UAE 2026: When Your Agency Must Refund You — The 4 Domestic-Worker Refund Rules
📢 What's new: As it steps up oversight of the sector, the UAE's Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) has spelled out four specific cases in which a licensed recruitment agency must refund the fees an employer paid to hire a domestic worker — and the agency must process that refund within two weeks. If you're hiring a maid, nanny, cook or driver in the UAE, this is money you may be legally owed.
Most families never ask for a refund simply because they don't know they're entitled to one. This guide lays out — in plain English — exactly when the agency owes you money back, how much, the strict deadline, and the one situation where the rule doesn't apply.
The 4 cases where the agency must refund you
MoHRE names four situations during the probation period where a licensed recruitment agency must return your recruitment fees (in full or in part):
| # | Case | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Failed competency or conduct | The worker proves professionally unsuitable or shows inappropriate behaviour during probation. |
| 2 | Worker leaves without valid reason | The worker resigns, abandons the job, or ends the contract for a reason not justified under Article 10 of the Executive Regulations. |
| 3 | Agency didn't meet agreed terms | You end the contract because conditions in the preliminary agreement or recruitment contract were not fulfilled. |
| 4 | Medically unfit | The worker is found medically unable to do the job during probation. In this case the agency must also reimburse the government fees you paid. |
In short: if the placement fails during probation because of the worker or the agency's process — not a change of heart on your side — the agency is on the hook, not you.
The two-week deadline
This is the part agencies most often get wrong. The refund must be processed within two weeks (14 days) of either:
- the worker being returned to the agency, or
- the worker being reported as having absconded.
That deadline isn't a suggestion. MoHRE reported that 57 recruitment agencies committed a combined 300 violations in 2025 — and most of those cases were agencies failing to refund employers within the legally required period. The ministry has said penalties can be administrative, financial and legal, up to and including licence cancellation.
Full refund or partial? How the amount is calculated
- Medically unfit within the six-month probation → a full refund, including government fees, is required within the first month.
- Termination after the first month but still within probation → a partial (prorated) refund, calculated as:
(Total recruitment cost ÷ contract duration in months) × remaining contract months
- Even after probation, a partial refund can still apply if the worker leaves for a reason not covered by Article 10 of the Executive Regulations.
So the earlier a qualifying issue appears, the more you get back — and a medical-fitness failure in probation is the strongest case for a full refund.
⚠️ The one big exclusion — read this
The refund obligation does not apply if you recruited the worker directly by name without using the agency's recruitment services.
This is exactly why hiring through a licensed agency's proper recruitment process matters. Go around the system — a "by name" request, a social-media "agent," an unlicensed office — and you lose this protection entirely, along with every other legal guarantee. It's also why MoHRE keeps urging families to deal only with the 136 authorised recruitment centres currently operating in the UAE, and to verify anyone advertising workers on social media before paying a dirham.
How to claim your refund
- Return the worker to the agency (or ensure the absconding report is filed) — this starts the two-week clock.
- Put your request in writing to the agency, citing which of the four cases applies.
- Keep every document — the recruitment contract, the preliminary agreement, receipts for recruitment and government fees, and any medical-unfitness result.
- If the agency stalls past two weeks, escalate to MoHRE: the smart app, the website, the call centre on 600590000, or the Legal Consultation Center on 80084.
What this means for families — and how GCC Domestic helps
This rule quietly shifts risk off the family and onto the agency — but only if you hired the right way. The lesson is simple: a licensed, accountable agency isn't just safer, it's the thing that makes your refund enforceable.
That's the whole point of GCC Domestic. Every UAE office in our directory is cross-checked against the official MoHRE register, so you deal only with licensed, accountable Tadbeer centres — the ones actually bound by this refund rule. Browse verified agencies · Hire a certified worker · How hiring works in the UAE.
For the wider legal picture, see our explainer on Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 (which sets out the underlying refund and replacement rights), and our full guide to hiring a maid in Dubai.
Frequently asked questions
When exactly must the agency pay the refund? Within two weeks of the worker being returned to the agency or reported as having absconded.
Do I get government fees back too? Yes — specifically when the worker is found medically unfit during probation, the agency must also reimburse the government fees you paid.
What if I just changed my mind about the worker? The four cases cover failures tied to the worker or the agency's process during probation. A simple change of heart on the employer's side is not one of the qualifying cases.
I hired a specific worker "by name" without the agency's recruitment service — am I covered? No. MoHRE has clarified that the refund obligation does not apply to direct, by-name hires that bypass the agency's recruitment services.
The agency is refusing to refund me. What do I do? Document everything and report it to MoHRE via the app, website, or call centre (600590000) / Legal Consultation Center (80084). Failure to refund on time is one of the most common violations the ministry penalises.
The bottom line
Hiring in the UAE just got safer for families — if you go through a licensed agency. Know the four cases, hold the agency to the two-week deadline, keep your paperwork, and you're protected. Skip the licensed route, and you give all of that up.
Hiring in the UAE? Browse verified, MoHRE-licensed agencies on GCC Domestic — the offices actually bound by this refund rule — and chat with us free on WhatsApp.
GCC Domestic — the Gulf's largest domestic-workforce platform. We verify, we train, we connect.
Last updated July 2026. Verified against MoHRE guidance as reported in its Labour Market magazine. Next review: October 2026.
