In Saudi Arabia, all legal recruitment and contracting of domestic workers happens through one government platform. Whether you want a maid, a nanny, or a private driver, the hiring, the contract, and the payments are all arranged through Musaned, the official platform of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development. It is where you confirm you are eligible, choose how to recruit, sign the contract, and pay the fees.
For a first-time employer, the platform can feel confusing at first. This guide walks you through it step by step, in plain language, whatever kind of help you are bringing into your home: who is allowed to hire, what you need to prepare, how the contract and the costs work, and how long the whole thing takes.
First, are you eligible to hire?
Before you do anything else, Musaned checks whether you qualify. You can run this eligibility check on the platform before you submit a request, which saves time and money if something is missing. Two things decide it: who you are, and whether you can show the financial capacity to support a worker.
Who is allowed to hire
The first group is citizens and those treated like them: Saudi citizens, nationals of other GCC countries, members of displaced tribes, the wife of a Saudi citizen, the mother of a Saudi citizen, and holders of Premium Residency. Expatriate residents on a standard iqama can also hire, but under stricter conditions, and they cannot recruit a domestic worker of their own nationality.
The age rule depends on your situation
If you are a Saudi citizen or treated like one, the minimum age to hire while unmarried is 21. If you are an expatriate resident, it depends on your family situation. An unmarried resident with no children must be at least 24.
Financial capacity is the real gate
There is no low cap on how many workers you can sponsor. Instead, Musaned runs financial-capacity tables, and the bar climbs with each additional visa. For the first visa you mainly declare your salary and show a bank balance. For a second, third and beyond, both the minimum salary and the required bank balance rise sharply. As currently published, the requirements look roughly like this.
Citizens and equivalents:
- First visa: declare your salary and show a bank balance of around SAR 40,000.
- Second visa: salary from about SAR 7,000, with a bank balance around SAR 60,000.
- Third visa: salary from about SAR 25,000, with a bank balance around SAR 200,000, and requirements keep scaling beyond that.
Expatriate residents:
- First visa: salary from about SAR 10,000, with a bank document from around SAR 100,000.
- Second visa: the minimum salary roughly doubles, to about SAR 20,000, with higher tiers after that.
Residents are also limited to one worker per occupation, so you cannot sponsor two of the same role, while citizens can scale further. For most families the practical message is the same: one worker is reachable on a normal income, and each extra worker needs a noticeably stronger financial profile. On top of this, you need a clean record with no recruitment violations or unpaid fines, and an active Absher account.
Confirm the live numbers before you count on them. These thresholds sit in Musaned's regulations and have changed before. When you log in, Musaned shows the exact salary and bank-balance requirement for your specific category and visa number, so treat the figures above as a guide and verify yours on the day you apply.
Choose your hiring path before anything else
The single biggest decision you make on Musaned is not which agency to use. It is which route you take, because that choice sets your cost, your effort, and how long you wait. There are three main paths, and the platform will only show the ones available for the nationality and occupation you pick.
Not sure which route fits you? Answer a few quick questions and our Hiring Route Finder will point you to the option that matches your budget, your timeline, and whether you are recruiting from abroad or taking on someone already in the Kingdom. The rest of this section explains each route so the recommendation makes sense.
1. Through a licensed recruitment office
This is the hands-off route. A Musaned-licensed office handles the sourcing, paperwork, and logistics, and presents you with candidate offers to choose from. You pay more for the convenience, and quality depends heavily on the office, so it is worth checking its rating on Musaned before you commit. Best for first-time employers who want someone else to manage the process and are recruiting from a country where self-service is not offered.
2. Self-service, by named worker (Maaroufah)
Here you recruit a specific worker you already have in mind, entering their passport and contact details yourself, with Musaned handling the contract and visa. It is cheaper and faster, but it is only available for a limited set of nationalities (currently including the Philippines, Kenya and Sri Lanka), and it puts more of the legwork on you. Best for employers who already know who they want to hire, for example a worker recommended by family.
3. Transferring a worker already in Saudi Arabia (kafala transfer)
Instead of recruiting from abroad, you take over the sponsorship of a worker already in the Kingdom. This is usually the fastest route because there is no overseas recruitment, visa issuance, or travel. It does require the current employer to release the worker through Absher or Musaned, and you and the worker to agree on terms before a new contract is registered. Best for employers who want to start quickly and have found an available worker locally.
Once you know which path you are taking, the steps that follow are broadly the same. The next sections walk through what to prepare, then the process itself.
What to prepare before you start
Musaned will not let you move forward until your details check out, so it pays to gather everything first. Most of it you already have. The exact list can vary slightly by nationality and by the route you chose, but the core is the same for everyone.
