How to Legally Hire a Live-in Maid or Domestic Worker in Thailand

Two people can do the same household job and still fall into different compliance paths. With a Thai domestic worker, the main questions are employment questions: the real scope of the role, normal working hours, rest, pay, days off, leave and the living arrangement. Domestic work is covered by specific labour protections, so a live-in setup should not be treated as an informal favour between a household and a helper.

A foreign hire adds a separate immigration and work-authorisation layer. A passport, visa or lawful stay in Thailand does not by itself show that the person may perform domestic work for your household. The relevant route has to allow the occupation, identify or otherwise recognise the employer, and remain valid for the period in which the person will work.

That distinction is easiest to resolve before move-in. Once someone is already living in the home, a paperwork problem becomes an employment problem and a housing problem at the same time. Treat the right-to-work check as part of the hiring decision, not as paperwork to tidy up after the first salary has been paid.

Referrals, community groups and agencies are sourcing channels, not quality guarantees. A neighbour may know someone dependable, an agency can reduce the time spent screening, and expat groups often produce a larger pool. None of those routes tells you whether the person is a good fit for the actual household you run.

Start by matching experience to the real job. “Worked for a family” is too broad if the role includes an infant, a large dog, daily cooking, elder support or a house with demanding laundry and ironing routines. Ask what the candidate did personally, how often those tasks occurred and which parts of the job they preferred or disliked. That conversation is far more useful than a generic claim of several years' experience.

Recent references matter because household work is built on trust, routine and access to private space. Two or three current references are usually enough if at least one former employer can confirm the dates, main duties and reason the job ended. A polished message or agency profile is not a substitute for that conversation, especially when the role involves children, valuables or long periods alone in the home.

Live-in expectations deserve their own discussion before an offer. Language, sleep schedule, weekly day off, food, pets, visitors, privacy and the boundary between occasional help and being called back onto duty can make an otherwise capable worker and household incompatible. An agency may help you find candidates, but the household still owns the final employment and document checks. The broader living in Thailand guide covers the rest of the household setup after relocation; this section stays with the hiring decision itself.

Most live-in disputes do not begin with cleaning quality. They begin when the job quietly expands. A role that started as housekeeping and laundry acquires dinner preparation, school pickup, pet care, errands and late-night requests because the worker is physically present in the home. Each extra task may feel minor to the household while the overall job becomes something neither side originally agreed to.

Describe the role as a normal week, not as a vague promise to “help with the house.” Which rooms are cleaned and how often? Is cooking daily or occasional? Who buys groceries, handles laundry and changes bedding? Then draw a visible boundary around duties that are not part of the role, such as primary infant care, medical eldercare, regular driving, work at a second property or routine night calls.

The living arrangement needs its own terms. The worker should know where they sleep and store personal belongings, what meals are provided, how internet and keys are handled, and what the household expects around visitors and shared spaces. Privacy works both ways: the family is sharing a home with an employee, and the employee is living where they work.

Travel is another place where assumptions collide. If the family spends a weekend elsewhere, decide whether the worker is expected to come, whether those hours count as work, where they will sleep and who covers expenses. An occasional exceptional request is different from a recurring duty; if the pattern changes, the role and pay should be discussed again.

Childcare and eldercare should not be hidden inside a housekeeping title. Watching a school-age child for a short, defined period is different from being the main carer for a baby; helping an older relative with meals is different from providing medical or nursing support. When care becomes a substantial part of the day, spell it out as a core duty and hire for that level of responsibility.

Private-household work is still employment. Ministerial Regulation No. 15, effective from 30 April 2024 under Thailand's Labour Protection Act, extended core protections for domestic workers. The Ministry of Labour states a maximum normal workday of eight hours and at least one hour of rest; the ILO also describes a 48-hour maximum normal week.

That matters especially in a live-in arrangement, where work can be scattered across the day. A few tasks at breakfast, more in the afternoon and another set late at night can still create an excessive working day even if there was no single eight-hour block. Normal work needs a recognisable start and finish, with genuine off-duty time.

