How to Hire a Housemaid in Oman: Work Permit, Visa and Fees (2026)

Hiring a housemaid, nanny, carer or private driver in Oman is an employer-led process. The household holds the licence, signs the contract and carries the obligations. Many pages that rank for this topic still quote rules and fees that changed in late 2025 and early 2026.

This guide sets out the current official route. It is checked against:

• Ministerial Decision (MD) 574/2025, the domestic-worker regulation in force since 13 October 2025;
• MD 602/2025, which sets the current permit fees;
• the Ministry of Labour (MoL), Royal Oman Police (ROP) and Ministry of Health (MoH) service pages.

Two ways to hire

There are two quite different routes. It helps to know which one you're on before you start.

Route A: the worker already lives in Oman. Suppose the worker is in Oman lawfully and their contract with their current employer has ended or is ending. Their services can then move to you through MoL's transfer service, with no flights and no wait for a visa from abroad. The MoL fee for the transfer step is OMR 5, and other government fees may also apply. OmanHousemaids is built for this route, and our change-of-employer guide covers it step by step.

Route B: bringing a worker to Oman. You apply for your own MoL permit, then an ROP visa. The worker then travels, passes a medical, is registered and gets a resident card. Families do this themselves through the official route, or through a licensed recruitment office. OmanHousemaids doesn't list workers who live abroad, so this route is described here as information only.

Most of the step-by-step section below covers Route B, because it has the most steps. The fees, duties and mistakes sections apply to both routes.

Who can hire, and who you can hire

You need your own licence. MD 574/2025 bars an employer from bringing in a domestic worker without a licence from the Ministry (Art. 8). The licence belongs to the household, not to an office. No rule requires you to use a recruitment office. Our office or direct hire guide compares the two.

Omani and expatriate households. On the official pages we read, both apply through the same MoL service for individual employers (e-service 290), which needs a civil ID card or a mobile ID (PKI) login. The page gives example documents:

• a salary certificate;
• a bank statement;
• proof of home ownership, or ownership of a housing unit.

It doesn't state a minimum income. Sponsor-income figures do circulate online, but we couldn't find them on any official page, so don't rely on them. Before you start, confirm your eligibility with MoL (call centre 80077000).

Which jobs the rules cover. MD 574/2025 covers twelve occupations (Art. 2), including:

• housemaid (عامل منزل)
• nanny (مربية أطفال)
• private driver
• gardener
• home health assistant
• private nurse
• home cook

Each licence is for one specific occupation, and you may not employ the worker in a different one (Art. 9(3)).

The worker must be 21 or over. Employing domestic workers under 21 is prohibited (MD 574/2025 Art. 6), and ROP's visa service repeats the rule. OmanHousemaids only accepts profiles from workers aged 21 and over.

The worker's home country may have rules too. Some countries set their own conditions before their citizens can take domestic work abroad, such as an embassy approval or a higher minimum age. Some currently restrict new domestic-worker placements altogether. Ask the embassy of the worker's country before you begin.

The official process, step by step

Step 1: Apply for your MoL work permit (service 290)

Apply online through MoL e-service 290, or at a Sanad service centre. You then:

1. Log in.
2. Choose the labour office, the number of workers and the occupation.
3. Give the work location.
4. Upload the documents.

An MoL officer approves the application, rejects it or asks for an update, and you're told by SMS and email.

• Time: one day to a maximum of ten days, if the documents are complete.
• Fee: paid online after approval. It is OMR 101 per worker for one to three workers, and OMR 141 per worker from the fourth.
• Next step: print the preliminary approval and take it to ROP to continue with the visa.

Two licences are involved. Your licence to bring in a worker is valid for 24 months and can't be renewed. The worker's own work licence lasts up to 24 months and can be renewed (MD 602/2025 Art. 2).

Step 2: The ROP visa

ROP issues the domestic-worker visa on the strength of the MoL permit. The official Get House worker Visa service lists these requirements:

• Documents: a copy of the applicant's passport, a photo, the MoL work permit, and a copy of the medical examination.
• Conditions: the worker is at least 21 when you apply, and holds a passport valid for at least six months. They must not hold any other valid Oman visa.
• Fee: OMR 20, non-refundable.

Residence on this visa lasts up to two years, and can be renewed for the same period once the MoL permit has been renewed.

Step 3: Medical fitness

A worker must be medically fit and free of the diseases listed by the Ministry of Health (MD 574/2025 Art. 11). The process runs through MoH's medical fitness exam service:

1. The employer gets the exam form on the eHealth portal or at a Sanad centre, and pays for it.
2. The worker takes the QR code to a medical centre.

The form costs OMR 30, or OMR 40 for a food handler, and it is valid for 30 days. MoH says the form is used for visas and for getting or renewing resident cards.

Step 4: Register the worker and the contract

After the worker arrives:

• Register the worker's data through MoL service 289. The work permit is issued straight away, and there's no fee for this step.
• Register the written contract through MoL service 305. MD 574/2025 requires the contract to be in writing and in Arabic, or in another language with an Arabic copy that both sides approve. The employer must register it electronically (Art. 19). You submit it, the worker approves it in the system, and then you pay OMR 1.

