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The operative law is Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 Concerning Domestic Workers, issued on 5 September 2022. It took effect three months after its publication in the Official Gazette and repealed the older Federal Law 10 of 2017. It was amended by Federal Decree-Law No. 21 of 2023, which replaced Article 23 on disputes and complaints and took effect on 1 January 2024.
Three more sources matter for Golden Visa holders specifically. The ICP Golden Residency guide lists among the benefits “the ability to sponsor domestic workers in accordance with the applicable regulations and procedures in the UAE”. The UAE Cabinet announcement of 18 April 2022 on the residence regulations says the Golden Residence holder may “sponsor support services (domestic) labourers without limiting their number”. Ministerial Resolution No. 675 of 2022 names the five domestic-worker professions that must be paid through the Wages Protection System (WPS); for the rest, registration is optional.
If you want to handle this paperwork without errors that cost weeks at MOHRE counters, WhatsApp our typing centre on +971 50 639 5245 and we'll walk you through the documents you need before you even start.
MOHRE lists 19 domestic-worker professions in its Wages Protection System announcement: housemaid, sailor, security guard, household shepherd, household horse groomer, household falcon trainer, tamer, physical labour worker, housekeeper, cook, nanny/babysitter, farmer, gardener, personal driver, private agricultural engineer, personal public relations officer (PRO), personal healthcare provider, private tutor, and private trainer. If the role you want doesn't fit one of those 19, it isn't a domestic-worker sponsorship — it's a regular employment contract under a different MOHRE channel.
For most Golden Visa families, the realistic shortlist is housemaid, nanny/babysitter, cook, gardener, personal driver, housekeeper, and personal healthcare provider. A few clients ask us about hiring a “personal PRO” — that profession exists: MOHRE lists a personal public relations officer (PRO), called “private messenger” in Resolution 675, and it is on the WPS-mandatory list (more on that below).
This is the section that confuses almost every new Golden Visa holder, so read it twice.
For expatriate sponsors in general, Article 28 of Federal Decree-Law 9/2022 says the Cabinet sets a minimum salary or monthly income for expatriates who want to recruit or employ a domestic worker. MOHRE's work permit page for domestic workers puts the figure at AED 25,000: its document list asks an expatriate employer for a recent salary certificate “confirming that the family's income is not less than 25,000 dirhams”, a bank statement for the previous three months showing a monthly income of at least AED 25,000, and proof of housing (a lease contract or title deed).
What the official guide says for Golden Visa holders: the ICP Golden Residency guide lists “the ability to sponsor domestic workers in accordance with the applicable regulations and procedures in the UAE” among the benefits. Neither that guide nor MOHRE's work permit page publishes a separate income threshold or an exemption for Golden Residency holders, so plan on the same AED 25,000 proof unless the authority handling your file tells you otherwise.
The second question is volume. When the UAE Cabinet approved the residence regulations, the official announcement of 18 April 2022 said the Golden Residence holder may “sponsor support services (domestic) labourers without limiting their number”. The ICP guide itself gives no number — only that sponsorship follows “the applicable regulations and procedures”. One of those procedures is on MOHRE's work permit page: “Employers employing more than five domestic workers must provide a written explanation outlining the reasons for hiring an additional worker”. The same page gives the worker's work permit as one or two years, at the sponsor's option, for golden visa holders and one year for other residents. We look at the quota question separately in our guide to how many domestic workers a Golden Visa holder can sponsor.
If you arrived at Golden Visa status through real estate, the rules around your own visa pathway are covered in our UAE real-estate Golden Visa guide for 2026. If you switched from an investor or employment visa, see our breakdown of readers who switched to the Golden Visa.
Two legal routes exist, and the right one depends on how many workers you're sponsoring and how much admin you want to absorb.
Tadbeer is the MOHRE-licensed network of agencies that handle recruitment, contract registration, medical fitness, Emirates ID, mandatory insurance, and lifecycle services like replacement and dispute resolution. Under Article 5 of Federal Decree-Law 9/2022 the agency must provide a suitable replacement or reimburse the employer in line with MOHRE decisions — ask for the package terms and the guarantee in writing.
Direct hire from the source country is fully legal but conditional. You handle recruitment yourself, source-country attestation, embassy paperwork, medical, work permit, residence-visa issuance at GDRFA, and insurance — every component as a separate transaction. The cost is lower, but so is your error margin. A single document mistake at the embassy stage can delay arrival by six to eight weeks.
For first-time sponsors, Tadbeer's bundle is usually worth the premium because it absorbs rejection risk. For Golden Visa families sponsoring two, three, or more workers — where you'll repeat the same process several times — direct hire often wins on cost because the marginal effort drops with each subsequent worker. Many of our clients use a hybrid: Tadbeer for the first worker to learn the steps, direct hire for the rest.
