All About Full-Time Maids

[bravo]

hi,


I heard that there is a new passport system for myanmar maids.

I have read this Link:
http://www.mesingapore.org.sg/consular_services.htm#renewal_passport

But their details are vague.

Anyone with recent experiences to share?

1) photos/items to bring?
2) need to pay income tax before renewal of passport?
3) procedure to apply the new passport? queue at embassy how long? Can put my maid there 1st thg in morning? come back later? or employers need to queue together?

The reason why I asked is cos my agency refuse to help us apply cos its no longer 'easy money' i guess. Cos alot of work for little money for them.

Any advice will be useful for me.

thnks all!

regards

[CMF]

Hi


My Myanmar maid renewed her passport in March 2010. Am not sure if the system has changed since, but here’s what we did.

(1) Went the night before (pref to go mid week, so not so crowded) at around 9pm. There’s a Q-list placed in the first letter box outside the main gate. She wrote her name and passport number on the list (she was abt number 15). This list will be used the next day by the Embassy staff as the sequence for attending to each person.

(2) Dropped her off by herself at around 7am the next day. She packed water and sandwiches for her lunch.

(3) Made photocopies of her passport, work permit card, employment contract (which states monthly salary) and passport photos.

(4) She brought along 400+ dlrs. Passport fee + tax (10 percent of two years annual salary) works out quite expensive.

(5) After she paid her tax there, and showed the receipt, she could renew her passport.

Note : Ensure that tax payment receipt is kept properly cos understand hv to show at Myanmar airport when she returns home later.

(6) She completed the whole process around 3pm + on the same day.

Note : There is no need for the employer to be present.

Hope above helps!

[DesertWind]

Hi all,


My good maid went without handphone for about 1.5 yrs. After that I gave her my old handphone after I upgraded so that I can get in touch with her especially when we went out during the weekends and during weekdays at my MIL's house. She buys her own top-up card and uses it to call her girl regularly (usually in the afternoons during my DS nap). She also uses it at night after we all retires to bed.

She uses the ear-plug to listen to music when she irons clothes on Saturdays. I don't see an issue with that because she needs to keep in touch with her family and I need to keep in touch with her at all times.

But at the initial stage was some problem because her husband kept calling her. Wanted money from her so kept calling her. It affected her mood a lot so I told her she must manage and tell her hubby if he kept disturbing her, her maam (that is me) is going to take away her handphone.

Sometimes when I hear a lot of SMS beeping, I will ask her is everything OK? Who is calling or SMSing her? She recently changed her handphone because trying to avoid her husband.

She is also very good at using all the handphone features ie. reading news from the U.S, listening to music, playing games, video call to me etc! She uses the functions of my old handphone much better than me!

My maid is an automatic maid and looks after my DS well and does her work. So I do not have a problem with giving her a handphone. She told me she wanted to buy one when she goes home. I told her not to waste money since I want to upgrade just use my old one.

For me, she helped me to take care of my DS and house well hence I am much grateful for it. I am happy to give her my old hand-phone. My plan is that with the next upgrade, I can pass on my existing one as well so that she can give one to her daughter in Indonesia. This one with camera function so her daughter can take pictures or do video call to each other. That will be great!

:celebrate:

[liuhao]

the simple fact of 1.5 yrs without hp already shows she is a good maid


my maid #2 bought herself a hp during her first off day, despite agreed no hp during interview. in fact she had another hp hold by agent and will be released to her later. but she simply cant wait. normally she does not talk to me or look at me. but if i ask her who is calling/smsing her, she will turn her face to me and look straight into my eyes, which basically means \"THATS MY PRIVACY. NONE OF UR BUSINESS. HOW DARE YOU ASK???!!!\"

DesertWind:

Hi all,

My good maid went without handphone for about 1.5 yrs. After that I gave her my old handphone after I upgraded so that I can get in touch with her especially when we went out during the weekends and during weekdays at my MIL's house. She buys her own top-up card and uses it to call her girl regularly (usually in the afternoons during my DS nap). She also uses it at night after we all retires to bed.

She uses the ear-plug to listen to music when she irons clothes on Saturdays. I don't see an issue with that because she needs to keep in touch with her family and I need to keep in touch with her at all times.

But at the initial stage was some problem because her husband kept calling her. Wanted money from her so kept calling her. It affected her mood a lot so I told her she must manage and tell her hubby if he kept disturbing her, her maam (that is me) is going to take away her handphone.

Sometimes when I hear a lot of SMS beeping, I will ask her is everything OK? Who is calling or SMSing her? She recently changed her handphone because trying to avoid her husband.

She is also very good at using all the handphone features ie. reading news from the U.S, listening to music, playing games, video call to me etc! She uses the functions of my old handphone much better than me!

My maid is an automatic maid and looks after my DS well and does her work. So I do not have a problem with giving her a handphone. She told me she wanted to buy one when she goes home. I told her not to waste money since I want to upgrade just use my old one.

For me, she helped me to take care of my DS and house well hence I am much grateful for it. I am happy to give her my old hand-phone. My plan is that with the next upgrade, I can pass on my existing one as well so that she can give one to her daughter in Indonesia. This one with camera function so her daughter can take pictures or do video call to each other. That will be great!

