🇹🇭 Lawful hiring · fair work · child safety
Domestic help and nannies in Thailand
Domestic help in Thailand ranges from agency cleaners and locally recruited housekeepers to migrant domestic workers and experienced nannies. The market can look informal from the outside, but household workers have specific labour protections and a worker's nationality and status can change the lawful hiring route.
Last verified 29 August 2026
The short answer
Can a family hire domestic help in Thailand?
Families can find cleaning and childcare support in Thailand, especially in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai, but should not treat an agency profile or personal referral as proof of a lawful arrangement. Confirm who employs the worker, inspect identity and work authorisation, put duties and hours in writing, and apply Thailand's 2024 household-worker protections. A nanny role also needs a separate child-safeguarding plan.
Choose the type of help you need
Four arrangements with different responsibilities
A worker supplied by a company, a part-time household worker and a live-in nanny can create different employment, immigration, insurance and safeguarding responsibilities.
Agency cleaner
Defined visits and cleaning scope
Part-time household worker
Recurring cleaning, laundry or food preparation
Locally hired nanny
Regular or sole-charge childcare
Migrant domestic worker
Broader or live-in household role
Your responsibilities as an employer
What the rules mean for your family
Use this as a starting point, then confirm the current requirements with the relevant authority or a qualified local adviser. Swipe the table on smaller screens.
| Topic | Current position | What the family should do |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Household work includes roles such as cleaning, cooking, caring and driving when performed for a household. | Describe every recurring duty and identify which person or agency is the legal employer. |
| Hours and breaks | The 2024 regulation provides a maximum eight-hour working day and a break of at least one hour for protected household workers. | Write start, finish, break, overnight and on-call periods rather than using 'help as needed'. |
| Pay | The Ministry of Labour says household workers receive at least the applicable minimum wage and restricts specified deductions. | Check the current official rate for the place and arrangement; keep signed payment records and explain every lawful deduction. |
| Leave and maternity | Protections include necessary personal leave, 98 days' maternity leave, 45 employer-paid days and pregnancy-related restrictions. | Put leave, holiday cover and return arrangements into the household budget and written terms. |
| Migrant status | Some neighbouring-country migrant workers may work in domestic work under Cabinet and work-permit routes; permission is role-, employer- and status-sensitive. | Verify the current Department of Employment record before the first shift and again at renewal or employer change. |
| Disputes and help | The Ministry of Labour and labour-inspection system are the authoritative starting points for current protection and complaints. | Give the worker a copy of terms, keep contact details accessible and never retain identity documents. |
What matters most
Plan fair working hours in a live-in home
Living at the workplace does not make every hour working time. Agree a clear daily schedule with protected breaks and time off.
Named duties
Separate childcare, cleaning, cooking, driving and errands; do not let one job expand invisibly.
Recorded hours
Set the ordinary working window and agree how additional, holiday or overnight work is requested and paid.
Real break
A break must be usable; being responsible for a sleeping baby or waiting for instructions is not a clean break.
Privacy and rest
Live-in workers need private sleeping space, genuine off-duty periods and freedom to communicate and leave lawfully.
Hiring a nanny also means making safeguarding checks
Employment checks and child-safety checks are different
Lawful status does not prove childcare competence, and a warm reference does not prove lawful status. Complete both sets of checks before anyone provides sole-charge care.
Verify, do not infer
Confirm identity and contact references directly. Ask fact-based questions about the candidate's role, dates, reliability, boundaries and child ages.
Stage sole charge
Use observed handovers before independent care. Practise school collection, food allergies, medicines, pools, transport and emergency calls.
Write family rules
Agree discipline, screens, photos, social media, visitors, driving, sleeping arrangements, physical affection and incident reporting.
Protect both sides
Use common-area cameras only lawfully and transparently; never place them in private areas or treat surveillance as a substitute for trust and supervision.