This is the section most people land on when they search for "golden visa domestic helper cost," "golden visa maid visa," or "maid visa for golden visa holders" — so here are the numbers in the same words. Anyone who quotes you a single headline figure is hiding something; the real cost of a maid visa under a UAE Golden Visa is a stack of fixed and variable components. Here is Sarmat's component-by-component estimate for first-year sponsorship. These are our working figures, not an official tariff — government fees and agency prices change, so ask for a written quote before you pay. For a deeper maid-specific calculator — a full Tadbeer-vs-direct-hire comparison and a worked first-year total — see our dedicated maid visa cost guide for Golden Visa holders.
| Cost component | Sarmat's estimate (AED) |
|---|---|
| Tadbeer service / recruitment fee | 4,500 – 8,500 |
| MOHRE domestic-worker work permit | 500 – 700 |
| GDRFA/ICP entry permit + status change + residence visa | 1,100 – 1,500 |
| Medical fitness test | 250 – 350 |
| Emirates ID (2-year card, incl. typing) | 270 – 310 |
| Mandatory health insurance (basic) | 320 – 1,800 / year |
| Worker-protection insurance (Taa-meen) | 60 / year |
| End-of-service gratuity | per the Cabinet rules under Article 22 |
| Accommodation, food allowance | sponsor's responsibility |
MOHRE's Basic Health Insurance package costs AED 320 per year and has been required since 1 January 2025 when a residence permit is issued or renewed. MOHRE lists it for private-sector employees and domestic workers in Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain; in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, follow the emirate's own health-insurance rules. Either way, Article 11 of Federal Decree-Law 9/2022 makes the employer responsible for the worker's medical care or health insurance. The worker-protection insurance line is our estimate — ask for the current premium when you apply.
Sarmat's estimated all-in first-year totals:
End-of-service gratuity is covered by Article 22 of Federal Decree-Law 9/2022, which leaves the calculation and payment rules to the Cabinet. Ask MOHRE for the amount due on your contract and set money aside for it monthly — don't get caught short when the contract ends.
If you'd rather hand the file to a typing centre that handles 500+ visas a year, see our typing-centre Dubai FAQ for what we cover end-to-end.
Ready to sponsor your domestic worker? Sarmat handles the full sponsor file — Tadbeer/Tasheel contract, WPS, medical, and residence visa issuance — for Golden Visa holders across Dubai. Send us your situation and we’ll map the exact steps and cost.
This is where most online guides oversimplify. WPS is not blanket mandatory for all domestic workers.
Per Ministerial Resolution No. 675 of 2022, WPS registration and payment have been mandatory for 5 of the 19 professions since 1 April 2023:
For these five roles, wages must be paid through the WPS. Under the resolution, a wage not paid within one month of its due date counts as late payment, and the employer's file is suspended if it has still not been paid through the system two months after the due date.
For the other 14 professions — housemaid, nanny, personal driver, cook, gardener, housekeeper, and most of the roles a typical Golden Visa family actually employs — WPS registration is optional, and employers have been able to register voluntarily since 1 January 2023. We still recommend voluntary enrolment because it creates a verifiable wage paper-trail that protects you in any future labour dispute, but it is not a legal requirement.
For more detail on how WPS interacts with other visa categories, see our UAE visa types explained overview.
| Criterion | Golden Visa sponsor | Standard residence-visa sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| Salary / income threshold | No separate threshold or exemption published by ICP or MOHRE | Family income of not less than AED 25,000, shown by a salary certificate and a three-month bank statement (MOHRE work permit page) |
| Number of workers sponsorable | “Without limiting their number” (UAE Cabinet announcement, 18 April 2022); MOHRE asks an employer with more than five domestic workers for a written explanation before hiring another | No number published on the official pages we checked; MOHRE asks any employer with more than five domestic workers for a written explanation |
| Visa duration for the worker | MOHRE work permit: one or two years, at the sponsor's option. Employment contract: two years, renewable (Article 7, FDL 9/2022) | MOHRE work permit: one year. Employment contract: same |
| Worker-protection insurance (Taa-meen) | Yes | Yes |
| WPS wage transfer | Mandatory for five professions (private agricultural engineer, private messenger/PRO, home care provider, private tutor, private trainer); optional for the other 14 | Same — depends on the worker's category, not the sponsor's visa class |
| Mandatory health insurance | Yes — medical care or health insurance is the employer's duty (Article 11, FDL 9/2022); MOHRE's AED 320-a-year basic package applies in Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain | Same |
| Accommodation rules | Suitable accommodation required under FDL 9/2022 | Same |
| Working hours / rest day | At least 12 hours of rest a day, 8 of them consecutive; 1 paid rest day a week; 30 days of paid annual leave per year of service | Same |
Federal Decree-Law 9/2022 sets the floor and you cannot contract below it. At least 12 hours of rest per day, of which at least 8 are consecutive (Article 9). One paid rest day per week. 30 days of paid annual leave for each year of service, or two days a month for service between six months and a year, plus 30 days of sick leave a year — the first 15 on full pay, the next 15 on half pay (Article 10). End-of-service gratuity follows the Cabinet rules referred to in Article 22.
