A number of Ethiopian female domestic workers migrate to the Middle East countries for domestic work purposes. To reach to their destinations, they use both legal and illegal routes. Especially, illegal migrants encounter multitudes of risks. Risk perception studies are vital instruments that can aid government policies and risk mitigation efforts, and help wither causes of illegal migration right from the roots before they ever get the chance to manifest. There are several potential female migrants in Ethiopia that are worth studying their risk perceptions. The focus of this research is studying risk perception of female domestic workers in Addis Ababa. The researcher used both quantitative and qualitative methods to undertake the study. Particularly, psychometric scale was used to identify the risk perception of domestic workers. On top of this, interviews were conducted with domestic workers and experts who are engaged in works related to women, migration, foreign diplomacy, labour and social affairs. Sample domestic workers were selected from Bole and Yeka sub cities of Addis Ababa. Stratified, simple random sampling and purposive sampling were used to select the samples. A total of 205 for questionnaires and 10 for interview were sampled from domestic workers. For key informant interview, six experts were sampled. Risk perception was rated on 12 risk dimensions and 14 risks which were identified through literature review. For analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Findings indicated that the more potential migrants are familiar to risks, the more they tend to assume the risks to be less dreadful. Voluntariness and controllability of risks were found to be predictors of risk taking tendency. The more potential migrants perceive risks to be taken voluntarily and assume risks are controllable, the more they tend to take the risks. Two major factors, familiarity and dreadfulness, were found to bring about major variance during the pilot test. Hence, these factors were rated at each risk dichotomies. Relatively, life and social risks were found to be the least familiar and most dreaded risk dichotomies. Major causes of illegal migration were found to be economic problem, unemployment, aspiration for better life and deception by illegal brokers. In order to minimize risks, potential migrants should be empowered, employment opportunities should be created, consistent public movement should worked on and proper risk perception awareness should be conducted.rnKey words: Risk perception, Female domestic workers, Illegal migration, Risks of illegal migration, Illegal migration to Middle East countries.