Immediate red flags: pressure to retain a passport, unexplained recruitment debt, no private contact with the worker, resistance to direct references, a role or employer that does not match permission, or a request to hide the arrangement from an authority.
Research from home
Five steps to hiring safely and fairly
Use these steps before a scouting trip or move. They help you turn a vague plan to “get a helper” into specific checks, questions and records.
- 01
Define the role
Decide whether the need is cleaning, household management, childcare or a genuinely combined job; estimate realistic hours.
- 02
Verify the route
Ask the agency or worker who employs them and obtain current Thai work-status evidence before discussing a start date.
- 03
Interview around scenarios
Use the child's real routine, allergies, transport and emergency situations rather than generic personality questions.
- 04
Contract and trial fairly
Write duties, hours, pay, leave, privacy, notice, accommodation and a paid review period consistent with the law.
- 05
Keep the file current
Retain terms, pay records, emergency contacts, reference notes and work-authorisation checks; review whenever duties change.
Budget for more than the wage
Work out the complete cost of employing someone
Figures date quickly and roles differ. Collect current written quotes, then compare every required cost on the same basis.
Cash pay
The agreed rate, current legal floor and different rates for extra or holiday work.
Leave cover
A second adult, agency cover or reduced service while the worker takes protected time.
Recruitment and status
Agency charges, lawful documentation, renewals, medical or travel items where applicable.
Live-in provision
Private accommodation, food, utilities and reasonable household facilities are real employer costs.
Childcare readiness
First aid, safe transport, car seat, phone and paid handover time may be necessary.
How local arrangements differ
What to expect in different places
- Best depth
- Bangkok has the broadest agency and experienced-candidate market, but commute geography matters.
- Island reality
- Phuket availability can be corridor- and season-sensitive; price travel and backup.
- Northern market
- Chiang Mai can support part-time and household roles, with a smaller specialist nanny pool.
- Key warning
- Do not ask a worker to start while an employer-change or work-permit process is unresolved.
Continue the family research
Make domestic help part of the wider family plan
Domestic help cannot solve an impossible school run, unsuitable visa or unaffordable budget. Consider it alongside the rest of your household plan.
Common questions
Questions about domestic help and nannies in Thailand
Can expats hire a nanny or maid in Thailand?
They can use lawful agency or household arrangements, but the correct route depends on who employs the worker, the worker's nationality and permission, the occupation and the family's own status. Verify the current Department of Employment position before work begins; a referral, passport or long stay is not work authorisation.
What rights do domestic workers have in Thailand?
Thailand's 2024 household-worker regulation added protections including a maximum eight-hour day, a break of at least one hour, personal leave, minimum-wage protection and expanded maternity safeguards. The exact application and any additional holiday, overtime or sector rules should be confirmed for the arrangement.
Is a written contract required for a nanny in Thailand?
Even where a particular form is not prescribed for every arrangement, written terms are essential evidence. Record duties, hours, breaks, pay, leave, accommodation, privacy, notice, identity, lawful status and childcare rules in Thai and a language both parties understand where needed.
How much does a nanny cost in Thailand?
There is no reliable national nanny price: experience, language, sole-charge care, live-in accommodation, city, hours and agency involvement all change it. Start with the current legal pay floor, collect comparable written quotes and budget leave cover, documentation and employer-provided items as well as salary.
Can a tourist or dependant work as a nanny in Thailand?
Do not assume so. Work requires the correct permission and conditions, and immigration permission to stay is not automatically permission to work. Check the person's current record with the Department of Employment before hiring.
Should we use CCTV with a nanny?
Cameras are not a substitute for identity, references, observation and clear rules. If used, obtain current Thai privacy-law advice, tell the worker, limit cameras to appropriate shared spaces, secure footage and never monitor private sleeping or changing areas.
What should be in a Thai nanny safeguarding handover?
Include each child's contacts, allergies, medicines, food rules, authorised collectors, transport and pool rules, emergency services, nearest appropriate hospital, discipline boundaries, photo rules and when the nanny must call a parent immediately.