Domestic workers are also covered by minimum-wage protection. The applicable figure can change by province and date, so a fixed nationwide number is a poor hiring shortcut. Treat the statutory minimum as a legal floor and the agreed salary as a separate market decision shaped by location, workload, experience, language skills and the living arrangement.

Workers are entitled to weekly rest, traditional holidays and annual leave; after one year of continuous employment, annual leave is at least six working days. Ministerial Regulation No. 15 originally expanded maternity protection in 2024, but its 98-day figure has since been overtaken by Labour Protection Act No. 9, effective 7 December 2025. The current entitlement is up to 120 days of maternity leave, with the employer paying normal wages for up to 60 days, and protection against pregnancy-based dismissal remains in place.

Wage deductions are another area where informal household habits can become a legal problem. The law permits them only on limited grounds and subject to caps. Accommodation, food, paperwork costs, agency charges or household breakages should not be treated as an open-ended right to reduce pay because the worker lives in the home.

A foreign domestic worker has two legal questions to answer: whether they may stay in Thailand and whether they may perform the proposed work. A visa, entry stamp, passport or migrant-worker card may prove part of the first question, but it does not automatically answer the second. Nationality, the current immigration route, the permitted occupation, the recognised employer and the authorization's validity all matter.

The Ministry of Labour's current prohibited-occupations page includes a domestic-work exception for certain workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. That is a starting point, not blanket permission for every national of those countries. A particular worker may be on a different scheme, tied to another employer, hold an expired authorization or be approved for another type of work. The exception should not be extended by analogy to other nationalities.

Thailand's 2026 procedures show why old screenshots and agency assurances are not enough. The Department of Employment's e-WorkPermit system has separate routes for new permits, MOU workers, renewals, changes, hiring and termination. Cabinet resolutions can create temporary schemes with their own dates. One 2026 renewal route for workers from Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, for example, allowed qualifying workers to continue through 31 March 2027 if its conditions were met; that did not make every participant eligible for domestic work.

The useful check is the current record and the route behind it. Does the identity match, is the authorization still valid, which employer is recognised, is domestic work within the permitted scope, and has an employer change been completed where necessary? The Department of Employment system also provides separate hire and termination notifications, with the applicable filing depending on the worker's route.

Do not treat a valid permit as portable property that the worker simply brings to a new household. The Department of Employment has procedures for changing employers and, in some cases, changing job type. If a candidate says the permit is valid for another year, the next question is valid for whom and for what work. An agency can assist, but its confidence does not replace the official record.

Driving deserves separate treatment. The Ministry of Labour lists driving motor vehicles among occupations prohibited for foreign workers, and the domestic-work exception should not be assumed to cover a regular driver role. If school runs or daily errands by car are part of the household's needs, separate that job from domestic work and verify the legal scope before adding it. The site's guide to hiring a personal driver in Bangkok is the better place for that role. The final answer for any foreign worker still depends on nationality, immigration route, work category, employer and the rules in force on the hiring date.

A household does not need a twenty-page corporate contract to create clarity. It needs written terms that both sides can actually understand. If the worker and employer do not share a strong common language, use a bilingual version. The written job should resemble the job that will exist on an ordinary Tuesday.

The core terms are pay, payday, normal hours, rest, weekly day off, leave, accommodation, meals and agreed expenses. Add a realistic duty list and a short list of exclusions. Households with children or frequent travel should also define childcare responsibility, night requests, transport and extra hours.

The first two to four weeks are best used to tune the routine, not to postpone the rules. Short check-ins can surface small mismatches before they become personal: dinner was assumed to be daily but the role described occasional cooking; laundry was understood by one side to include ironing and by the other side not to. Those are ordinary employment issues and are easiest to fix early.

A probation period, if used, does not turn real work into unpaid practice or suspend normal labour protections. Pay and working time should be clear from day one. The purpose is to see whether the agreed role works for both sides, not to add new duties until the worker reaches an unspoken limit.

Keep personal document originals with their owner unless a specific lawful process genuinely requires otherwise. Employers may need copies or identifying information for filings, but holding a passport as leverage is a different thing. Wages should not be kept as security for paperwork, agency costs or possible resignation. Notice, final pay, keys, move-out and any Department of Employment action for a foreign worker should also be clear before the relationship ends.