If you are looking to employ a full time or part time maid in Doha you're in the right place. Here we take a look at the rules, regulations, visa process, expected salaries and live in versus agency maids. It can be hard as an expat not having family and friend support close by and hiring a maid or a nanny can be a great help to you and your family. Having a live-in maid or using a maid service is very popular in Doha. There are many reasons for this - people don’t have family here so need help, villas are very big, people work hard and don’t have the time to clean etc etc. Whatever the reason, you do have options available to you.
Hiring A Maid On Your Personal Sponsorship
The rules for hiring maids can change quite frequently so do keep an eye on local news for updates.
A man cannot sponsor a female maid- so only a woman can and only after she herself has a residence permit (RP)
Single men cannot sponsor a female maid
You cannot sponsor a live in, full time maid until you have worked/ lived in Doha for 6 months- you have to show 6 months of bank statements to get approval to hire a live in maid.
You will need a no objection certificate (NOC) from your employer to hire a maid- if this is from the man's company this can only be done after the wife has got her Residence Permit.
You will also need to provide a copy of your marriage contract, copies of your and your wife's Qatari ID, your, your wife's and children's passport photocopies including their Residence Permits.
You have to submit an application for approval to the Immigration Department to hire a maid- at which point you will be told whether you are eligible to sponsor a maid and what nationality of maid your family will be alllowed to employ. (Don't line someone up until you have been told which nationality otherwise you and a potential employee could end up disappointed).
Applications can be rejected for various reasons- size of family, whether one parent will be working or at home during the day,
Once you have received approval for the above and have found a candidate the residence visa procedure can start.
You can bring a maid from outside of Qatar or find someone who is already in country with a transferable visa- you must make sure that this visa status is legal and the current sponsor has no issues with the transfer to save yourself any headaches.
The maid will have to undergo medical testing to check for HIV, TB and pregnancy and fingerprinting.
If possible see if the mandoob or PRO of your company can help you process all the paperwork.
There are also Maid Recruitment Agencies that can handle the whole process for you. They have potential candidates on their books and they will do the flights, visa etc. This can be a much easier if slightly more expensive option.
Agencies tend to offer 2 year contracts with a 3 month trial period. If you are not happy with the maid or she is not happy with you during this time, a replacement maid will be arranged free of charge.
It can take a month to two months for all your maids paperwork to be processed so take this into account when making the applications.
It costs approximately QR 8,500 to process the necessary visa and medicals for a Filipina maid and around QR 10,000 for an Indonesian maid through an agency. Doing the process yourself costs approx half this amount but double the work and no guarantees if anything goes wrong.
The minimum wage for maids is set by the government and varies between nationalities- some people pay more then the minimum.
Live- in maids' monthly salaries vary tend to vary between QR 900 and 2,500 with a flight home every 2 years.
India does not allow its nationals to be employed as maids in Qatar- approved nationalities for maids include Nepalese, Indonesian, Phillipina, Ethiopian and Sri Lankan.
Once the visa has been approved you are then legally responsible for the conduct of the maid in Qatar.
If you decide to terminate the maid's employment you are liable for all repatriation costs.
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