Before you log in
- An active Absher account. This is your gateway to Musaned and to the residence-permit steps later, so make sure it is active and your contact details are current.
- Your Musaned account, accessed with your National ID (citizens) or Iqama number (residents).
- A payment method that works for government services: Mada, Visa, MasterCard, or SADAD.
Your documents as the employer
- A copy of your National ID or Iqama.
- Proof of financial capacity: a salary certificate, a bank statement, or an official document showing your public- or private-sector employment. This is what the eligibility check measures you against.
- Your family card, which Musaned uses to confirm dependents and, for residents, the children criterion that affects the age rule.
- A clean record. Settle any outstanding fines, including traffic violations, since unpaid penalties or recruitment violations can block a new visa.
For the worker (depending on your route)
- If you are recruiting a named worker through Maaroufah, you will need a copy of their valid passport and their contact details.
- A medical fitness certificate from an approved center is required as the process moves along, usually after initial approval and before the visa is finalized. You do not need it on day one, but it is coming.
One more thing to expect rather than prepare: contractual insurance. You buy this through Musaned as part of the contract step, not in advance, and the platform walks you to it at the right moment.
Tip: have clean digital scans or clear photos of each document ready before you log in. Musaned validates uploads as you go, and a blurry or expired file is the most common reason a request stalls on day one.
Hiring on Musaned, step by step
Once you are eligible and your documents are ready, the process itself is fairly linear. Here is the full journey from first login to a worker living and working in your home. If you are transferring someone already in the Kingdom, your path is shorter, and there is a note on that at the end.
Step 1. Log in and run the eligibility check. Sign in to Musaned through Absher, using your National ID or Iqama number. Before committing to anything, use the eligibility check to confirm you meet the age and financial-capacity rules for the visa you want. Clearing this first means no surprises after you have paid.
Step 2. Start a visa request. Open the visa services section and choose to request a domestic worker visa. You select the occupation (housemaid, driver, nanny, home carer, and so on) and the country you want to recruit from. Musaned then shows only the routes and nationalities currently available for that combination.
Step 3. Choose your route. Based on the country you picked, the platform offers a recruitment office, the self-service Maaroufah route, or both. This is the path decision from earlier, now made concrete. Pick the one that matches your budget and timeline.
Step 4. Upload documents and set the salary. Attach your ID, proof of financial capacity, and family registry, then enter the monthly salary you are offering. One detail trips people up: the salary you type must match the figure in your supporting documents, or the request can be rejected.
Step 5. Pay the visa fee. The government visa-issuance fee is SAR 2,000, paid through SADAD or card before the request is submitted. Confirm the current amount at checkout, since fees are set by the ministry and can change. Settle any outstanding traffic fines first, as they can block submission.
Step 6. Get matched, or name your worker. If you went through an office, it presents candidate offers and you choose. If you are using Maaroufah, you enter your chosen worker's passport and contact details. Either way, review the candidate's details carefully before you commit, because changing course later is slow and costly.
Step 7. Review and authenticate the e-contract. Musaned generates the official employment contract automatically, including the mandatory contractual insurance. You review the terms, agree to the insurance, and authenticate the contract on the platform. This is the legal heart of the hire, and the next section breaks down exactly what it locks in.
Step 8. Worker's medical and visa issuance. The worker completes a medical fitness check at an approved center in their country, and once that clears, the visa is issued and stamped. Timelines here depend heavily on the source country and the office handling it.
Step 9. Travel and arrival. The worker travels to Saudi Arabia. On arrival they complete biometrics and entry procedures, and the employment relationship formally begins.
Step 10. Finalize the Iqama and set up salary payments. After arrival you complete the worker's residence permit (Iqama) through Absher within the required window, and arrange to pay wages through the approved channel. Both are ongoing obligations rather than one-off tasks, and we cover them in the obligations section.
If you are transferring a worker already in the Kingdom, you skip the overseas recruitment, medical, visa, and travel steps. Instead you agree terms with the worker, obtain a release from their current sponsor through Absher or Musaned, and register a new contract on the platform. It is the same destination by a much shorter road.
The Musaned e-contract, explained
The contract is the legal heart of the whole arrangement, and it is worth understanding before you reach it. You do not write it yourself. Once you select a worker, Musaned generates the official employment contract automatically, on a standard template set by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development. Using this e-contract is mandatory for every individual hire on the platform, whether you went through an office or the self-service route. A side agreement on paper does not replace it.
What the contract locks in
The template spells out the terms that protect both you and the worker, so there is no ambiguity later. Expect it to cover:
- the job duties and the nature of the work;
- the monthly salary, which must respect any minimum that applies to the worker's nationality;
- working hours and the weekly rest day (verify the exact daily limit in the contract, since published guidance has referenced both eight-hour and ten-hour days);
- annual leave and accommodation arrangements;
- the trial period, the contract duration (commonly two years) and how it is renewed;
- a return air ticket, typically once every two years;
- the rights and duties of both parties, and the recruitment charges involved.
