The UAE does not publish an official minimum wage for maids and nannies, so what you pay comes down to three things: nationality, the role, and the going market rate. That leaves a lot of families guessing, and either overpaying at the start or underpaying and losing a good worker within the year.
This guide is for families who already employ, or are budgeting to employ, a maid or nanny and want to pay fairly and keep good help. Whether your worker is live-in, live-out or part-time, it sets out the 2026 salary bands, the source-country floors that apply, what a fair raise looks like, how the end-of-service gratuity is treated, and the honest math of keeping a worker versus starting again. We flag which figures are market ranges and which are legal.
Live-in salary bands by nationality (2026)
These are typical monthly cash salaries for a live-in maid or nanny, where accommodation and food are provided on top. They are market estimates gathered from licensed agencies, not government figures, and they line up with our UAE salaries-by-nationality guide. Filipinas sit at the top, largely because of experience and language; African nationalities usually sit lower.
| Nationality | Maid (AED/month) | Nanny (AED/month) |
|---|---|---|
| Filipina | 1,800 – 3,000 | 2,500 – 3,500+ |
| Indonesian | 1,400 – 2,000 | 1,800 – 2,600 |
| Sri Lankan | 1,400 – 2,200 | 1,600 – 2,500 |
| Indian | 1,200 – 2,500 | 1,600 – 2,600 |
| Nepali | 1,000 – 2,500 | 1,400 – 2,600 |
| Kenyan | 1,200 – 1,800 | 1,300 – 2,000 |
| Ethiopian / Ugandan | 1,000 – 1,600 | 1,200 – 1,800 |
Experience is the single biggest premium, often 30% to 50% for a worker with five or more verified years, and good English or Arabic adds a few hundred dirhams.
The source-country floors that apply
Some sending countries set a minimum salary for their own nationals, which effectively becomes your floor for that nationality. Confirm current figures through the UAE government portal or the relevant consulate, but as a guide:
- Philippines: around USD 400 a month (roughly AED 1,470). A higher USD 500 figure has been discussed but is not confirmed as binding for the Gulf, so treat AED 1,470 as the working floor.
- Indonesia: the embassy sets a tiered minimum scale that starts around AED 1,400 and rises with experience; confirm the current tier.
- India: reportedly around AED 1,100 via the eMigrate clearance, with food, accommodation and insurance required on top of the wage.
- Ethiopia, Kenya and others: deployment rules change and fresh-hire routes are not always open, so many hires are in-country transfers. Do not assume a nationality is freely available; check before you commit.
Live-in, live-out or part-time?
Your arrangement changes both the cost and what is legal:
| Arrangement | Typical worker pay | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Live-in | AED 1,000–3,000/mo cash, plus room and board | Full-time childcare or household help, always available |
| Live-out full-time | AED 2,000–3,500 cash (total employer cost AED 3,500–6,000) | Families who cannot or prefer not to house a worker |
| Part-time / hourly | About AED 35/hour via a Tadbeer centre | Occasional cleaning, no full-time need |
There is no freelance or “own-visa” domestic-worker route in the UAE. Part-time help must be arranged through a licensed Tadbeer centre. Employing a maid privately by the hour, or taking on someone on a visit visa, is illegal and carries fines that start at AED 50,000. Do it the licensed way.
Our full-time, part-time or hourly guide walks through which arrangement fits which household, and you can benchmark any figure with the Salary Index.
Raises: expected, but not required
The domestic workers law requires you to pay the agreed wage in full and on time; it does not require an increase. Raises are custom, not law, and there is no reliable published “typical percentage,” so be wary of anyone who quotes one as a rule. In practice, families revisit pay at the two-year contract renewal, rewarding a worker who has proven herself and knows the household. A modest raise at renewal is one of the cheapest retention tools you have.
End-of-service gratuity: how it really works
A domestic worker who completes at least one year of continuous service is entitled to an end-of-service benefit, paid when the relationship ends. It is worth understanding how it is set, because families routinely reach for the wrong formula.
Do not assume the mainland labour-law figure of 21 days a year applies. That rule is for private-sector company employees, not domestic workers. The domestic-worker gratuity is set under the domestic workers law by Cabinet decision, and the amount applied in practice is commonly cited as around 14 days’ wage per year of service, though the figures quoted online conflict.
Because the exact entitlement is not a single fixed published number the way the mainland rule is, confirm the current figure with MOHRE or its gratuity calculator before you settle up. Two things are clear: the benefit accrues the whole time she stays, and you may not deduct it, or any recruitment cost, from her salary.
Retain or re-hire? The real cost
Before deciding a worker is not worth a raise, price the alternative. Recruiting again through a Tadbeer centre means a new package, medical, insurance and visa, plus the weeks in between with no help. Our real cost of hiring a maid in the UAE breaks the full first-year figure down, and it dwarfs a couple of hundred dirhams a month on a raise. In most cases, keeping a good, settled worker is simply the cheaper decision, before you even count the value of trust with your children.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Assuming the mainland 21-day gratuity applies to a maid; the domestic-worker figure is different and Cabinet-set.
- Hiring part-time help off the books, which is illegal and carries fines starting at AED 50,000.
- Quoting a live-out “AED 5,000” as the worker’s salary when it is really the total employer cost, sponsorship included.
- Ignoring a source-country floor and offering below it, which can block the hire.
- Inventing a “standard raise percentage”; there is no reliable published one, so size a raise to tenure and the market.
The bottom line
Benchmark against the market bands, respect the source-country floor where one applies, reward tenure at renewal, and remember that gratuity is building in the worker’s favour the whole time. If you are hiring or comparing, browse verified maids and nannies to see live market pay, or check a fair figure in the Salary Index.
