Maid visa cost in the UAE: government fees, deposits and service fees

We found no official total for a maid visa. As of September 2026, 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's other fees, MOHRE's permit fees, insurance and the medical test come on top, and several aren't published.

Two federal bodies publish most of these fees. MOHRE, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, issues the work permit. ICP, the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, handles residence and publishes the guarantee, residence and Emirates ID fees. 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.

This guide covers an expatriate resident who sponsors a helper directly. MOHRE's renewal fee table has separate, lower tiers for UAE and GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) citizens and diplomats, and they don't include ICP's guarantee. If a recruitment office will sponsor her instead, see the service fees below.

How much does a maid visa cost in the UAE?

We found no single official figure. The total depends on your emirate, whether she is already in the UAE and who files the application. These are the main charges the official pages list for an expatriate sponsor, including the ones they don't price:

Read the table as a checklist, not a sum. MOHRE's renewal fee for a resident employer appears to include ICP's guarantee, so count the guarantee once. Where a row says an amount isn't published, ask for it in writing before you pay.

Which government fees do you pay for a maid visa?

You pay ICP's guarantee, residence permit and Emirates ID fees and MOHRE's permit fees, plus ICP's status adjustment fee if she is already in the UAE. ICP publishes its amounts. MOHRE publishes its renewal and cancellation fees, but we found no current MOHRE page that gives what a new permit costs.

ICP's guarantee

For an expatriate family, it's the largest published government charge on a new visa (see the table). ICP's page doesn't say whether it is refundable, so budget for it as a cost, not as a deposit you'll get back. If anyone other than you will sponsor her, such as a recruitment office, ask how its price treats the guarantee.

Residence permit and Emirates ID fees

These are small next to the guarantee, and the table gives ICP's amounts. ICP's residence permit page (opens in a new tab) lists fees for several kinds of residence and gives no total for a domestic worker, and its Emirates ID fee is the general one for residents. ICP last updated both on 11 December 2024, so before you pay, check which rows apply to her file with the centre or service handling it, or with MOHRE on 600 590000.

MOHRE's permit fees and the insurance policy

We found no current MOHRE page that gives the amounts. When we read its new permit card (opens in a new tab) on 29 September 2026, it listed fee categories for Dubai and for the other emirates, but no amounts. One of its steps is paying the required fees, and one of its conditions is an adequate insurance policy on your file, so ask MOHRE on 600 590000, or the centre handling your application, for both amounts before you apply.

This policy is separate from health insurance. 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. MOHRE says it also covers repatriation of her body if she dies. Its premium isn't published on the official pages we checked.

The medical fitness test

Its fee isn't published on any official page we could read. MOHRE's employer guide puts the test after a helper from abroad arrives, next to her Emirates ID biometrics and before her residence permit, and MOHRE's renewal card asks for a valid medical fitness result. Ask the medical fitness centre, or whoever files for you, for the current fee before you book.

Is there a refundable deposit for a maid visa?

The only refundable deposit we found on an official page is India's, for some Indian workers hired directly. ICP's guarantee isn't described as refundable, and the financial security deposit fee in ICP's list is a fee, listed separately from the guarantee. If a recruitment office or a visa service asks you for a deposit, get its refund terms in writing before you pay.

India's deposit depends on her passport and the route. ECR is a status some Indian passports carry: the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi's insurance page spells it out as Emigration Check Required, and the Consulate General of India in Dubai as Emigration Clearance Required. The Embassy sets out a process for recruiting Indian women with ECR passports through eMigrate, India's online emigration system.

A UAE family recruiting an Indian woman with an ECR passport directly through eMigrate pays a refundable AED 9,200 deposit when her visa is attested at the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi or the Consulate General of India in Dubai, as applicable. The Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi says that if Indian women with ECR passports are recruited through an agency, the agency must be one of the 11 state government-run recruitment agencies on its list, and the refundable deposit is then not mandatory.