End-of-service entitlements sit under the wider domestic-worker regulations rather than being printed as a formula in the contract, but the employment relationship is covered by those rules, so plan for an end-of-service payment when the contract ends.
How it becomes valid
The contract is not live the moment it appears. You review the terms, then agree to the contractual insurance, which has been mandatory since early 2024 and covers the first two years of the contract. Payment follows, and the contract is authenticated digitally on the platform. Both sides approve it: you through Musaned, and the worker through the recruitment office or the relevant channel in their country. Only once it is registered, insured, and tied to the visa does it take legal effect.
The practical point for a first-time employer: because everything is standardized and recorded on Musaned, you are not negotiating a contract from scratch or relying on trust. The terms are fixed, visible to both parties, and enforceable, which is exactly what makes the platform the safe way to hire.
What it actually costs in 2026
There is no single sticker price, because the biggest variables are the worker's nationality and where you recruit from. Split the cost into two parts: what you pay upfront, which depends heavily on whether you bring someone in from abroad or take on someone already in the Kingdom, and what you pay ongoing, which is much the same either way.
Upfront, if you are recruiting from abroad
This applies whether you use a recruitment office or the self-service Maaroufah route.
- Visa-issuance fee: SAR 2,000, paid to the government on submission, waived for some categories such as people with disabilities. A separate Musaned e-service fee of SAR 172.5 (incl. VAT) also applies for issuing the visa online — you can avoid this specific fee by completing the step in person at a Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development office. Confirm the current figures at checkout.
- Recruitment package: the big variable, and it depends mostly on nationality. Through an office, the fee is capped by Musaned and shown per nationality and occupation. Through Maaroufah self-service, you pay a fixed all-in price, generally cheaper, for the nationalities it supports.
- Contractual insurance: mandatory, covering the first two years, bought through Musaned at the contract step.
- Medical examination: the worker's fitness check in their home country, sometimes bundled into the package.
- Travel: the flight to Saudi Arabia, which may be included in an office package or paid separately.
To show how much country matters, here are recruitment cost caps Musaned has published (office recruitment, excluding VAT):
- Philippines: cap around SAR 14,700, average about SAR 14,447.
- Sri Lanka: cap around SAR 13,800, average about SAR 13,446.
- Bangladesh: cap around SAR 11,750, average about SAR 9,276.
- Kenya: cap around SAR 9,000, average about SAR 7,609.
- Uganda: cap around SAR 8,300, average about SAR 6,635.
- Ethiopia: cap around SAR 5,900, average about SAR 5,259.
These caps are reviewed periodically, so treat them as a guide and check the live figure for your nationality when you apply.
Upfront, if you are recruiting from within Saudi Arabia (transfer)
Taking over the sponsorship of a worker already here skips most of the above. There is no visa fee, no overseas medical, and no flight.
- Transfer fee: paid by you, the new sponsor, online through Musaned. It rises with the number of times the worker has been transferred before, so a worker on their first transfer costs less than one who has changed employers several times. Expect a small application service fee (around SAR 100) on top.
- Important: the worker's current sponsor cannot officially charge you a fee. Their only job is to approve the release on Musaned. The official fees you pay go to the system, not to them.
- New contract and insurance: a fresh contract is registered on Musaned, with insurance as applicable.
This is usually the lighter and cheaper way to start, which is why many families prefer it when a suitable worker is already available locally.
Ongoing costs (both routes)
- Monthly salary: over time, by far the largest cost. It varies widely by nationality, and some sending countries set a minimum that Musaned enforces when you fill in the contract. Treat any salary figure online as indicative and confirm the floor for your chosen nationality.
- Periodic return ticket: typically once every two years, per the contract.
- Renewals: Iqama renewal, insurance, and any contract renewal beyond the initial term.
Get a real number for your situation. Rather than guess, use our cost calculators to estimate the monthly salary and one-time cost, based on real 2026 caregiver market data, for the role and nationality you have in mind: the maid cost calculator and the nanny cost calculator, with more in our free tools.
Every figure here is set by the ministry, the recruitment office, or the worker's home country, and all three can change. The numbers inside Musaned at the moment you apply are the ones that count.
How long it takes
Timelines vary more than costs, and the single biggest factor is, again, whether you recruit from abroad or from within the Kingdom. The Ministry does not publish a guaranteed turnaround, so treat the ranges below as realistic expectations rather than promises. The timeframe agreed in your Musaned package is what you should hold to.
