106 out of 135.
That is how many of the violations MoHRE recorded against domestic worker recruitment offices in the first half of 2026 came down to one thing. Agencies not returning recruitment fees on time.
Which means if a placement fell through and you never saw your money again, you are not an unusual case. You are the most common case there is.
| THE ROBIUS VERDICT • CAUTION: The refund is a legal obligation with a fixed deadline, not a goodwill gesture. Two weeks from the day you report it. MoHRE issued 135 fines against 42 domestic worker recruitment offices during the first half of 2026, under the Federal Decree-Law on Domestic Workers and its Executive Regulations. 106 of those violations involved offices failing to refund recruitment fees, in full or in part, within the required period after a worker was returned or reported to have stopped working. The remaining 29 involved offices not following the approved controls and procedures for recruitment generally. The UAE has 138 licensed and active domestic worker recruitment offices, so this is roughly a third of the sector picking up at least one fine in six months. |
The Rule Itself
It is short, and most employers have never been told it.
If you hired a domestic worker through a licensed UAE recruitment office, and that worker was returned to the office or stopped attending work, the office must refund the recruitment fee. In full or in part, depending on circumstances.
The deadline is two weeks. It runs from the date the issue is reported, not from the date the worker actually left. That distinction matters if you are counting.
This sits in the Executive Regulations of the Federal Decree-Law on Domestic Workers. It is not agency policy and it is not negotiable at the counter.
Why This One Violation Dominates
106 of 135 is more than three quarters of everything MoHRE found.
That tells you something practical about how a complaint will land. You are not raising an obscure technicality that an inspector will have to think about. You are describing the single most common failure the ministry is already finding across the sector.
| MoHRE enforcement, first half of 2026 | Figure |
|---|---|
| Recruitment offices fined | 42 |
| Total violations recorded | 135 |
| Violations for late or missing fee refunds | 106 |
| Violations for not following approved procedures | 29 |
| Licensed and active recruitment offices in the UAE | 138 |
The second category is broader and vaguer. Offices failing to follow the approved terms and procedures that govern recruitment activity. Together the two describe an enforcement programme rather than a one-off sweep.
How This Fits the Wider Pattern
There are two separate problems in this sector and it helps to keep them apart.
One is operators working entirely outside the system. Fake agencies, unlicensed intermediaries, social media accounts selling placements that do not exist. We covered that when 77 fake accounts were shut down over visa promises, and again in the nanny agency that asks for a deposit first.
The other is licensed, legitimate offices not following the rules that apply to them. That is what these 135 fines are about, and it is a different risk. The agency exists, the licence is real, and the money still does not come back.
Both matter for the same underlying reason. Knowing an agency is licensed tells you MoHRE has jurisdiction. It does not tell you the agency will behave, which is the same lesson running through three separate UAE crackdowns with one scam underneath.
What to Do if You Are Owed Money
Four steps, in order.
Confirm the office is on MoHRE’s licensed list. The ministry publishes it, and it explicitly asks employers to deal only with offices that appear there. If your agency is not on it, you have a different and more urgent problem, and the five-minute licence check is the habit to build before signing anything next time.
Fix your dates. Find the day you reported the worker returned or absent, in writing if possible. The two-week clock starts there.
Ask the office in writing for the refund and reference the two-week requirement. Keep the message. A written request with a date on it is what turns a disagreement into a documented one.
If the deadline passes, file with MoHRE through its official channels rather than waiting. The ministry processes disputes at genuine scale, which we looked at in how many decisions the labour ministry now issues, and a complaint that matches its most common enforcement finding is not a difficult one to make.
The Part Worth Remembering
MoHRE also made a point of praising the offices that do comply, and described them as partners in the system rather than a problem to be managed.
That is fair. 138 offices are licensed and 42 picked up fines, which means most did not.
But the rule only protects you if you know it exists. Two weeks, from the date you report it. Write that down before you need it.
Sources
- Gulf News: MoHRE issues 135 fines against 42 domestic worker recruitment offices for the first half of 2026 — https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/uae-fines-42-domestic-worker-recruitment-offices-over-135-labour-law-violations-1.500621480
- Emirates 24|7: Breakdown of the 106 refund violations, the two-week requirement and the 138 licensed offices — https://www.emirates247.com/uae/uaes-mohre-issues-135-fines-against-42-domestic-worker-recruitment-offices-in-first-half-of-2026/3975
- Gulf Insider: Detail on the executive regulations, the 29 procedural violations and MoHRE guidance to employers — https://www.gulf-insider.com/uae-fines-42-domestic-worker-agencies-for-135-violations-in-six-months/
- Khaleej Times: Coverage of the enforcement action against domestic worker recruitment agencies — https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/uae-fines-42-domestic-worker-agencies-for-135-violations-in-six-months
Robius.news — Dubai, UAE — 2026 | Built to be first. Built to be trusted.