Suitable accommodation, food, and medical care are the sponsor's responsibility. The worker must be allowed to keep all of their official documents, passport included (Article 11). Disputes go to MOHRE, which tries to settle them amicably and can issue a final decision on claims of up to AED 50,000 (Article 23, as replaced by Federal Decree-Law 21/2023). The law's penalties article sets fines from AED 5,000 to AED 1,000,000 for breaches, multiplied by the number of workers involved.
You can absolutely run all of this yourself. You can also drive yourself between MOHRE in Al Karama, Tadbeer in Al Quoz, GDRFA in Jafza, and ICP for Emirates ID across two weeks of forms — or you can hand the file to a typing centre that processes 500+ visas a year and finishes the same package in a fraction of the time.
Our typing centre in Deira has handled UAE government services for 12+ years and processed paperwork for 5,000+ clients. We work directly with Tadbeer agencies and handle direct-hire files end-to-end. See our typing-centre Dubai FAQ for what we cover, or message us on WhatsApp at +971 50 639 5245 to scope your specific case.
Some Golden Visa holders run family offices or HR functions where domestic-worker visas are one of many recurring tasks. If that's you, learning the process properly pays for itself within the first sponsorship.
Our Certified PRO Officer Program is a 3-day, KHDA-certified course covering 15+ hours of content plus 3 months of mentorship from a tutor with 8+ years of hands-on PRO experience and 100+ company setups under their belt. Many graduates run domestic-worker sponsorship for their own household plus their employer's executive families. You can also browse the broader Golden Visa overview for 2026 if you want to compare related visa pathways before deciding which course path fits you.
Yes. The ICP Golden Residency guide lists among the benefits “the ability to sponsor domestic workers in accordance with the applicable regulations and procedures in the UAE”. The employment itself is governed by Federal Decree-Law 9/2022: the employer must provide appropriate accommodation, meals, and medical care or health insurance.
The ICP Golden Residency guide does not publish a number: it says Golden Residency holders can sponsor domestic workers “in accordance with the applicable regulations and procedures in the UAE”. The UAE Cabinet announcement of 18 April 2022 goes further: the Golden Residence holder may “sponsor support services (domestic) labourers without limiting their number”. Each worker still needs a MOHRE work permit, and MOHRE's work permit page says employers with more than five domestic workers must provide a written explanation for hiring an additional worker.
Sarmat's estimate for the first year is AED 12,000–18,000 for direct hire and AED 14,000–22,000 for full Tadbeer — our working figures, not an official tariff. The component breakdown — work permit, GDRFA fees, medical, Emirates ID, health insurance, Taa-meen, and recruitment — is in the cost table above.
Both routes are legal. Tadbeer is the MOHRE-licensed bundled route, easier for first-time sponsors. Direct hire is permitted with conditions and usually wins on cost when you're sponsoring multiple workers or already familiar with the process.
The Domestic Workers Law (Article 28 of Federal Decree-Law 9/2022) leaves the minimum salary or income for expatriates who want to employ a domestic worker to the Cabinet, and the ICP Golden Residency guide does not publish a separate threshold for Golden Residency holders. MOHRE's work permit page for domestic workers asks an expatriate employer for a salary certificate confirming a family income of not less than AED 25,000 and a three-month bank statement showing a monthly income of at least AED 25,000, and it lists no exemption for golden visa holders.
Federal Decree-Law 9/2022 sets the employment contract at two years, renewable for a similar period (Article 7). It does not set the length of the worker's residence permit, which is issued by ICP or GDRFA. MOHRE's work permit page gives the domestic worker's work permit as one or two years, at the sponsor's option, for golden visa holders and one year for other residents.
Mandatory for five professions under Ministerial Resolution 675/2022, since 1 April 2023: private agricultural engineer, private messenger (personal PRO), home care provider, private tutor, and private trainer. For the other 14 professions — including housemaid, nanny, cook, housekeeper and personal driver — registration is optional; employers have been able to register voluntarily since 1 January 2023. We recommend voluntary enrolment for the optional professions to create a clean wage paper-trail.
End-of-service gratuity is covered by Article 22 of Federal Decree-Law 9/2022, which leaves the calculation rules to the Cabinet, so ask MOHRE for the amount due on your contract. Under Article 5, a recruitment agency must provide a suitable replacement or reimburse the employer in line with MOHRE decisions; ask your agency for its guarantee terms in writing. A worker you recruited directly has no agency guarantee behind them, so you start the recruitment process from scratch.
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