Scholarship on Gulf migration often separates immigrants into two fixed groups, “migrant labourers” and “expats.” The former, typically from Asia or Africa, is considered underpaid, exploited, and migrating alone, while the latter, often Westerner or Arab, is regarded as well-compensated, family-accompanied, and relatively stable. Within this binary framework, migrants are almost always normalised as male, and class boundaries appear rigid. Women are often positioned as either domestic workers or trailing spouses—“maids” or “madams.” While research has examined domestic workers, studies on middle- and upper-class migrant women remain sparse. Through eight semi-structured interviews with immigrant women on different visa arrangements and a content analysis of 50 UAE-based Facebook groups, this study examines the participation of middle-class immigrant women in informal economies and their role in maintaining the illusion of diasporic class stability and distinction. This study also introduces a theory about “middling madams” as figures whose labour and precarities expose the fluid, contingent, and unstable class positions underpinning expat family life in the Gulf.