abudhabinewbie

Hi All

Need some help in planning for our first baby!

We are expecting next January and we want to start planning for care. Both my wife and I will be working and we are not sure on the best options for child care. Like most we do not have any family support here

the only options we can see is having a maid/nanny. We do not want one to live with us though, is it possible to have a maid that comes in the morning and can go home in the evening? if so does anyone know who we can contact to arrange this? Anyone know the costs?

I have had a quick look at nurseries but these dont seem to be an option as they all close at 2pm and are also term based so closed during xmas/summer etc

Any help/assistance at all would be great

thanks

busybee2

yes everyone just gets a maid but you can have live in or live out, with live out you just have to provide allowance for accommodation etc to cover it and the rest would all be the same.

nurseries are not thes substitute for "nannies" etc as they do close for holidays and not all will run past 2pm if they do its extra... and its expensive enough in the beginning!

Millhouse

Congratulations.

Get a maid and make the adjustment. You don't have to treat them like shit and if you give her two days off a week you don't see her at the weekends and she'll love you for it.

As bad as maids are, much better to integrate one into the family to look over the most valuable thing in your life than ship in an agency maid every other day. Nurseries don't work.

I assume your wife won't be working for a few months after the birth so you have lots of time.

abudhabinewbie

Thanks Millhouse

We dont have a maids room so thats one of the other reasons so i dont mind paying extra and having a live out one. It will be hard for us the get used to the idea of having a maid but it seems the done thing here.

Can you advise on how to source a maid or is there an agency which will do this for me and vett the maid etc?

We will not be treating them like sh1t and i despise people that would do this to another human being. Ideally we just want a glorified baby sitter when we go to work and alone time with the baby in the evening and weekends

Millhouse

That's exactly the deal I have with ours. The cleaning is sort of a bonus on top. A live in (in my opinion) is the better option but I get the no maids room thing.

I wouldn't touch an agency if you are getting one - They don't actually "vett" anything -- in fact, I was given a book of photos and told to pic the one I liked. I choose one with big lips that wasn't too painful on the eye - you don't want to scare the kids. Much better to try and source one locally from spinneys etc. then you can interview etc first.

abudhabinewbie

ok perfect, will check spinneys and put an ad in dubbizlle closer to the time

do i still have to arrange visas etc or are these maids typically under a spouses visa?

sorry for all the questions but this is uncharted territory for me

thanks

Millhouse

You arrange it. It costs about 5k a year + medical + heath. So about 6k. Then give them what ever you think is fair to pay them. Locals think that is 700 a month, 1500-2000 is fair.

archie159

You'll find issues such as these discussed at length across on http://www.abudhabiwoman.com/
Also every now and again on that website a departing expat will put up a post to help her maid find a new job - that way you can chat also to the expat and, hopefully, get a good feel for whether the maid is any good or not.

Edited to say: there is also a lot of discussion going on about whether maid visa fees are going up - people have been asked for up to AED12,000 recently. Seems to be inconsistency at the visa offices (there's a surprise...) but a feeling that they are all going up after Ramadan.

abudhabinewbie

To be honest the cost isn't a major concern, its getting the right support/help when the baby comes.

I too have heard of a lot of problems with maids but i hope this is a minority since nearly every working family seem to have one

I have a few months to think about it but it does seem that a live out maid is the only option. if anyone know of any good maids that will become available in the new year please let me know

csdf

We're in a similar position to you so I'm also interested in these responses.

busybee2

you cannot use a maid under a husbands visa thats illegal, you must sponsor or use an agency to provide for you.

be aware that the prices have just increased as of 1 june, so a lot of chat about it being now very expensive and really not worth it for a lot of people. it was bad enough before with the annual costs.

busybee2

so its ok to pay the fee of 12k a year (its now 5k or so..) on average, like 2k gbp plus the salary, and expenses of a maid month to month... hmmmmm want your job then!!!

abudhabinewbie

i thought they meant 12k AED for the registration/visa. a one off payment. i didn't realise that was monthly!
thats more than teachers so i cant understand how this can be true?
Can anyone confirm?

archie159

The 12k visa fee (or whatever it is) is annual. BB2 doesn't use punctuation or grammar, so it is sometimes hard to understand what she means...

As I said before, if you want a detailed break down of typical maid costs (flights, visas, medical, salaries etc), head across to the link I provided earlier - there are plenty of people who have listed them all.

busybee2

annual fee...!