The Embassy's page sets out how the deposit is refunded: when the contract ends by mutual consent, you and she attend the Embassy in Abu Dhabi together before her final departure. She also has an exit interview there before her final departure. It makes no refund if she is sent back to India without her dues being cleared, so read its conditions before you pay.

Sri Lanka asks for a deposit too when a Sri Lankan woman is hired directly as a domestic worker. The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment's page (opens in a new tab) and the Sri Lankan Embassy's 2020 page (opens in a new tab) give different amounts, and the Embassy's page calls it non-refundable, so confirm the amount and terms with the Embassy before you pay.

Other home countries set their own rules. Our guides to hiring an Indian helper and to which nationalities can work as maids cover them.

What does health insurance for a maid cost?

It depends on your emirate, and we found a published price only for the northern emirates. It comes on top of the domestic worker insurance policy above.

• Dubai. Health insurance is required, and you pay. In Dubai, employers must enrol their employees in health insurance, and sponsors must enrol the people they sponsor who have no employer cover; employers and sponsors pay the cost, may not charge it to the insured person, and must produce the policy when a residence permit is issued or renewed. We couldn't verify what a Dubai plan costs, so ask insurers for quotes.
• Northern emirates. In Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah, health insurance for domestic workers has been mandatory since 1 January 2025, paid by the employer; the basic package costs AED 320 a year. MOHRE's basic health insurance package for the northern emirates is valid for two years, and the second-year premium can be refunded if the visa is cancelled. The package also has co-payments and some exclusions, which our health insurance guide lists.
• Abu Dhabi. In Abu Dhabi, as in every emirate, the employer must pay for a domestic worker's medical care under the UAE health system or provide health insurance under the applicable health laws. MOHRE's renewal service says that in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, employers are required to provide adequate medical insurance to their domestic workers. We found no official price for a plan there, so ask insurers for quotes.

Our health insurance guide goes through each emirate's rules in more detail.

What do Tadbeer centres, typing centres and visa services charge?

We found no official price list for any of them. Many of MOHRE's approved domestic worker service centres are branded Tadbeer, and their package prices aren't published on any official page we could read. Nor are the charges of typing centres, the private offices that fill in and submit applications for you. Visa services quote their own prices.

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. Ask each office for its package price in writing, and ask to see the prices it displays. Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, a recruitment agency may not take any commission or expenses from a domestic worker.

Some packages change who pays what. 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. So before you compare a Temporary or Flexible package price with the table, ask what it covers.

If an office recruits her for you and the hire doesn't work out, some of what you paid can come back. A domestic worker's probation may not last more than six months from the start of employment. In a Traditional package, where you are her sponsor, MOHRE's rules set the amount. 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, if she is returned, you are refunded for the time she did not work. Our guide to probation, replacement and refunds covers when a refund is due.

Ask what a two-year offer means for you, too. MOHRE issues a domestic worker's permit for one year when the sponsor is an expatriate resident without a Golden Visa. If an office advertises a two-year visa, ask who will sponsor her: MOHRE issues a new domestic worker permit for up to two years when the sponsor is a UAE citizen.

The one fixed official figure is for business centres that process MOHRE transactions for you: MOHRE's service cards for domestic workers cap business-centre commission at AED 72. That cap is for commission on MOHRE's transactions; we found no official page that says it limits a recruitment office's package price or a typing centre's charges.

Whoever you use, ask for a written, itemised quote that answers these questions:

• Which government fees are included, and which do you pay yourself?
• Is ICP's guarantee included, and who will be her sponsor?
• Are the medical test, the Emirates ID and both insurance policies included?
• What comes back if the application is rejected, or if she leaves during probation?

How much does it cost to renew or cancel a maid visa?

As of September 2026, MOHRE's renewal fee table lists a resident employer at AED 5,215 under its one-year tier outside Dubai, and at AED 5,335.75 in Dubai, where it gives no term. Cancelling a domestic worker's work permit or entry permit through MOHRE costs AED 65, or AED 85.75 in Dubai.

