Maid services licence in Dubai, cleaning or placement
A maid services licence in Dubai means a cleaning company with its own team, or a MOHRE office placing maids with families.
- Usual route
- Mainland only
- Extra approval
- MOHRE office
- AML
- Standard bank checks
A maid services licence in Dubai takes one of two forms. With a DET cleaning licence, your own supervised cleaners clean homes by the hour or the job. Placing maids with families, live-in or on flexible hours under the family's direction, needs a domestic worker recruitment office licence from MOHRE. Its conditions are far stricter.
- Covers
- Home cleaning by your own supervised team, by hour or job
- Not covered
- Placing maids with families, which needs a MOHRE recruitment licence
- Premises
- An office for cleaning; a showroom and housing for placement
- Timeline
- Weeks for cleaning; months for a MOHRE recruitment office
Home cleaning or maid placement
Two different businesses use the word maid in Dubai, and each one sits on a different licence.
Inside this licence
Outside this licence
- Covered by Domestic worker recruitment office (MOHRE)
- Covered by Temporary domestic employment (MOHRE)
- Covered by Cleaning company
- Covered by Recruitment agency
Tick what you plan to do. The result shows here.
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If the family directs the worker's hours and tasks, MOHRE's domestic worker rules apply, so we read your booking model first.
Where a maid service gets licensed
Homes sit on the mainland, so a service that sends people into them is licensed on the mainland, by DET and sometimes MOHRE too.
| If most of your clients are | Likely route | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Families booking cleaners by the hour | Mainland (DET) | A DET cleaning licence, with cleaners on your company's visas |
| Families wanting a live-in maid | Mainland (DET) | A MOHRE recruitment office licence alongside the DET licence |
| Families wanting flexible live-out maids | Mainland (DET) | MOHRE's temporary domestic employment activity, held by recruitment offices |
A free zone company that sends cleaners into mainland homes needs a DET branch licence or a mainland company, under Executive Council Resolution 11 of 2025. Mainland income is then tested under QFZP.
Three questions. The closest row is marked in the table above.
Your likely route shows here.
Maid services licence approvals
DET licenses a cleaning service, and staff visas follow. A domestic worker office adds a MOHRE licence approved at ministry level, plus a bank guarantee. MOHRE can draw on it for unpaid dues.
Before the licence
- Trade name and initial approvalDET
- Worker accommodation, for placement officesMOHRE
- Recruitment office licence, if placingMOHRE, with ministerial approval
The licence
- Cleaning or recruitment trade licenceDET
After the licence
- Cleaners' work permits and visasMOHRE, then GDRFA Dubai
- Corporate bank accountThe bank
MOHRE renews a recruitment office licence every year.
Cleaner, hourly maid or live-in?
Families ask for all three, and each one sits on a different licence with a different employer.
MOHRE's recruitment office licence combines placement and temporary employment, so one approval covers both maid services.
Tick the services you plan to sell
| What you plan | Points to |
|---|---|
| A DET cleaning licence, with cleaners on your own visas | |
| A DET cleaning licence, with cleaners on your own visas | |
| A DET cleaning licence, with cleaners on your own visas | |
| MOHRE's temporary domestic employment activity, held by a recruitment office | |
| MOHRE's temporary domestic employment activity, held by a recruitment office | |
| MOHRE's placement activity, with the maid on the family's own file |
Tick a line to see where your plan points.
Bookings, payroll and staff housing
Bank viewStandard; card bookings, payroll and staff housing are routine
A home cleaning company collects many small card payments from families and pays a large payroll every month through the Wage Protection System. Staff housing is often its biggest fixed cost.
A recruitment office also keeps a bank guarantee in place for MOHRE. We put the booking model, the payroll plan and the accommodation lease into the bank file together. The review then sees a service company with real staff behind it.
Mistakes in maid and cleaning startups
Hourly maids on a cleaning licence
A cleaning licence covers your own team doing set jobs. Once a family directs the worker's hours and tasks, MOHRE treats it as domestic work, which only a licensed recruitment office may supply.
Staff housing left to the end
A placement office registers its worker accommodation with MOHRE before it is licensed, and cleaning crews usually live in company housing too. Leaving the lease late holds up the visas.
Matching maids through an app
Introducing maids to families for a fee is placement work that MOHRE licenses. A page or app doing it without that licence is an unlicensed office, and MOHRE has closed such offices in 2025 and 2026.
Questions on maid services
A question about your plan? Describe your maid services plan and an advisor replies on WhatsApp.
Ask on WhatsAppHow much does a maid services licence cost in Dubai?
How to start a maid services business in Dubai?
Do I need a licence for an hourly maid service in Dubai?
Is a part-time maid service legal in Dubai?
What are the domestic workers licence requirements in Dubai?
How do I renew a domestic workers licence in Dubai?
Is there a free zone licence for maid services in Dubai?
Can foreigners open a maid services company in Dubai?
What replaced Tadbeer centres in the UAE?
Can a maid agency sponsor maids' visas in Dubai?
Related pages
Cleaning company licence in DubaiA DET licence covers cleaning by your own supervised team.
Recruitment agency licence in DubaiRecruiting or supplying workers in the UAE needs a MOHRE agency licence.
Dubai mainland company setupDubai mainland company formation with a DET licence: trade across the UAE, bid for government tenders and hold 100% ownership for most activities.
Your staff, or the family's employee?
Walk us through how families will book you, and we set out whether a cleaning licence is enough or a MOHRE recruitment office is needed.
On the call
- How families will book and pay
- Where your staff will live