:celebrate:

[DesertWind]

[quote=\"liuhao\"]the simple fact of 1.5 yrs without hp already shows she is a good maid


my maid #2 bought herself a hp during her first off day, despite agreed no hp during interview. in fact she had another hp hold by agent and will release to her later. but she cant even wait for that. [quote=\"liuhao\"]

Hi liuhao!

I hope you will get a good maid this time round! Neither be too lenient nor too strict with the maid. Work she must do. Timing fix work time and rest time. If use handphone must have timing too. Don't leave your newborn baby with maid if you don't feel safe. With newborn there must always be somebody else around, either your wife or mother or in-law. For me I find it easier to manage by results ie. everyday house is clean and quite tidy, no built-up of dirt on the fan or TV or cupboards. Got clothes to wear, got dinner to eat every weekday, child looks happy and maid looks happy.
All other things I don't want to know. Of course when I choose maid I choose one with her own kid already so she has motherly instinct and also got husband so she won't be looking for man. Also got experience in SG no need for me to teach. We can only do so much to choose and hope for the best. All the best to you!


:celebrate:

[bravo]

Hi CMF,


Sorry afew more clarifications,

1) If we go the night before, then therotically we need be there at about 830am the next morning when they open right?

2) Do we need employment contracts? cos my helper is already into her 3rd year in Singapore. (she continued from after 2 years contract under previous agency) Now working with us need formal contract ar?

3) According to our helper, she mentioned that the embassy in Myanmar last time will take her photos there n then. So if we bring her own passport photos, isit valid? how many do we need to bring?

4) How do they calculate her tax? 10% of income? eg. if she stayed for 30mths in Singapore, means 30x Salary x 10%?

Also I heard since April there is a new type of passport. How much did u renew for the passport? 3yrs validity right?

5) Everythg pay in cash, wah that means we need to pass her so much cash. Wait she become very stress. haha

6) Wah, she reach at 730am then 3pm+ then can go. So poor thing.

Thanks for your help. :celebrate:

regards

[liuhao]

my friend has an indo maid and it sounds exactly like yours.


if my coming filipino maid does not work out. my next one will be indo maid for sure.

[CMF]

Hi bravo


Responses to your Qs are set out below :-

1) If we go the night before, then therotically we need be there at about 830am the next morning when they open right?

Resp :- Yes that would be the case. However, I understand that once the gates are opened, everyone goes in and gets a seat according to Q-list number, not sure how orderly this process is, so if go too late, then may possibly have to go up to Consular staff to inform that actually have earlier Q-number but came later etc. Was worried that my maid may not be able to speak up etc, hence thought simpler to just go early; where @ 7am+ there was already a large crowd sitting outside the gates.

2) Do we need employment contracts? cos my helper is already into her 3rd year in Singapore. (she continued from after 2 years contract under previous agency) Now working with us need formal contract ar?

Resp : Reason for employment contract was to show how much she was getting per month. Perhaps you could instead write an official letter addressed to Consular stating how much she is paid monthly, and when she started work with you.

3) According to our helper, she mentioned that the embassy in Myanmar last time will take her photos there n then. So if we bring her own passport photos, isit valid? how many do we need to bring?

Resp : My maid's passport photos were normal ones, she brought along 4 copies. Not sure how much they costs there or if they are available. Best to bring along, just in case they don't have them available there.

4) How do they calculate her tax? 10% of income? eg. if she stayed for 30mths in Singapore, means 30x Salary x 10%?

Resp : Yes it's 10% of total salary earned. So if this is the first time your maid is paying tax for income earned in Singapore, she probably would have to account for all salary earned to-date in Singapore. Note Consular can probably check how long she has been working based on work permit dates in the passport. Although I am not quite sure how they actually account or declare for income earned, cos when I looked at the receipt for my maid, I could not work out what amount was actually taxed. She couldn't quite tell me either.

5)Also I heard since April there is a new type of passport. How much did u renew for the passport? 3yrs validity right?

Resp : I think the new passport from April is the machine readable passport. She renewed her passport in March for S$300, I think it was only for 2 years - can't recall. She has since returned home, so can't check now.

Yes have to bring quite alot of cash along. Just remind her to be very careful and that if she hands over her money for anything at all, she needs to get a receipt for it.

I find that most of the Myanmese are rather \"close\" to each other - my maid used to refer to all her Church friends as \"brothers and sisters\" - got me rather confused initially! So your maid will probably meet some \"seasoned\" people there to help her along if she is not sure of anything. My maid actually ended up going off to Orchard Road for lunch with the people she met there, and though she was there @ 7am till 3pm+, I think she rather enjoyed having the opportunity to chat with her fellow Myanmese there while waiting!

Actually overall it was not much of a hassle to renew the passport herself -just have to make sure she has requisite documents + enough cash to pay for fees + tax. She should also not be afraid to ask if she is not sure of anything. Just that it would take one whole day to do so + the trip the night before to write her name on the list.

Note in case that there is no list there yet when you arrive the night before - bring along an A4 paper to start off the list as # (1) - just write the next day's date at the top. The list appeared to me as an informal one started by the first person on the list - but seems to be recognised by the Consular. In fact the guard at the Embassy came out to tell me where the list was.

[bravo]

Hi Cmf,


Thanks for your replies. Helps me alot.

Will go to the embassy next mth with all the necessary prep work.

thnks again!

[CMF]

Hi bravo


Glad to be able to share info. Hope it all goes well!