Qatar Maid Visa \u2013 Rules and Process

Several ex-pat families employ domestic help in Qatar. By law, you must sponsor a domestic helper, and they should be allowed to live in your home. It is illegal for a single man to hire a live-in-maid. A married man looking to hire a maid for his family should first obtain a NOC from the maid\u2019s current employer to take over her sponsorship,

The laws for sponsoring and hiring a maid in Qatar are complex and subject to unexpected change. Hence, check out current regulations with your respective embassy or consulate before preparing for this search. The local government website www.gov.qa/wps/pcan help, or you may visit the Labour Department at C-Ring, or search on the web editions of local newspapers for the latest information.

   Several ex-pat families employ domestic help in Qatar. By law, you must sponsor a domestic helper, and also they should be allowed to live in your home. It is illegal for a single man to hire a live-in-maid. A married man looking to hire a maid for his family should first obtain a NOC from the maid\u2019s current employer to take over her sponsorship,

or can hire a new maid from abroad.

Some agencies can help you with the process, saving you all the tiresome paper works. Apart from the fact that you can return your maid and seek a new one if she doesn’t work out. But, when the maid arrives, she must undergo the usual residency procedure, medical testing, and fingerprinting.

Only women from certain countries, such as the Philippines. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, and Nepal, can work as maids in Qatar. Their salary will depend on their nationality, based on the agreement between the Qatari government and also the relevant embassy. Besides housing, you may have to accommodate the maid’s additional food, clothing, and optional extras expenses. Also, you will have to obtain a health card for her, which should be renewed every two years. On the whole, as a sponsor, you are primarily responsible for the behavior and welfare of your maid.

What is the process?

The rules often change, and there may be conditions pending on employment circumstances and nationality of both the applicant and maid. In general, the steps to hiring a maid are as follows =>

1. Apply at the MOI for APPROVAL to hire a maid. You must provide a copy of your employment contract, marriage certificate, a NOC from your employer. Bank statements determining sufficient income (\u00b112,000QAR/mo), passports, and also residence permits of all family members. You will pay a fee (\u00b11500QAR for approval, and 300QAr for visa issuance) upon confirmation of your approval. It often takes a few weeks before you receive a response or approval from the MOI.
2. FIND a maid. Your options are to use an agency or find a local maid looking to transfer her sponsorship. You may also ‘direct hire’ a maid from another country (however the rules and process for this are complex and vary pending on specific details of hiring).
3. Transfer/sponsor the maid you choose by submitting the transfer form and required documentation to the MOI. This takes only 1-3 days once you have the paperwork ready. Fees to transfer sponsorship are 1000 QAR for the first time a maid changes sponsors (1500 QAR for the second time, and 2000 QAR for the third time).
4. Ensure to handle any required paperwork for newly arrived maids in Qatar, including scheduling a medical exam. Fingerprints, residence permit, health insurance, life/disability insurance, registered employment contract). You have approximately 4 weeks to complete this step, and also the total fees are about 500QAR. If you are transferring a local maid, you will likely only need to deal with insurance and employment contracts.