UAE Families Must Earn AED 25,000 Monthly To Sponsor Domestic Help

Families and couples in the UAE must meet the minimum combined monthly salary, which bumped up from AED 6,000 a month

UAE residents who wish to sponsor a domestic helper, such as a maid, driver, personal cook, etc., must now have a collective earning of at least AED 25,000 per month to be eligible for providing sponsorship.

The new move is nearly an AED 20,000 increase from the previous salary certificate requirement of at least AED 6,000 only.

Tadbeer, a service centre for the recruitment and employment of domestic workers as licensed by the UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, confirmed that the new salary requirements were implemented in 2019.

When applying to sponsor a maid in the UAE, a couple or a resident must provide proof that the total monthly income is at least AED 25,000. Any household that collectively earns below the required amount will not be eligible to sponsor domestic help.

Single working expat mothers who earn just below the new mandatory monthly salary may apply for an exemption. Tadbeer suggested that the UAE labour ministry may grant special approval to employ a maid, but there is no guarantee it will be made.

This may pose a problem for UAE expats whose collective earnings are below the requirement. Alternatively, there are companies in the UAE such as Maids.cc where domestic helpers are hired on behalf of its clients, eliminating the need for residents to show their monthly salary as the maids are under the company's sponsorship and not the residents'.