Employing a domestic worker in Qatar comes with a clear set of legal duties, and, unlike the marketing you will see, only some of them involve “insurance.”
This guide is for any employer sponsoring a maid, nanny or other domestic worker in Qatar. It sets out exactly what Law No. 15 of 2017 requires you to provide, what the penalties are for falling short, and an honest read on the health card and the mandatory health-insurance scheme, two things that are constantly confused. Where the law fixes a figure, we cite it and link the official source.
The duties you owe under the law
Law No. 15 of 2017 governs domestic work in Qatar. Our full explainer of the law goes deeper, and the Ministry of Labour is the official source, but the core duties an employer must provide are:
| Duty | What it means |
|---|---|
| Working hours | A maximum of 10 hours a day; prayer, rest and meal breaks are not counted |
| Weekly rest | At least 24 continuous hours, paid |
| Annual leave | Three weeks paid, plus a return air ticket home every two years |
| Wages | Paid monthly in QAR by the 3rd of the following month, proven by bank deposit or a signed receipt; no deducting recruitment fees |
| End of service | At least three weeks’ wages per year of service, after one year |
| Living & care | Suitable food, accommodation and medical care, and dignified treatment |
| Documents | The worker keeps her passport; withholding it is prohibited |
The health card, and where insurance really stands
This is where families get confused, so keep the two separate:
- The PHCC health card is real, cheap and required in practice. It costs QAR 50 a year for a domestic worker and gives her subsidised access to public healthcare. You renew it annually alongside her QID, through the Primary Health Care Corporation.
- Mandatory health insurance under Law No. 22 of 2021 is being rolled out in phases. The visitor phase is live, but the leg that would cover a resident domestic worker has not been confirmed as in force with a set price. So there is no official “mandatory maid insurance premium” to quote yet; the QAR 1,200 to 2,500 figures you see online are private, voluntary plans, not the mandatory scheme.
What is not optional is your duty under Law 15/2017 to pay for your worker’s medical care and medicine. Whether you meet that through the QAR 50 health card, a private plan, or the mandatory scheme once it applies to residents, the worker must not bear the cost, and passing insurance costs to her is not allowed.
If you are setting up a new worker, our companion health card, wage payment and insurance setup guide walks through the practical steps.
The penalties for getting it wrong
Law No. 15 of 2017 does carry penalties (Section 21), so these duties have teeth. The figures below are maximums:
| Breach | Maximum fine (QAR) |
|---|---|
| No written contract | 5,000 |
| Exceeding the 10-hour working day | 5,000 |
| Denying the weekly rest day | 5,000 |
| Denying the three weeks’ annual leave | 5,000 |
| Breach of gratuity, food, housing or medical duties | 5,000 |
| Not paying wages properly or on time | 10,000 |
| Recruiting a worker under 18 or over 60 | 10,000 |
| Withholding the worker’s passport | up to 25,000 |
The passport-withholding penalty comes from the residence law (Law No. 21 of 2015), and it is up to QAR 25,000, not the QAR 50,000 you may see quoted; that higher figure is for visa trading, a different offence. Section 21 also lets these fines stack with any harsher penalty in another law.
Getting the contract right from the start
Most breaches trace back to a vague or missing contract, which is itself a QAR 5,000 offence. A clear written agreement, with the hours, rest day, wage, allowances and duties spelled out, protects both sides. Our free contract generator produces a bilingual agreement you can adapt, and if you are still choosing a worker, you can browse verified candidates or compare fair pay in the Salary Index.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Treating the health card and health insurance as the same thing; the card is QAR 50/year, the mandatory insurance scheme is still phasing in.
- Quoting a “mandatory insurance premium” for a resident maid; the resident leg is not confirmed with a set price yet.
- Passing any medical or insurance cost to the worker, which is not allowed.
- Working the worker past 10 hours a day or skipping the weekly rest day, each a QAR 5,000 breach.
- Holding the worker’s passport, an offence of up to QAR 25,000 under the residence law.
The bottom line
Provide the hours, the rest day, the leave, on-time wages in QAR, suitable food and lodging, and medical care, keep her passport with her, and register the QAR 50 health card. Treat the mandatory health-insurance scheme as “phasing in” rather than a fixed cost for now, and never pass its cost to the worker. Do that and you are compliant, and the fines under Section 21 are simply not a risk you carry.