The renewal fee appears to include ICP's yearly guarantee, so don't add the guarantee on top. MOHRE issues a domestic worker's permit for one year when the sponsor is an expatriate resident without a Golden Visa. MOHRE says that, apart from federal charges, its domestic worker contract renewal is free on its website and smart app, and that its renewal fees exclude tax and collection charges.

MOHRE's conditions for renewing a domestic worker's employment contract include that the worker is inside the UAE, with a passport valid for at least three months, a valid medical fitness result, a medical insurance policy and an Emirates ID renewal application, so budget for her insurance and, if she needs one, a new medical fitness test: we found no official page that says whether each renewal needs one. MOHRE's renewal card (opens in a new tab) has the full list.

No official page we found says who pays the cancellation fee. In the northern emirates, ask your insurer about refunding the second year of the basic health package. Our guide to renewing a maid visa gives the renewal fees for citizens, diplomats and investors too, with the steps and timing, and our guide to cancelling a maid visa covers ending one.

What does it cost if she is already in the UAE?

ICP's fee for a status adjustment (changing status inside the UAE) is AED 500, and we found no official page that gives a separate fee for a transfer. Otherwise, the table is your guide: MOHRE's permit service covers a worker who is already in the country, and her new residence follows the change of status. We found no official page that says whether she needs a new medical test or biometrics, so ask MOHRE on 600 590000.

When the worker is already inside the UAE, MOHRE asks for the worker's tourist visa, if they are on one, or for the cancellation of their previous visa. If another family employs her and her contract is still running, the International Labour Organization's (ILO's) May 2024 summary of UAE rules says the move needs their written consent first.

Her old visa is then cancelled, which carries MOHRE's cancellation fee. ICP's cancellation page sets grace periods by category but doesn't say which covers a domestic worker, so agree the dates, and check the timing with MOHRE on 600 590000, before anything is cancelled.

Our guide to hiring a helper already in the UAE covers each step of the move, and our maid visa process guide covers a helper coming from abroad.

How do you work out your own maid visa cost?

Use the table as a checklist: pick the charges that fit your situation, then get every amount in writing, itemised, before you pay:

1. Confirm who will sponsor her. If you sponsor her yourself, the table applies to you. If someone else, such as a recruitment office, will be her sponsor, ask how its price handles the guarantee and the other government fees.
2. Pick the rows that apply. A new visa for a helper from abroad involves MOHRE's permit, the insurance policy, ICP's guarantee, residence and Emirates ID fees, the medical test and health insurance. For a helper already in the UAE, add the status adjustment fee, and ask MOHRE whether she needs a new medical test.
3. Count the guarantee once. At renewal, MOHRE's resident fee appears to include it; on a new visa, ask whether a quoted permit fee includes it too.
4. Add your emirate's health insurance. We found a published price only for the northern emirates.
5. Ask for the missing amounts in writing: MOHRE's permit fees, the insurance policy premium, the medical test and any service fee, itemised.
6. Check the quote line by line against the table, so nothing is missing and nothing appears twice.

Her salary and the other costs of employing her aren't part of the visa. Our first-year budget sets them out line by line, our salary guide shows what helpers ask for, and how to hire a maid in the UAE walks through the whole hire.

How does MaidMatch's visa partner fit in?

It's optional. Sponsorship is the employer's responsibility; families can manage the visa themselves or ask MaidMatch to connect them with its visa partners. MaidMatch is a free platform for families: they can browse every profile at no cost, with no registration or subscription required.

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 the two years cover. Our partners page shows its current price; ask for an itemised quote so you can check it against the table above.

Families contact helpers directly on WhatsApp, through the Hire button on each profile. Tap the WhatsApp button on this page if you'd like us to connect you with our visa partner, or browse available helpers first.