Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Nanny in the UAE: A Trial-Day Checklist
The questions worth asking a nanny, how to run a trial day with your own children, and the UAE contract, rest day and visa basics to check before you say yes.
The questions that matter most when you interview a nanny in the UAE are about her experience with children your children's age, how she handles tears and tantrums, what she would do in an emergency, and whether she can legally work for you. Ask them in person, then watch her with your children on a trial day before anything is signed.
Below: the questions, a trial-day checklist to print, and the UAE legal essentials.
The questions to ask, in one list
Her last job and her experience
Ask for an example every time: specific beats polished.
- A typical day: Walk me through a normal day with your last family. Like yours?
- Leaving: How long were you there, and why did you leave? What did you like most, and what was hardest?
- Experience: Which ages have you cared for? Have you looked after two children at once?
- References: Can I speak to your last two families? (Ask them: would you hire her again?)
- First aid: Have you done a first aid course?
How she works
- Routines: How do you handle naps, meals and bedtime? Will you follow ours?
- Discipline: What do you do when a child hits, bites or refuses to listen?
- Keeping them busy: How would you fill a morning? Playgroups, the park?
- Screen time: When do you think a tablet or TV is fine, and when not?
- Languages: Which languages do you speak? Do you read aloud?
- Driving: Do you hold a UAE licence? Are you comfortable with car seats?
- Other tasks: Would you also cook, clean or iron? (What you agree goes in the contract.)
Getting to know her
- Her story: Why did you come to the UAE? Your family, your day off, favourite music and food? Small answers show whether you click.
Leave out questions about religion, race, nationality or health: the law bans discrimination on those grounds.
"What would you do if…?"
Ask her to talk you through each, step by step:
- your child is choking
- your child falls into the pool (and: can you swim?)
- a child climbs towards the balcony
- there is a fire in the flat
- your child has a fever
- your child won't listen, or is grumpy all afternoon
- your child refuses the food on the plate
- another child takes a toy at the playground
Then make sure she knows the UAE numbers by heart: 999 for police, 998 for ambulance, 997 for fire, from anywhere in the country. Our guide on what to do when your child is sick in Dubai is worth printing for the fridge.
Talk about expectations, both ways
Ask what she expects from you, then share yours: working hours (the law gives her at least 12 hours of rest a day), phones away while she is with the children, and the salary.
How to run a trial day
A trial shows what an interview cannot: how she speaks to a grumpy child. Stay at home, keep it to a few hours around a nap or a meal, and let her lead.
A trial is work, and in the UAE a domestic worker may only work under her own work permit. Before you book one, check with the nanny, her current sponsor or MoHRE how a trial can happen within the rules of her visa, and if it can, agree up front what she is paid for it. The longer, safer test is the probation period in the contract, which the law caps at six months.
Trial-day checklist
- Does she greet your child at their level, and use their name?
- Does she wash her hands before food and after nappies?
- Does she follow your routine, or ask before changing it?
- Is her phone away while she is with your child?
- How does she handle the first tears?
- Does she tidy up as she goes, and tell you what happened?
- How does your child seem when she leaves?
The UAE essentials to check before you hire
The law lists nanny/babysitter among the 19 domestic work occupations. What it says, in short:
- Age: no one under 18 may be employed as a domestic worker
- Contract: signed on the MoHRE template, with a copy for her. It names the work, salary, leave, probation, rest periods and how it can end
- Rest: one paid day off a week, and 12 hours of rest a day, 8 of them in a row
- Leave: at least 30 days' paid annual leave, up to 30 days' sick leave a year, a return ticket home every two years
- Her documents: she keeps her own passport and ID
- Care: you provide accommodation, meals, and medical care or health insurance
The visa and work permit
A nanny works on a domestic worker residence permit, sponsored by a UAE national or resident, with a MoHRE work permit.
Hiring a nanny who is not authorised to work for you carries a fine of AED 50,000 to AED 200,000 under the 2022 law. Routes and costs: how to hire a maid or nanny in Dubai. When rules change, check these UAE government sources.
Something to do this week
Print the list and the checklist, and write your own non-negotiables at the top: the three things you will not compromise on. Above all, find someone you and your children click with. Still looking? Browse the mumma Guide, and ask our members in the Community what they wish they had asked.
