What your employer must pay for in the Gulf – and your passport

The costs below are the employer’s by law, and your passport is yours. Each line links to the official law or ministry page it comes from.

UAE

The employer pays

• Your trip home at the end of the job (unless you joined another employer or the termination was caused by you). Source: Decree-Law 33/2021, Art. 13(12)
• Your medical care as the law requires, and the insurances and contributions the law sets. Source: Decree-Law 33/2021, Art. 13(8)-(9)
• Licensed housing, or a housing allowance (or housing included in the wage). Source: Decree-Law 33/2021, Art. 13(4)
• Domestic workers: medical care (or health insurance) and the trip home; a return ticket every two years when you spend your leave at home. Source: Decree-Law 9/2022, Art. 11(5), 11(15), 10(4)

Your passport

• The employer may not keep your official documents. Source: Decree-Law 33/2021, Art. 13(2)
• Domestic workers keep all their official documents. Source: Decree-Law 9/2022, Art. 11(11)

Saudi Arabia

The employer pays

• As above (Art. 40): recruitment, iqama, work permit, exit/re-entry visas, and the ticket home at the end of the contract. Source: Saudi Labor Law, Art. 40 (HRSD)
• Domestic workers: after two years, a return ticket home for leave (one-way if leaving for good). Source: Domestic Workers Regulation, Art. 12(2), 13(2)

Your passport

• The employer may not keep your passport, iqama or medical insurance card. Source: Labor Law Implementing Regulations, Art. 6 (HRSD FAQ)
• Domestic workers: the employer may not keep your passport or personal papers. Source: Domestic Workers Regulation, Art. 15(2)

Qatar

The employer pays

• Your trip home at the end of service, with the procedures finished within two weeks of the contract ending. Source: Labour Law 14/2004, Art. 57
• Domestic workers: a return ticket home for leave after every two years. Source: Domestic Workers Law 15/2017, Art. 14

Your passport

• The employer must give your passport back once the residence procedures are done, unless you ask in writing that the employer keeps it. Source: Law 21/2015, Art. 8

Oman

The employer pays

• Your trip home when the contract ends, within 60 days at most. Source: Labour Law (RD 53/2023), Art. 14

Your passport

• The employer may not keep your passport or personal documents without your written consent. Source: Labour Law (RD 53/2023), Art. 6

Bahrain

The employer pays

• All costs of employing you, issuing or renewing your work permit, and your residency. Source: LMRA, Decision 76/2008, Art. 7
• Your trip home when the job ends or the permit expires or is cancelled (paid by the last employer). Source: Act 19/2006, Art. 27
• Domestic workers: all work and residence permit fees and the trip home. Source: LMRA domestic contract, Art. 4

Your passport

• The employer may not keep your passport or ID unless you agree in writing and get a receipt; withholding them is illegal. Source: LMRA, Decision 76/2008, Art. 7; LMRA FAQ

Kuwait

Kuwait: we could not open the official Kuwaiti sources (Public Authority for Manpower) when we checked, so we make no claims here yet. Ask the Public Authority for Manpower directly.

General information, not legal advice. Laws change – always check the official link. Last checked 11 Oct 2026. UAE law texts are MOHRE's English translations; Qatar and Oman wording is our translation of the Arabic law.

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