What to Pay a Housemaid, Nanny or Driver in Oman (2026)

Search "housemaid salary Oman" and you'll see confident figures, often broken down by nationality. The honest answer is less tidy. Oman doesn't set a minimum wage for expatriate domestic workers, so the wage is a term you and the worker agree and write into the contract.

What the law does fix is almost everything around that number: when you pay, what you may deduct, rest days, leave, end-of-service pay, and what you provide on top. This guide sets out those rules from the source texts. It covers housemaids, nannies, private drivers and home carers, who all fall under the same regulation.

Housemaid salary in Oman: the short answer

There is no legal pay figure for a housemaid, nanny or driver in Oman. The domestic workers regulation, Ministerial Decision (MD) 574/2025, took effect on 13 October 2025. It requires every contract to state the monthly wage and the day it is paid each month (Art. 19), but it sets no minimum amount. The regulation's rights are a floor, and a contract can always give the worker better terms (Art. 3).

So the monthly wage is negotiated. In practice you and the worker will weigh:

• the job itself: the duties, the hours, whether it's live-in or live-out, and how many people are in the household;
• the worker's experience and skills, such as childcare, cooking, elder care, driving or languages;
• any minimum the worker's home country sets before its embassy will approve the contract (see below).

Here's how the law splits what's fixed from what's agreed:

One principle runs through this site. Oman's Labour Law bars advertising or promoting workers classified by creed, colour or cost (Royal Decree 53/2023, Art. 32). On OmanHousemaids, pay is always a job term that a family and a worker agree. It is never a label on a person.

Is there a minimum wage for domestic workers?

No. Three sources point the same way:

• The International Labour Organization's Oman factsheet (updated December 2023) says the minimum wage is "Not applicable to migrant workers". It also notes that the minimum wage for nationals in the private sector is OMR 325: OMR 225 basic salary plus OMR 100 in allowances.
• The OMR 325 figure comes from MD 222/2013, which sets the minimum for Omanis working in the private sector.
• MD 574/2025 is the domestic workers regulation, and it came after the ILO factsheet. We read the Arabic text: it requires a stated monthly wage but contains no minimum amount.

So the OMR 325 figure is not a legal floor for your housemaid, nanny or driver. It's a different rule for a different group of workers.

Rules set by the worker's home country

Many countries set conditions for their citizens who work abroad as domestic workers. These can include:

• a minimum monthly wage their embassy expects to see in the contract;
• income requirements for the employer;
• minimum ages;
• in some cases, restrictions on new placements.

These rules are not Omani law. They can still decide whether the worker's embassy approves or verifies a contract, and some apply when a worker who is already in Oman changes employer.

Here's one example that doesn't involve a pay figure. The Embassy of India in Muscat publishes housemaid recruitment rules, stated as effective from 20 June 2011 and still live on the embassy's site as at 16 September 2026. They say that when a housemaid moves from one employer to another, "the new employer will have to complete the eMigrate procedures". They also say salary "must be paid through banking channels".

We don't publish a country-by-country table of home-country pay floors on this page.

These rules change often. Before you agree a wage, check directly with the embassy of the worker's country in Muscat, and note the date you checked.

Agreeing the wage and writing it down

Put the wage in the contract. MD 574/2025 Article 19 requires a written contract. It must be in Arabic, or in another language with an Arabic copy both of you approve. There are two copies, one for each of you. It must state:

• the start date and any probation period;
• the type of work;
• the place of work;
• working hours and rest;
• the monthly wage and its pay date.

You, the employer, register the contract electronically with the Ministry of Labour, and you register any later changes. The ministry's fee is OMR 1 to register or amend contract details, and OMR 1 to amend wage details (MD 602/2025, Annex 3). If there's no written contract, the worker can prove their rights by any means (Art. 19), so a clear contract protects both sides.

Keep duties in line with the licensed job. The regulation lists housemaid, nanny, private driver, home health assistant and private nurse as separate occupations (Art. 2). A family may not employ a worker in an occupation other than the licensed one (Art. 9). If you need childcare or elder care, the job title on the work licence matters as much as the wage.

Say the number up front. When you post a job, state the monthly wage together with the hours, duties, rest day and whether the job is live-in or live-out. Workers who are happy with the terms reply, and you choose who to contact.

Probation counts. A probation period can last up to 15 days, only once with the same employer. It counts as service for the worker's rights, and either side can end the contract during it with at least 7 days' notice (Art. 20).

Paying on time: the rules in MD 574/2025

When and how. Pay the wage in Omani rials, unless you've agreed another currency that's lawful in Oman, within 7 days of the due date in the contract (Art. 27). The law counts you as having paid only if one of these happens (Art. 28):

• the worker signs a wage register to confirm they received it; or
• the wage is deposited or transferred into the worker's account at a local bank or a financial institution licensed by the Central Bank of Oman.

