Transfer a domestic helper in Singapore: MOM's steps to transfer, end a contract, send her home or report her missing

To transfer a domestic helper in Singapore, the new employer applies on MOM's FDW eService at least 30 days before her Work Permit expires, you approve the request, and her new permit is issued on a transfer date you both agree. Until then she keeps working for you and you keep paying her salary and levy. If she doesn't want a transfer or none works out, you cancel her Work Permit within a week of her last day and pay for her flight home, with departure within 2 weeks of the cancellation. If she goes missing, you have a week to make a police report and cancel the permit. Below are MOM's steps for each case, the deadlines in one table, and what each one costs you.

Your four options when a helper is leaving

There's no minimum period you must employ a helper for, says MOM, so any of these can happen in the first month or the second year. Talk to her first: whether she wants a transfer or to go home, and which day will be her last.

How a direct transfer works

A direct transfer moves your helper to a new employer without her leaving Singapore, and each employer has a part to do.

If you're the current employer, MOM asks you to:

1. Send your helper for her six-monthly medical examination, if it's due and not done yet.
2. Wait for the new employer's transfer request, which reaches you by email, then log in to FDW eService and approve it.
3. Keep paying the levy until the new employer gets her new Work Permit issued. The old permit is then cancelled on its own and your levy bill stops.
4. Cut the cancelled Work Permit card in half and throw it away.

If you're the new employer, you check that her permit is valid for more than 30 days and that her medical check is done, then ask for the current employer's consent and apply for the Work Permit on FDW eService, at least 30 days before her current permit expires. MOM gives an answer within a week. With the in-principle approval, you buy a security bond and her medical and personal accident insurance, and you and the helper sign a declaration form. On the agreed transfer date, you get the new Work Permit issued, upload the form and print a Temporary Work Permit, and she starts with you that day.

The new permit has to be issued within 21 days of approval or by the date her current permit expires, whichever comes first. If the date needs to move, the new employer can extend the in-principle approval on FDW eService once both families agree.

Transferring through an employment agency

If no new family is lined up, an employment agency can take over while it finds one. The agency cancels her Work Permit for the transfer, and from then on MOM makes it responsible for her accommodation, food and medical treatment, and for medical insurance of at least $60,000, until she is placed with a new employer or leaves Singapore. She gets a Special Pass of up to 30 days. If no employer is found in that time, the agency pays her ticket home.

Check that your helper agrees to a transfer before you approach an agency, and put the handover in writing, an email is enough, so it's clear when the agency's responsibility starts. MOM keeps a list of agencies willing to take over helpers. If none will, you can still transfer her directly or send her home, and you stay responsible for her upkeep until she leaves Singapore.

Ending the contract and sending her home

Helpers aren't covered by the Employment Act, so the notice period is whatever your employment contract says. Either of you can end the contract by giving that notice, or by paying salary in place of notice, and you can agree to waive it. Before the last day, MOM asks you to:

• Agree the last day of work with her, in writing if you can.
• Pay everything she's owed, salary included.
• Check her passport is valid.
• Agree in writing on her transit arrangements, such as connecting flights and layovers, and the allowance she'll need on the way.
• Buy her air ticket, with check-in luggage, to the international airport or port nearest her hometown, and pay any connecting transport. Ask her to acknowledge the payment in writing.

Then cancel the Work Permit on FDW eService within 1 week of her last day of work, print the Special Pass and give it to her. She can't work once the permit is cancelled, even while waiting for her flight, and she must leave before the Special Pass expires. Her departure date has to be within 2 weeks of the cancellation. You pay for all of this even if she is the one ending the contract early; MOM says the employer bears the full cost of sending a helper home. If you both agree she'll fly somewhere other than her home country, you can declare that when you cancel the permit, and she'll need any visa that country requires.

If your helper runs away

If your helper goes missing, MOM gives you 1 week from the day you know to do two things: file a missing person report with the police and cancel her Work Permit. Once the permit is cancelled she becomes an overstayer and can be fined, jailed or both before she's sent home. If she isn't found within a month of the cancellation, $2,500 of your $5,000 security bond is forfeited to cover the cost of repatriating her.

Don't take matters into your own hands, even if you suspect she has taken something. MOM's advice is to report any criminal matter to the authorities and never to punish a helper yourself. If you had a dispute with her agency, use the agency's dispute process first; MOM points to the Small Claims Tribunals if mediation doesn't settle it.

Deadlines at a glance

What it costs you

The levy is charged up to the day before the permit is cancelled, so cancelling late costs you extra days. Our maid levy calculator works out the monthly levy and whether you qualify for the $60 concession, and our guide to helper insurance covers what MOM requires the new employer to buy. Agency fees aren't set by MOM, so get each agency's fee for a transfer in writing before you agree.

Before you hire the next helper

Changing helpers often has a cost of its own. MOM counts you as a frequent change employer if you've changed more than 3 helpers within 12 months, and before your 4th you'll attend a 1-hour CONNECT workshop run by the Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore), for $80. You can also agree to be a referee for your departing helper on FDW eService, which lets future employers ask you about her work. MOM notes that a helper is only banned from working here if she's convicted of a criminal offence.

If you're weighing up a helper against other childcare, our comparison of infant care, a helper or grandparents sets out the costs side by side. When you're ready to meet candidates, our list of domestic helper interview questions covers infant care, feeding and emergencies.

Frequently asked questions

Can I transfer my helper without her agreement?

No. A transfer needs her to agree, whether it's direct or through an agency, and MOM asks you to check she is agreeable before contacting an agency. If she wants to go home instead, cancel the permit and send her home.

Who pays for the flight home if my helper resigns?

You do. MOM says employers bear the full cost of employing a helper, including sending her home when the job ends, whoever ends it.

How long does a helper transfer take?

MOM decides within a week of the application. The new permit must then be issued within 21 days of approval or before her current permit expires, so most transfers finish within a month.

Do I still pay levy after my helper goes to the agency?

Not once the agency has cancelled her Work Permit for the transfer. In a direct transfer, you pay levy until the new employer gets her new permit issued.

What happens to my security bond if my helper runs away?

You must report her missing and cancel her permit within a week. If she isn't found within a month of the cancellation, MOM forfeits $2,500 of the $5,000 bond.