You found a maid, signed the contract and arranged the paperwork. Now comes the month that actually decides how well it works. The first 30 days in the UAE put the residency and Emirates ID in place, settle how the salary is paid and recorded, confirm the health insurance the law requires, and set the tone of the working relationship.
This is a practical, checklist-led guide to that first month in Dubai and across the UAE: the medical test and Emirates ID, paying your maid legally (and where the Wage Protection System actually fits), the mandatory health insurance, the working conditions fixed by Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 on Domestic Workers, and how to use your six-month probation window. Every rule here is drawn from the law itself and the official UAE government guidance.
Your first month at a glance
Onboarding is a sequence. Here is the shape of the month before we take it step by step.
| When | What to take care of |
|---|---|
| Before arrival / Day 1 | Confirm the MOHRE contract and who is handling residency (your Tadbeer centre or you), prepare a private room, and agree the weekly rest day. |
| Week 1–2 | Medical fitness test, Emirates ID biometrics at ICP, and residence visa stamping. Keep a copy of every document. |
| Week 2–3 | Confirm the health insurance is active, agree exactly how and when the salary is paid, and set the payment routine. |
| Weeks 3–4 | Settle into the agreed hours and weekly rest, run a probation check-in, and confirm the first month’s salary was paid on time with a record kept. |
Step 1 — Residency, the medical test and Emirates ID
In the UAE the sponsor (you, the employer) is responsible for the maid’s residency, and in most cases a licensed Tadbeer centre or recruitment agency handles the process on your behalf. The governing law is Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 on Domestic Workers.
The practical sequence in the first weeks is:
- Entry: the maid arrives on an entry permit and must complete residency within the allowed window.
- Medical fitness test at an approved UAE health centre (DHA in Dubai, SEHA in Abu Dhabi), screening for communicable diseases including tuberculosis.
- Emirates ID: fingerprints and photo taken at an ICP-approved centre.
- Residence visa stamping through GDRFA or ICP, valid for two years.
The full two-year package (entry permit, medical, Emirates ID, visa stamping, insurance and contract) is usually arranged as one bundle through a Tadbeer centre. Costs vary widely by nationality and insurance tier, so ask for a written, itemised quote rather than relying on a single advertised figure. Our real cost of hiring a maid guide breaks the numbers down. Keep digital copies of the entry permit, medical report, Emirates ID and signed contract together.
Step 2 — Paying your maid legally: wages, records and WPS
This is the part most guides get wrong, so here is the accurate 2026 position. Under Decree-Law 9/2022 (Article 15), you must pay the agreed wage monthly in UAE dirhams, within 10 days of the due date, and keep proof of payment (a signed receipt or another method accepted by the Ministry). If wages go unpaid, MOHRE can suspend the employer’s file.
The Wage Protection System (WPS) is the electronic salary channel regulated by MOHRE, and its scope is expanding. Ministerial Resolution 340 of 2026, effective 1 June 2026, makes WPS mandatory for specific categories of domestic workers and optional for others. Whether it applies to your household depends on the worker category and how you hired, and a direct private sponsor may be treated differently from a MOHRE-licensed agency or monthly-maid model. Do not assume you fall outside it: confirm your exact obligation with MOHRE or your Tadbeer centre. Either way, Article 15 still governs how the wage must be paid, as set out below.
Whatever your category, the safest practice is the same: pay a fixed amount on a fixed date, into an account in the maid’s own name where possible, and keep a record of every payment. Traceable pay protects both sides and is exactly what MOHRE looks for in a dispute. Our guide to the UAE domestic worker law goes deeper on the wage rules.
Step 3 — Health insurance is now required
Health insurance for your maid is not optional. Providing medical care or health insurance is an employer duty under the law (Article 11), and since 1 January 2025 valid health insurance is required nationwide as a condition for issuing or renewing a domestic worker’s residence permit. Dubai and Abu Dhabi already required it; the federal rule extended it to the remaining emirates.
In practice the cover is usually arranged as part of the Tadbeer visa package. Check the policy is active before the residence file is closed, confirm what it covers, and keep the card with the maid. Entry-level plans are inexpensive, but confirm the current premium and benefit limit with your provider rather than assuming a figure.
Step 4 — The contract and the conditions the law sets
Your maid works under the MOHRE unified standard contract, which runs for two years and is renewable. Beyond pay, Decree-Law 9/2022 sets a floor of conditions that apply whatever the contract says. Knowing them from day one prevents most first-month friction.
| Entitlement | What the law sets |
|---|---|
| Daily rest | At least 12 hours of rest per day, of which at least 8 are consecutive (Article 9). |
| Weekly rest | One paid rest day per week; if it is worked, a paid replacement day or cash in lieu (Article 9). |
| Annual leave | At least 30 days of paid annual leave per year (Article 10). The employer also provides a home-country return ticket when the contract ends or is not renewed (Article 19). |
| Sick leave | Up to 30 days of sick leave per contract year, on an approved medical report (Article 10). |
| Wage payment | Wage paid monthly in UAE dirhams within 10 days of the due date, with proof of payment kept (Article 15). |
| Contract term | A limited-term contract of two years, renewable by agreement (Article 7). |
For the full breakdown of the law, including your duties and the maid’s rights, see our guide to the UAE Domestic Worker Law (Decree-Law 9/2022).
Step 5 — Probation: your six-month window
Decree-Law 9/2022 allows a probation period of up to six months from the start of employment (Article 8). It is a real tool, not a formality, and the law adds a protection that makes it more valuable.
If the maid is medically unfit, fails agreed conditions, or shows poor conduct or incompetence, the recruitment agency must give you a full refund of recruitment fees within the first month; a partial refund applies if you end the contract after the first month but still within probation. This is one of the strongest reasons to hire through a licensed Tadbeer centre rather than informally.
- Agree in writing what good performance looks like: the tasks, the standard and the hours.
- Check in honestly at the two-week and one-month marks.
- Raise issues early and specifically rather than letting them build.
- If it is not working, know the lawful route out. Our guide to cancelling, renewing or transferring a maid visa covers it.
Step 6 — House rules and settling in
The paperwork is only half of onboarding. A maid who has just arrived, often in a new country, settles faster when the first days are clear and kind. This is not a soft extra: a settled worker is a safer and more reliable one.
- Give a proper welcome and a private space. Show her the home, where things are, and how the kitchen and appliances work.
- Agree house rules together in simple terms: working hours, the weekly rest day, phone use, food, and how you will communicate. Write them down, in her language where possible.
- Set up communication early. Agree how she reaches her family back home, and how you will raise anything that needs adjusting.
- Be patient through the first two weeks. Language, routines and expectations take time to align. Small corrections, kindly given, work far better than a long list on day one.
If safety ever feels uncertain, our safety guidance explains the signs to watch for and the official channels available to both employers and workers.
Your end-of-first-month checklist
By the end of the first 30 days, you should be able to tick every one of these:
- Residence visa and Emirates ID issued, with all documents saved.
- Health insurance active and the card kept with the maid.
- A fixed pay date agreed, the first month’s salary paid in dirhams on time, and a record of the payment kept.
- Agreed hours, a fixed weekly rest day, and house rules the maid understands.
- A first honest probation check-in completed.
New to hiring and want the steps laid out interactively? Our hiring journey checklist walks you through every stage from decision to first month. And when you plan ahead for the end of service, the gratuity calculator helps you estimate it, keeping in mind that for domestic workers the end-of-service benefit is set by your contract rather than a fixed legal formula.