A bank transfer gives you both the cleanest record.

The Ministry of Labour may set a payment system for employers (Art. 28). For now, its FAQ says individual employers of domestic workers are not currently required to use the Wage Protection System, and that there is a plan to include them in future.

Deductions. You may deduct only for (Art. 29):

1. loss of or damage to your property in the worker's care, caused deliberately or through negligence;
2. debts or fines under a court judgment or administrative decision against the worker;
3. repayment of a loan you made to the worker, agreed in writing and with no interest.

Deductions can never exceed a quarter of the wage. Keep any deduction notices in the worker's file, which you must hold for at least a year after the job ends (Art. 17).

Hiring costs stay with you. An employer may not take any money from the worker for recruiting them, employing them or transferring their services to someone else (Art. 7). The Labour Law also bars charging a recruited worker for their employment (Royal Decree 53/2023, Art. 31). On every route, workers never pay.

Extra hours and rest days.

• Overtime: a maximum of 2 extra hours a day, agreed in writing and paid on top of the wage, based on the worker's daily wage and the extra hours worked (Art. 22).
• Working a rest day: needs the worker's written agreement. You then pay a day's wage on top of that day's pay, or give another rest day instead (Art. 23).

Leave is paid.

• Sick leave: up to 30 days of paid sick leave a year, with a certificate from an approved medical body. You can't ask the worker to work during it (Art. 24).
• Annual leave: at least 21 days a year at the monthly wage. It can be split. You can pay cash instead of leave only if you both agree in writing, and unused leave is paid out when the job ends (Art. 25).

If pay stops. If a worker isn't paid in full for more than two consecutive months, they can end the contract early after telling you, without working out the contract's notice period. They keep all their rights, including end-of-service pay, and can still claim compensation (Art. 36). Breaking the regulation also carries an administrative fine of OMR 50–500 per violation, multiplied by the number of workers affected (Art. 39).

What you provide on top of the wage

The wage isn't all you provide. Under MD 574/2025 the employer also provides:

• Food and suitable accommodation (Art. 13). The room must be well ventilated, lit and air-conditioned, with sound doors, windows and ceilings, good bedding, a suitable wardrobe and a sanitary toilet (Art. 14). The practical side is in our live-in vs live-out guide.
• Health insurance (Art. 16).
• Free transport to and from work if the worker lives outside your home (Art. 15).
• The tools and supplies needed for the agreed work (Art. 13).
• End-of-service gratuity of half a month's wage for each year of service, pro rata for part years (Art. 31).
  • Only service from 13 October 2025 counts, and nothing is due if service is under 2 years.
  • You may deduct amounts the worker owes you.
  • For example, three full years of service after that date earns one and a half months' wage.
  • The gratuity isn't due if you lawfully dismiss the worker for one of the serious reasons in Article 35, such as assault or more than 3 consecutive days' unexcused absence.
• Final dues on time (Art. 32):
  • within 5 days of the last working day, if the worker is moving to a new employer;
  • at least 3 days before departure, if the worker is going home.
• The trip home. You arrange the worker's return within 30 days of the contract ending, unless their services move to another employer (Art. 34). The worker pays their own way if they leave early without a lawful reason, or are dismissed under Article 35 (Art. 33).

Your government fees and running costs

Government fees for domestic workers are set by MD 602/2025. It was published in the Official Gazette on 26 October 2025 and took effect three months later.

The licence fee is paid only after the ministry approves the application. It isn't refundable except in listed cases, such as the worker failing the medical or the police refusing the visa (Arts 9 and 13).

Bringing a worker from abroad adds medical, visa and resident-card costs, set out in our step-by-step hiring guide. Taking on someone already in Oman is covered in our change-of-employer guide.

Fee exemption. For one worker (housemaid, nanny, private driver, private nurse or home health assistant), the Annex 2 licence fee is waived for (MD 602/2025, Art. 15):

• people with a disability card;
• anyone whose health needs special care, or an older person unable to care for themselves, as shown by a Ministry of Social Development social assessment;
• recipients of the Family Income Benefit.

Details for families arranging elder care are in our elderly carer guide.

Your yearly budget, line by line. When you work out what a hire really costs, list:

• the monthly wage × 12;
• food;
• the room, or live-out accommodation and transport;
• health insurance;
• the licence fee when it's renewed;
• pay for annual leave and any agreed overtime;
• end-of-service gratuity, which builds up for each year of service from 13 October 2025 but is only payable once service reaches 2 years.

Agree the wage first. Then post a job free with the figure, hours and duties attached, and contact the helpers whose profiles suit you.