office's Temporary or Flexible package. Our health insurance guide covers each emirate, our maid visa cost guide breaks down the government fees, and our salary guide shows what helpers ask for.

What should you check before you commit?

Six things, depending on your route:

1. Decide who should be her sponsor. If it's you, check that you meet MOHRE's conditions before you pay anyone; if you're unsure, ask MOHRE on 600 590000.
2. Check an office's licence on MOHRE's list of approved centres (opens in a new tab), and read the MOHRE standard contract you sign with it.
3. If an office or a visa service offers a two-year visa, ask who will sponsor her. MOHRE issues a domestic worker's permit for one year when the sponsor is an expatriate resident without a Golden Visa. MOHRE issues a new domestic worker permit for up to two years when the sponsor is a UAE citizen.
4. If she's already in the UAE, check her status: what visa she holds, who sponsors her now, and whether her current employer agrees to the move.
5. If she's abroad, check her home country's rules with its embassy or labour office.
6. Don't let her start until a MOHRE work permit covers the job. Employing a domestic worker without a work permit for that job is punishable by a fine of AED 50,000 to AED 200,000.