All About Full-Time Maids

[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!

[Angelight]

Will you pay $300-$400 for agency fee? One agency I enquired actually charges that amount, while others I know charges around $88-$200. What is the regulated market rate? Why is the difference so great? Hope someone can enlighten me. Many thanks!

[liuhao]

my new maid just arrived yesterday, very new, very fresh, appeared to be very nervous all the time. hehe…although i strongly believe fear is a good thing comparing to those who is fearless like my previous maid.


one thing i notice is although she is even younger than my previous maid, she is much more mature and considerate, possibly because she is married with one child. i can feel that she is trying to figure out what we like and dislike all the time. for my previous maid, who is a single, she seemed to live in her own world all the time and didnt bother to talk/understand us at all. most of the time she expected us to understand her and treat her like a doll/pet.

i give her a sunshine phone card for her to call home. she only talked 5 mins over the phone to her husband and thats all.

in agent office she said she has no handphone. after come back home and i showed her the house rule (no handphone, no secret handphone), she admit she had a handphone and surrendered it to me. so for now, i keep the phone for her. my wife also checked her belongings, she showed us everything but kept a tiny bag always from us. my wife said there is few packet of sanitary pad inside and not sure about rest. but think that is ok for us.

so far so good, not sure if because of she is new or personality, she is so much more obedient than my previous maid. my previous maid just walked around in the house like nobody’s business in the first day.

i remember once i asked my previous maid that how long she planned to work in SG. she replied "my contract is two years sir!" with her back facing me. i asked the same question to this new maid and she said "as long as you want me in the house", with a smile in the face. what a difference!

[verykiasu2010]

Angelight:

Will you pay $300-$400 for agency fee? One agency I enquired actually charges that amount, while others I know charges around $88-$200. What is the regulated market rate? Why is the difference so great? Hope someone can enlighten me. Many thanks!

一分钱,一分货

why are those charging much more expensively seems to be surviving well in this cut throat business sector ?


there must be something going for them which make families willing to part with more costly agency fees to get the maid

think

of course not everything more expensive is better - this is not the point