Visas & immigration
Sponsoring a domestic worker
Nannies, drivers and household staff are sponsored under a separate legal regime with its own contract, its own minimum standards and its own inspection. Doing it informally is the most commonly prosecuted immigration offence in the country.
What it is
Who this is actually for.
Domestic workers — housemaids, nannies, drivers, cooks, gardeners and private carers — are sponsored under a distinct federal law rather than under the employment regime that governs company staff. Sponsorship is by an individual rather than a company, is processed through the Tadbeer service centres or the equivalent channel in the emirate, and carries mandated terms: a standard contract, defined rest days and hours, wage payment obligations, medical insurance, and accommodation standards. Salary requirements for the sponsor apply and vary by emirate.
The reason to take the formal route seriously is that the informal one is policed. Employing someone on a visit visa, taking on a worker sponsored by another household, or continuing to employ someone after their visa lapses are all offences that attract substantial fines for the sponsor and deportation for the worker, and they are among the most consistently enforced provisions in the immigration system. Households frequently drift into this without intending to — a cleaner who started coming twice a week, a relative's driver borrowed permanently — and the exposure sits entirely with the person whose villa it is.
The conditions, precisely
- Regime
- Domestic worker law, separate from MOHRE employment law
- Channel
- Tadbeer centres or the emirate's equivalent
- Sponsor
- An individual, subject to a salary requirement set by emirate
- Contract
- Standard form with mandated rest, hours and wage terms
- Insurance
- Medical cover is the sponsor's obligation
- Duration
- Typically 2 years, renewable
How long it takes
The sequence
How it runs, in order.
- Check the sponsor salary requirement in your emirateIt differs, and it is assessed on the sponsor rather than the household.
- Use the official channelTadbeer or the emirate's equivalent handles recruitment, contracting and the visa in one process.
- Sign the standard contractTerms on hours, rest days, leave and wage payment are mandated and cannot be varied downwards.
- Arrange medical insurance and accommodationBoth are the sponsor's obligation and both are inspected.
- Pay wages traceably and renew on timeCash payment with no record is the weakest position to be in if a dispute reaches the authorities.
Related
Questions
Only through a licensed agency that sponsors the worker and invoices you for the service. A private arrangement with an individual is employment, and employment requires sponsorship.
It is set by emirate and revised. Dubai and Abu Dhabi apply different figures, so confirm against the current requirement where you live.
The sponsor, under the mandated contract terms. Deducting these from wages is not permitted.
There is a defined process for reporting it. Doing nothing leaves an active visa attached to your file with the liabilities that implies.
One question
Who is going to sponsor this residence?
Then most of this is out of your hands and that is usually fine — the employer holds the quota, files the permit and carries the cost. What is worth checking before you sign is the job title going on the permit, because it decides your skill classification, and that in turn decides whether you can sponsor a family later.
How the employment route runsOr just ask usThen the visa and the company are one decision. Quota comes from the licence and the premises, so a package chosen on price can quietly cap you at one or two visas — which is discovered at the point you want to bring your spouse or your first hire.
Compare the 40 authoritiesOr just ask usThen you are looking at the Golden Visa, the Green Visa, or the remote work permit, and they are not interchangeable. The Green Visa needs a freelance permit and an income history; the Golden Visa needs an asset, an endorsement or a nomination; the remote work permit needs a foreign employer and lasts a year.
The three self-sponsored routesOr just ask us