Step 5: The resident card

The worker must apply in person for a resident card within 30 days of entering Oman. A late application costs OMR 10 for each month of delay. ROP's resident-card page lists the card fee as OMR 6 for one year or OMR 11 for two years.

Renewal

Household work-permit renewal is MoL service 288. The fees are the same OMR 101 or OMR 141 per worker, and the renewal is processed as soon as you submit it.

What the government charges

For one worker, those official fees come to about OMR 163–173 if the resident card is issued for two years. That is 101 + 20 + 30 or 40 + 1 + 11. The total leaves out flights, any recruitment-office fee, and your ongoing costs as an employer.

Refunds. Permit fees are non-refundable, except in the cases MD 602/2025 lists (Arts 9 and 13). In those cases you can get your fee back, or a new licence for OMR 1. The cases include:

• the worker fails the medical;
• ROP refuses the visa;
• the worker goes home within 90 days of arriving;
• the worker is transferred to another employer within 90 days of arriving (once only).

Exemption for one worker. The MoL permit fee is waived for one housemaid, nanny, private driver, private nurse or home health assistant where the employer (MD 602/2025 Art. 15):

• has a disability card;
• has health needs requiring special care, shown by a Ministry of Social Development social assessment;
• is elderly and unable to care for themselves, shown by the same assessment;
• receives the Family Income Benefit.

MoL may also waive the fee for a second worker if the social assessment shows one is needed.

Late fines. These apply per worker (MD 602/2025 Arts 10–11):

• Late renewal or late registration: OMR 10 a month, capped at OMR 500.
• Not sorting out the worker's status after the licence expires (for example by departure, transfer or an absconding report): OMR 15 a month for an individual employer, also capped at OMR 500.

Recruitment offices charge their own fees for their services. These vary by office and by what's included. We don't publish office fee lists.

Your costs and duties once work starts

The permit fees are the small part of hiring. MD 574/2025 also requires you to provide:

• a monthly wage, stated in the contract and paid within 7 days of the due date (Arts 19 and 27). Pay is in OMR unless you agree another currency legally used in Oman. The regulation doesn't set an amount; see our salary guide.
• food and suitable accommodation (Arts 13–14). The room must be well ventilated, lit and air-conditioned, with sound doors, windows and ceiling. It needs good bedding, a wardrobe and a clean toilet.
• free transport to and from work, if the worker lives outside your home (Art. 15).
• health insurance (Art. 16).
• a paid weekly rest day, up to 30 days' paid sick leave a year, and at least 21 days' paid annual leave a year (Arts 23–25).
• an end-of-service gratuity of half a month's wage for each year of service (Art. 31). It counts only service from 13 October 2025, and none is due for service under two years.
• the journey home within 30 days of the contract ending, unless the worker's services are transferred to another employer (Art. 34).

All the rules, with article numbers, are in our guide to MD 574/2025.

What you can never charge the worker. An employer may not take any money from a worker for recruiting, employing or transferring them (MD 574/2025 Art. 7). The Labour Law also bars charging a worker for being employed (Royal Decree 53/2023, Art. 31). Workers never pay to use OmanHousemaids either.

Hiring someone already in Oman

This is often the practical choice. The worker is already here, you can meet in person, and there's no wait for travel. Before you agree anything, check:

• the worker is 21 or over and holds a valid resident card;
• where their current contract stands: ended, ending with notice, or terminated;
• there is no absconding report against them (MoL publishes reports on its website);
• the move will go through MoL's official transfer service before they start working for you.

Don't let them start early. MD 574/2025 bars an employer from employing a worker who isn't licensed to work for them (Art. 9(2)). Until the transfer is approved, the worker is still licensed to their current employer. Breaches of the regulation carry an administrative fine of OMR 50–500 per violation, multiplied by the number of workers involved (Art. 39).

Our change-of-employer guide covers the full process, including what happens if the current employer doesn't agree.

Mistakes to avoid

• Hiring by the hour, or sharing a worker. MD 574/2025 bars an employer from letting its worker work for others or on their own account. It also bars employing a worker who isn't licensed to that employer (Art. 9). So a worker licensed to another household can't lawfully do part-time or hourly work for you, and your worker can't do it for anyone else. The Labour Law's criminal penalties for employing another employer's worker may also apply. OmanHousemaids doesn't list part-time or hourly work.
• Keeping the worker's passport. You may not hold the worker's passport or personal documents without their written consent (Art. 5).
• Paying someone to hand a worker over to you. The official fees for moving a worker's services are the government's. Paying or charging money for a person is legally risky; see the change-of-employer guide.
• Skipping contract registration. Art. 19 requires it. The registered contract is also the record of wage, hours and leave that both sides rely on if there's ever a dispute.
• Relying on an old guide. Pages written before October 2025 describe rules that have since been replaced, and pages written before 2026 may quote old fees. Check the date, and check the official MoL and ROP pages linked above.

Ready to start? Browse housemaid profiles from workers already living in Oman, or post a job and let workers get in touch. You choose who to contact, and workers never pay to use the site.