Domestic help hiring made easier in UAE
PACKAGES TO EMPLOY SUCH WORKERS WILL BE REVISED EVERY SIX MONTHS
Hiring domestic workers is made easier and affordable as the UAE yesterday announced revised packages explaining cost of recruitment.
Khalil Ebrahim Khouri, Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic Workers’ Affairs, said the packages to hire domestic help would be revised every six months to make the process easier, simpler and up-to-date.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation yesterday announced four packages for hiring domestic workers through Tadbeer centres, a government facility which provides domestic worker services to families and businesses.
The first package provides services to hire workers including cleaners, nannies, babysitters, drivers, gardeners, cooks and even private teachers. The ceiling of the cost of one-time recruitment in this package for employment of workers from the Philippines is Dh14,000, Indonesia and Sri Lanka Dh15,000, Ethiopia Dh5,000, Kenya, Uganda Dh6,500 each, India Dh12,000, Bangladesh Dh7,000 and Nepal Dh14,500.
Dh15,000 fee to hire workers from Indonesia and Sri Lanka
The second package provides a temporary contract leading to family sponsorship, where domestic help is hired by a family or a business under a temporary contract for six months.
The third package or Tadbeer sponsorship is available for those who do not want to transfer the sponsorship to themselves.
The minimum salary limits are around the same and may differ based on nationalities. The fourth package provides part-time or need-based services.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation yesterday announced four packages for hiring domestic workers through Tadbeer centres, a government facility which provides domestic worker services to families and businesses.
Under the first package, domestic workers, including cleaners, nannies, babysitters, drivers, gardeners, cooks and even private teachers, can be hired from outside the country. The ceiling on the cost of one-time recruitment in this package for employment of workers from the Philippines is Dh14,000, while the hiring cost for workers from Indonesia and Sri Lanka is Dh15,000, Ethiopia Dh5,000, Kenya and Uganda Dh6,500, India Dh12,000, Bangladesh Dh7,000 and Nepal Dh14,500.
The prices in the first package represent the maximum cost of recruitment, and do not include government fees related to issuing visas and medical fitness test.
Khalil Ebrahim Khoury, assistant undersecretary for domestic workers’ affairs, said Tadbeer centres help make the hiring process of domestic workers easier and cheaper and that the hiring prices will be revised every six months.
The second package provides temporary contract leading to family sponsorship, where domestic help is hired by a family or a business under a temporary contract for six months — during which time the workers would be under the ministry’s sponsorship. After the sixmonth period, if both parties agree, he or she can be fully transferred to family or business sponsorship for a longer contract.
Transfer fees and monthly salaries are set by Tadbeer to include any and all of the licensing, ID, wages and other paperwork involved. Transfer fees will be Dh8,000 for Filipino, Indonesian and Sri Lankan workers, Dh4,500 for Bangladeshi workers, Dh3,500 for workers from Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, while the transfer fees for workers from India and Nepal will be Dh6,000.
The client who selects this package will pay a fixed monthly salary of Dh2,500 for workers from the Philippines and Indonesia, Dh2,200 for workers from Sri Lanka and 2,250 for workers from Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal and India while workers from Ethiopia and Uganda will be paid Dh2,300 per month until the end of the six-month period.
The third package or Tadbeer sponsorship throughout the work term is available for those who don’t want to transfer the sponsorship to themselves. The minimum salary limits are around the same and may differ based on nationalities.
The fourth package provides part-time or need-based services.
This package allows families and businesses to hire workers on hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis. In this case, wages are set at standard rates, Dh120 for four hours, Dh200 for eight hours, Dh1,120 for seven days and Dh3,500 for 30 days (one month).
The ministry conducted a study to assess the views and expectations regarding the prices and the cost of maids’ hiring where the majority of people who were surveyed expressed that the prices which suit them range from Dh8,000 to Dh10,000.
In May, the ministry opened 11 Tadbeer centres across the country to facilitate recruitment of housemaids. They include two centres in Abu Dhabi, four in Dubai, one in Sharjah, three in Ajman and one centre in Fujairah.
The ministry said it will start operating another 14 centres in the country by the end of this year.
Khoury said Tadbeer centres provide quality services to the people under the rules and standards of the ministry for hiring maids.
He explained that the updated price lists with a higher ceiling will play an effective role in controlling the prices of recruitment of domestic workers as well as creating a healthy competition between the centres with several options for clients to recruit domestic helpers.
The new professions under the domestic helper category (only for households, not companies) are: housemaid, private sailor, watchman and security guard, household shepherd, family chauffeur, household horse groomer, household falcon carer and trainer, domestic labourer, housekeeper, private coach, private teacher, babysitter, household farmer, private nurse, private PRO and private agriculture engineer.