Recruiting from abroad
This is the longer route, because it involves several stages that each take time: visa issuance, the worker's medical, visa stamping, and travel. How long it takes depends mostly on the source country, the recruitment office, and embassy processing in the worker's home country.
- Self-service (Maaroufah) tends to be faster when you already have a named worker, since there is no candidate search. For some countries it can move in a matter of weeks.
- Office recruitment ranges more widely, from a few weeks for some nationalities to a couple of months for others, depending on demand and processing in the source country.
As a rough guide, plan for several weeks to a few months end to end, and lean on the timeframe stated in your specific package.
Recruiting from within Saudi Arabia (transfer)
This is much faster, because there is no overseas recruitment, no visa, and no travel. Once you and the worker agree on terms and the current sponsor issues the release through Absher or Musaned, registering the new contract is quick. Reported timelines run from about 10 to 15 business days up to roughly 30 to 45 days, depending on the worker's nationality and how fast the current employer approves the release.
One thing to know in transfer situations: when a worker's contract is ended, Saudi rules give a set window (reported at 60 days) for them to either transfer to a new employer or leave the country. If you are taking on a worker in that situation, moving promptly matters.
These ranges are indicative. Source-country rules, office performance, and seasonal demand all shift them, so confirm the committed timeline in your Musaned package before you rely on a date.
After arrival: your obligations as a sponsor
Hiring does not end when the worker walks through the door. Sponsorship comes with ongoing legal duties, and Saudi Arabia has tightened these considerably, so it is worth knowing them before you commit.
- Pay wages through official channels. As of 1 January 2026, all employers must pay domestic workers' salaries through approved channels, using Musaned-linked digital wallets or participating banks. Paying in cash is no longer the accepted norm. The upside is a clear payment record that protects you as much as the worker if a dispute ever arises.
- Issue and maintain the Iqama. You complete the worker's residence permit through Absher after arrival, generally within three months, and keep it renewed. An expired Iqama blocks other services, including any future transfer.
- Keep insurance active. The contractual and medical insurance must stay valid for the life of the contract.
- Honor the contract terms. Pay the agreed salary on time, provide the agreed accommodation, the weekly rest day, annual leave, and the periodic return ticket. These are not optional courtesies; they are contract terms registered with the ministry.
- Handle any change formally. Renewing, ending, or transferring the relationship all happen through Musaned or Absher, never by informal arrangement. New in 2026: if a worker stops reporting for duty, use Musaned's Work Interruption service (launched February 2026), which lets you either end the contract due to work interruption or transfer the worker to a new employer, instead of relying on an informal absconding report. If a contract is ended due to absence within the worker's first two years in the Kingdom, the worker must complete final-exit procedures within 60 days.
Take these seriously. Unpaid wages are treated as first-degree debts under the regulations, and violations can bring fines and the loss of your ability to hire again. Done properly, though, none of this is onerous. It is mostly a matter of paying on time through the right channel and keeping documents current.
Common mistakes to avoid
Most problems first-time employers run into are avoidable, and they usually come from rushing or trying to shortcut the platform. Here are the ones that cost people the most time and money.
- Arranging a hire informally, outside Musaned. Every legal hire and contract must go through Musaned. An informal arrangement leaves you and the worker with no protection and exposes you to penalties.
- Paying before checking eligibility. Run the eligibility check first. If your category or financial capacity falls short, you want to know before any fee is paid.
- Entering a salary that does not match your documents. Make the salary on the request identical to the figure in your proof of income, or the request can be rejected.
- Picking an office on price alone. Check the office's rating and past feedback on Musaned. A cheap office with poor delivery costs more in delays and stress.
- Paying wages in cash. From January 2026 wages must go through approved channels. Pay through the Musaned-linked method from month one to stay compliant and keep a record.
- Trying to hire your own nationality (residents). Expatriate residents cannot recruit a domestic worker of their own nationality. Choose a different source country.
The thread running through all of these is the same: keep everything on the platform, get your paperwork right before you pay, and treat the ongoing obligations as seriously as the upfront ones.
Conclusion
Hiring a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia feels complicated mostly because it is unfamiliar, not because it is genuinely difficult. Once you can see the shape of it, the path is clear. Everything runs through Musaned, and your first real decision is whether to recruit from abroad or take on someone already in the Kingdom. From there it is a matter of confirming your eligibility, preparing your documents, signing the e-contract, paying the right fees, and meeting your obligations once the worker arrives.
Take it one step at a time, keep everything on the platform, and verify the live figures for costs, salary, and timelines on the day you apply, since those are the details that move. Do that, and you protect yourself and the person joining your household in equal measure.
When you are ready to start, use our Hiring Route Finder to find the route that fits your situation, or browse verified candidates to see who is available right now. And to budget with confidence, our cost calculators give you a real estimate before you commit.