Who can sponsor a maid in the UAE? Income, housing and family rules

As of September 2026, MOHRE issues domestic worker work permits to UAE citizens, GCC citizens, expatriate residents, investors, diplomats and Golden Visa holders. To sponsor a domestic worker, an expatriate resident needs a recent salary certificate showing a family income of at least AED 25,000, and MOHRE's list for expatriates adds marriage and housing documents.

MOHRE, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, issues domestic workers' work permits. Most of the conditions below come from its new work permit service card (opens in a new tab), which covers workers recruited from abroad or already in the UAE. GCC stands for the Gulf Cooperation Council. ICP, the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, handles residence. 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.

What does MOHRE ask each type of sponsor for?

It depends on who you are. MOHRE's conditions ask for a valid passport from the employer, a valid original ID card from a UAE citizen employer, and a valid residence permit from a resident employer or investor. Expatriate employers and investors also show income, marriage and housing documents. As of September 2026, the card lists:

If you're a GCC citizen, a diplomat or a Golden Visa holder, we found no official page that says which of the expatriate documents apply to you, or that gives you a different income figure. Check with MOHRE on 600 590000 before you apply.

How long is the permit for each sponsor?

It depends on the sponsor too. For a new permit, as of September 2026:

• MOHRE issues a new domestic worker permit for up to two years when the sponsor is a UAE citizen.
• MOHRE lets diplomats and Golden Visa holders choose a one-year or two-year new domestic worker permit.
• MOHRE's wording doesn't make clear whether GCC citizens get two years or the same choice.
• MOHRE issues a domestic worker's permit for one year when the sponsor is an expatriate resident without a Golden Visa.
• MOHRE's permit-length line doesn't name investors.

These are for new permits; our guide to renewing a maid visa covers renewals. If an agency advertises a two-year visa to an expatriate family, ask who will sponsor her.

How much do you need to earn to sponsor a maid?

If you're an expatriate resident, MOHRE sets a family income figure. To sponsor a domestic worker, an expatriate resident needs a recent salary certificate showing a family income of at least AED 25,000.

MOHRE's wording refers to "the family's income", but we found no official page that says outright whether both spouses' salaries can be added together. If you plan to rely on two salaries, check with MOHRE on 600 590000 first.

The card has a second income document. MOHRE's document list includes a bank statement of the investor or employer for the previous three months, provided that the monthly income is at least AED 25,000. The card doesn't say whether you need one or both, so ask MOHRE on 600 590000.

MOHRE lists its income documents for expatriate employers and investors, and the Decree-Law frames the income rule for expatriates too. The Domestic Workers Decree-Law lets the Cabinet set a minimum income for expatriates who recruit domestic workers (Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 (opens in a new tab), Article 28(3)). Lower income figures quoted on other websites have no official support that we could find.

We found no ICP page that sets income, housing or family conditions for domestic worker sponsors, but there is a cost for expatriates. 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. Our maid visa cost guide covers the other fees.

Do you need a maid's room to sponsor a maid?

We found no official page that requires a separate room, or sets a minimum home size, for sponsoring a domestic worker. On MOHRE's card, housing comes up once, as a document for expatriate sponsors. An expatriate sponsor must submit a marriage contract, the spouse's UAE residence visa and proof of housing (a tenancy contract or title deed).

Once she works for you, the law sets a standard rather than a size. 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, so if your home is small, check with MOHRE on 600 590000 before you apply.

If you have no space for a live-in helper, a licensed office's Flexible package, where the office provides her housing, is one route MOHRE sets out (see below). Our guide to maid room requirements has a setup checklist.

Can a single person, or your wife, sponsor a maid?

MOHRE's card doesn't answer either question. Its list for expatriate sponsors includes a marriage contract and the spouse's residence visa, and it doesn't address single, divorced or widowed residents, men or women.

If that's your situation, check with MOHRE on 600 590000, or at a domestic worker service centre such as a Tadbeer centre, before you start, and get the answer in writing if you can. If you can't sponsor her yourself, see the routes below where someone else is her sponsor.

If you're married, we found no official page that says which spouse has to be the sponsor. MOHRE's income wording refers to the family's income, as above, so ask MOHRE how it treats your household before you decide who applies.

Can you sponsor a relative, or more than one maid?

On relatives, we found no answer from MOHRE or ICP. On numbers, we found no cap, though past a certain number of domestic workers MOHRE asks for a written reason (see below).

Sponsoring a relative

We found no MOHRE or ICP page that says whether you can sponsor a relative as your domestic worker. Some websites say a domestic worker must not be related to her sponsor, but we found no MOHRE or ICP page that says so, or that says the opposite.

Her home country may have its own rule: for the visa attestation in direct recruitment through India's eMigrate system, Indian families submit a no-relationship affidavit, according to the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi (opens in a new tab). Ask MOHRE on 600 590000 before you apply, and check her home country's rules with its embassy or labour office too.

Sponsoring more than one domestic worker

MOHRE asks an employer who already has more than five domestic workers (five or more, in the Arabic text of its service card) to explain in writing why they need another. We found no official page that sets a maximum number, or a higher income figure for a second helper. Each helper needs her own MOHRE work permit.

What does the helper need to qualify?

MOHRE's card sets conditions for the worker too. As of September 2026, they include:

• A domestic worker must be at least 18, and MOHRE applies an upper age limit of 60 for a new work permit.
• MOHRE can exempt a domestic worker who is already in the UAE from its upper age limit if their domestic-worker residence was cancelled no more than three months earlier.
• For a new domestic worker work permit, MOHRE requires that the worker does not already hold a valid work permit and has a passport valid for at least three months.

The card also requires her to be covered by an insurance policy on your file. 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.

Her home country may restrict how she can be recruited, so check its current rules with her embassy or labour office. Our guide to which nationalities can work as maids covers the countries that restrict recruitment, and our guide to hiring a helper who is already in the UAE covers the documents MOHRE asks for when she is here.

What if you can't meet MOHRE's conditions?

Ask about the routes where someone else is her sponsor: in two of the recruitment office packages MOHRE recognises, the office, not your family, is her sponsor. 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.

For the two packages where the office is her sponsor, as of September 2026:

• 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.
• 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.

We found no official page that says what income or documents an office asks of a family on these packages, or what they cost, so ask the office for both in writing. MOHRE publishes its list of approved domestic worker service centres (opens in a new tab); check the office is on it before you pay. Our guides to Tadbeer centres and to part-time and own-visa help go further.

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 which of MOHRE's conditions apply to your family. Our partners page has the details and the current price.

How can MaidMatch help?

By helping you find a helper, and by connecting you with a visa partner if you'd like help with her visa. 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. Before you start the paperwork, check that you meet MOHRE's conditions, and ask each helper what visa she holds now. Our salary guide shows what helpers ask for, and you can browse available helpers whenever you're ready.