Ethiopian maids and nannies in the UAE

The UAE's rules for every domestic worker, and Ethiopia's if she comes from Ethiopia. Ethiopia and the UAE signed a memorandum of understanding on the employment of Ethiopian workers in the UAE on 17 December 2018, and Ethiopia's Ministry of Justice lists the proclamation ratifying it, No. 1122/2019, as in force. As of September 2026, we found no official notice suspending the recruitment of Ethiopian workers for the UAE, but rules can change, so confirm the current position with Ethiopia's Ministry of Labor and Skills or the Ethiopian embassy first.

Ethiopia's Overseas Employment Proclamation No. 1389/2025 took effect on its publication in the Federal Negarit Gazette on 14 August 2025, repealing the previous law, Proclamation No. 923/2016, and its 2021 amendment. Ethiopia's overseas employment law, Proclamation No. 1389/2025, requires a worker going abroad for work to hold an occupational competency certificate and to have a medical examination at designated health institutions, and an agency that deploys a worker under 18 has its licence revoked.

The same law governs when an employer may recruit a worker directly, so ask the Ethiopian embassy or the ministry which route applies to you before you commit.

A helper who is already in the UAE moves to your sponsorship through the permit service of MOHRE, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, instead; ask the Ethiopian embassy whether anything is needed on Ethiopia's side. Our guide to hiring an Ethiopian helper has the detail, and our guide to which nationalities can work as maids sets Ethiopia beside other countries.

We found no official figure. Ethiopia's overseas employment law, Proclamation No. 1389/2025, says the model employment contract prepared by its Ministry of Labor and Skills must include wages that are not lower than the appropriate minimum wage set by the bilateral agreement between Ethiopia and the receiving country, or in the international agreements ratified by both countries, but we found no official page that publishes a salary figure from Ethiopia's agreement with the UAE.

The UAE sets no statutory minimum wage for domestic workers, the International Labour Organization's May 2024 summary says, so a floor from Ethiopia would apply only to contracts verified through Ethiopia's own system. Each helper lists her own salary range on her profile.

If you recruit her from Ethiopia, Ethiopia's law generally puts them on you. Ethiopia's overseas employment law, Proclamation No. 1389/2025, lists the costs the employer covers, including the worker's round-trip transport, medical examination and vaccination, work and residence permit fees, insurance and the fee for approving the employment contract. Ethiopia's overseas employment law, Proclamation No. 1389/2025, lists the worker's own costs as the passport, criminal record clearance, birth certificate, training and occupational competency certificate.

Neither country lets an agency charge her for the job. Under Ethiopia's overseas employment law, Proclamation No. 1389/2025, an agency that takes a fee from a worker for overseas employment services, or demands payments beyond the costs the law puts on the worker, has its licence revoked. Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, a recruitment agency may not take any commission or expenses from a domestic worker.

We found no official page that requires a domestic worker in the UAE to speak a particular language; the rules we found are about her contract. Under the Domestic Workers Decree-Law, a domestic worker's contract must be in Arabic with a translation into a language the worker understands, and if the two versions conflict, the Arabic prevails. Ethiopia's overseas employment law, Proclamation No. 1389/2025, says a worker going abroad for work must at least be able to read and comprehend the contract prepared in the language the worker understands.

So ask each helper which languages she speaks and reads before you decide.