VisaFamilies hiring domestic workers in the UAE should check the recruiter’s licence
Separate the recruitment agreement, employment terms and immigration charges before paying for an overseas hire.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
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Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Verify the recruitment office and the quoted service
A household using a recruitment office to bring a domestic worker to the UAE should check that it is licensed by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, MoHRE. The ministry’s enforcement statement, carried by the official Emirates News Agency, directs customers to its licensed-office list. An advert alone does not prove approval.
The statement identifies undisplayed package prices and missing required refunds as enforcement concerns. Ask the office to identify its licence, the specific package, the promised recruitment period and the written refund terms before paying. Retain the quotation and receipts. The statement describes a two-week refund period for the circumstances it covers; it does not establish that any disputed placement automatically entitles an employer to a full refund. Report problematic practices through the ministry’s channels; the statement identifies 80084 for labour claims and advice.
Distinguish the agency agreement from the worker’s contract
The UAE government’s domestic-worker guidance describes a recruitment contract between the office and employer. It should identify the employer’s requirements, the work and wage, the agency’s service charge, relocation commitments and the recruitment timeframe. That is the agreement against which the office’s promised service can be checked; it is not a substitute for the separate employment contract.
The employer must also use the ministry-approved employment format and give the worker a copy. The government lists the parties, workplace, starting date, work type, contract duration, salary and basic wage, payment method, leave, rest, any probation and termination terms among its contents. Compare those details before recruitment, especially if the agency quotation describes one job while the proposed employment terms describe another. The same government guidance prohibits employment below eighteen and assigning duties outside the agreed contract. This review does not establish a universal wage or an individual recruitment-package price.
Explain the actual conditions before the worker travels
The Permanent Committee for Human Rights’ guidance says the worker must be told the contract terms, job, workplace, wage and daily and weekly time off before recruitment and departure from the home country. A household should therefore settle those details with the worker before arranging travel, rather than postponing the explanation until arrival. The explanation should match the employment terms, not just the agency’s sales description.
Its domestic-worker section also identifies daily rest, appropriate accommodation and meals, medical-treatment costs and the worker’s right to keep identification documents. Plan those practical obligations alongside the immigration application. The employer retaining the passport is not presented as a condition of sponsorship. The committee additionally describes orientation before duties begin, intended to explain rights and access to dispute mechanisms. These protections do not establish that a particular person satisfies the sponsor or permit conditions, which still need checking through the relevant official service.
Check the work-entry transaction for the correct emirate
Dubai’s GDRFA work-entry service expressly includes domestic-service workers within its scope. It asks for a photograph and a passport copy with at least six months’ validity, and requires MoHRE endorsement for workers falling under the ministry. The digital or Amer route is therefore an immigration transaction dependent on the applicable work permission, not permission created by a private recruitment agreement.
The Dubai service lists AED200 plus five per cent VAT, with additional inside-country charges where applicable. Those include AED10 each for knowledge and innovation and AED500 for an inside-country transaction. Its page warns that the total can vary with the sponsored person’s circumstances. Do not turn these components into a nationwide all-inclusive hiring price. The entry visa allows sixty days after entry to complete residence requirements. Check the actual document’s dates and the sponsor’s selected process before arranging the worker’s departure from abroad.
Complete residence within the published period and separate the fees
ICP’s residence-issuance guidance says domestic-worker residence is handled through the Domestic Workers Package and must be completed within sixty days after entry. Its general document list includes the passport, photograph, medical report and MoHRE work permit for the relevant category. The final steps include notice of residence issuance and delivery of the linked Emirates ID card. Beginning a request is different from reaching that completion stage.
For foreign-resident sponsors, ICP lists AED5,000 per year for recruitment of domestic workers, also labelled as a guarantee in the fee section. The public card does not establish the refund terms of that particular payment, so do not describe it as automatically refundable. Ask for the charge applicable to the actual sponsor category, separate from agency fees, medical testing, identity processing and other transaction components. MoHRE’s detailed new-permit service could not be retrieved during this review; sponsor-income eligibility and its exact current work-permit charge remain unconfirmed here.
