Minimum salaries for domestic workers, by nationality

The UAE sets no statutory minimum wage for domestic workers: the Domestic Workers Decree-Law has none, and the International Labour Organization (ILO) said the same in May 2024. Any floor comes from her home country and applies only to contracts verified through its system. Of the countries below, only the Philippines has one we could verify, as of September 2026.

Is there a minimum salary for maids in the UAE?

No. Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 (opens in a new tab), the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, sets rules on when and how she is paid, but no minimum amount. The ILO's May 2024 summary of UAE rules lists no statutory minimum wage for domestic workers either.

The Domestic Workers Decree-Law lets the Cabinet set a minimum income for expatriates who recruit domestic workers, but that is a rule about the family, not her wage. MOHRE, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, issues domestic workers' work permits, and as of September 2026 its service card (opens in a new tab) lists an income condition for expatriate sponsors. To sponsor a domestic worker, an expatriate resident needs a recent salary certificate showing a family income of at least AED 25,000.

So when you see a salary quoted for sponsoring a maid, it is about your income. Her pay is for the two of you to agree, at or above any floor that applies to her contract. Our guide to who can sponsor a maid covers the income, housing and family rules.

What minimum salary does each home country set?

Only the Philippines publishes a floor we could verify, through its Migrant Workers Office in Dubai (MWO Dubai), which serves Dubai and the northern emirates. For India we couldn't verify the amount, and for the other seven countries below we found no official minimum salary for domestic workers in the UAE.

Philippines

For contract verification, MWO Dubai requires a Filipino domestic worker's contract to set a basic wage of at least AED 1,500 a month, according to its contract verification page (opens in a new tab) as of September 2026. The same page asks for her visa or Emirates ID issued in Dubai or the northern emirates. If you live in Abu Dhabi, check the requirements with the Philippine Embassy.

If you are re-hiring a worker you sponsored before, MWO Dubai's re-hire page (opens in a new tab) has its own checklist for re-hiring domestic workers from the Philippines. MWO Dubai's re-hire checklist, which applies to employers who previously sponsored the worker they intend to hire, says the minimum basic wage, excluding allowances, must be at least AED 1,500. We found no MWO Dubai page that says the checklist covers renewing the contract of a helper who stays with you in the UAE. That renewal is a MOHRE service, which our guide to renewing your maid's visa explains.

The Philippines also sets a minimum wage in US dollars for household workers deployed abroad. We found no official text saying how its current rate applies to the UAE, so we don't quote a dollar figure. Our guide to hiring a Filipino helper covers the Philippine rules in more detail, and you can browse Filipino helpers on MaidMatch.

India

eMigrate is the Indian government's online system for recruiting Indian workers for jobs abroad. The Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi tells employers to check the job's minimum wage criteria before recruiting Indian workers through eMigrate, and says food and accommodation should be provided on top of the total wages set in India's Minimum Referral Wages, as of September 2026.

The amounts sit in eMigrate's own files, linked from the Embassy's minimum wages page (opens in a new tab), and we couldn't verify the one for domestic workers in the UAE, so we don't quote it. Ask the Embassy what applies before you agree her salary.

One figure the Embassy does publish is a deposit, not a salary. ECR is a status some Indian passports carry: the Embassy's insurance page spells it out as Emigration Check Required, and the Consulate General of India in Dubai as Emigration Clearance Required. 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. Our guide to hiring an Indian domestic worker covers eMigrate and the deposit in more detail.

Ethiopia

We found no official minimum salary for Ethiopian domestic workers in the UAE. Our guide to hiring an Ethiopian helper covers the recruitment rules.

Sri Lanka

We found no current official minimum salary for Sri Lankan domestic workers in the UAE on the pages of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) or the Sri Lankan Embassy in Abu Dhabi. If you see a figure quoted elsewhere, check it with the Embassy before you rely on it.

Nepal

We found no official minimum salary for Nepali domestic workers in the UAE. The Nepal Embassy in Abu Dhabi's attestation page (opens in a new tab) lists a minimum basic salary by skill level, from unskilled to highly skilled, but its table has no domestic-worker category.

Kenya and Uganda

We found no official Kenyan or Ugandan minimum salary for domestic workers in the UAE. Our guide to hiring a Kenyan or Ugandan helper covers their recruitment rules and languages.

Indonesia

We found no Indonesian minimum salary for domestic workers in the UAE. Indonesia does not allow its nationals to be placed as domestic workers with private households in the UAE, according to its Ministry of Manpower. The Director General of Protection at Indonesia's Ministry of Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers said on 30 March 2026 that placements to the Middle East remain prohibited under the moratorium set by Ministerial Decree 260 of 2015, the Antara news agency reported.

Ghana

We found no Ghanaian minimum salary for domestic workers in the UAE. Ghana banned the recruitment of domestic staff for the Gulf States in 2017, and in October 2023 its employment minister said the ban would stay until the right structures, including bilateral agreements, were in place, the Ghanaian Times reported. We found no later statement, and nothing showing that the ban has been lifted. Our guide to which nationalities can work as maids covers each country's rules.

Does a home-country minimum apply if she is already in the UAE?

It depends on whether her contract goes through her home country's system, because a floor set there applies only to contracts verified through that system. Most helpers listed on MaidMatch are already in the UAE and ready to work, so this is the usual case on MaidMatch.

For a Filipina who moves to a new employer inside the UAE, we found no official page that says whether her new contract must be verified by MWO Dubai. Ask MWO Dubai before you agree her pay, or the Philippine Embassy if you live in Abu Dhabi. For other nationalities, ask her embassy or labour office.

What does UAE law say about paying her?

It fixes when and how you pay her and what you provide on top, not how much. The main rules, as of September 2026:

• A domestic worker's wages must be paid monthly in UAE dirhams, within 10 days of the due date. MOHRE's employer guide says wages are due from the first day of the month until the 10th.
• Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, a domestic worker's wages are owed from the day the worker enters the UAE or changes status.
• Payment of a domestic worker's wages must be proven by a written receipt or another method MOHRE approves, so keep a record of each payment.
• A domestic worker's contract must be on MOHRE's standard form and state, among other terms, the nature and place of the work and the worker's total pay and how it is paid.
• Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, the employer must provide a domestic worker with suitable accommodation.
• Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, the employer must provide a full-time domestic worker with meals and work clothing, unless they agree otherwise.

Our employer's checklist to the domestic worker law covers the rest, from rest days to leave.

How can MaidMatch help you find a helper within your budget?

By showing you what each helper asks before you get in touch. Each helper lists her own salary range on her profile. 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, so you agree the salary with her directly, at or above any floor that applies to her contract. Our salary guide shows what helpers on MaidMatch ask for, and our guide to what a live-in maid costs adds up the rest of the first-year budget.