All About Full-Time Maids
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cody:
Well, hiring of maids ain't cheap.hello,
anyone here with experience getting an Exit Pass for your filipino maid?
after my earlier grouse of expensive air tickets, i'm now slapped with another shocker!!
I learnt from a colleague that my maid has to apply for an Exit Pass.
Without it, she won't be able to come back to Singapore after her vacation at home.
On top of this, there is a special $2k insurance / bond that we have to buy for filipino maids.
The Exit Pass comes together with some contract, supposedly ensuring that each maid is paid no less than US$400. My colleague and I both don't pay US$400 per month, so i guess the contract will be just to faciliate travel to/from Philippines?
My maid agency wants to charge me $290 for obtaining the exit pass, and another agency is charging $280. Subsequent to this initial exit pass, the maid need only pay S$6 for each exit pass.
Anyone experienced it?
Or anyone who managed to get the exit pass on his/her own?
Sigh ... one maid's home vacation = S$1k. OUCH !!!
My experience is similar to yours when our maid went for home leave last year. It is much more convenient to get the maid agency to do the exit pass for you and pay the $280 or $290. I did some research last year and I think doing it yourself is rather difficult, though you may save a little bit of money.
Yes, this contract thing is a farce. You will have to sign a contract showing that you pay the Filipino maid a certain minimum salary, or else the Filipino embassy will not give you the exit pass.
Legally, the maid can then attempt to enforce the contract against you. But as this is a civil issue, I don't think maids have the financial capacity to hire lawyers to fight their case.
My suggestion to you is that you sign a separate contract with your maid, to state clearly her salary and whatever perks you give her. This can be a simple contract. Just in case there is dispute later on, you have this piece of paper to back up your claims that your maid agreed to the salary that you are paying her. -
i learnt from other forum that the large amount of cost for exit pass can be saved if you have the phillipine embassy stamped contract. this is a contract that states that maid salary is at least US$400. it's required when you do maid passport renewal in Singapore and must also be provided to apply exit pass. so if your maid has done the passport renewal before, you or the agent should have this contract. it's important. most of the cost for the exit pass is to pay the phi embassy to obtain this stamped contract.
however if maid has never done passport renewal before, this contract does not exist, because nowadays maid normally entered singapore using travel/holiday purpose and round trip air ticket to fool the Philippine custom, rather than the working purpose to save cost. the return ticket will be canceled later once maid landed. legally by right, they should not work as maid but once they are in singapore, they are not under control of phil government. but the phil embassy will catch you when maid needs to do passport renewal (that is for working purpose, cant escape cant fool) because this stamp contract is required for passport renewal.
correct me if i am wrong.noobparent:
Well, hiring of maids ain't cheap.cody:
hello,
anyone here with experience getting an Exit Pass for your filipino maid?
after my earlier grouse of expensive air tickets, i'm now slapped with another shocker!!
I learnt from a colleague that my maid has to apply for an Exit Pass.
Without it, she won't be able to come back to Singapore after her vacation at home.
On top of this, there is a special $2k insurance / bond that we have to buy for filipino maids.
The Exit Pass comes together with some contract, supposedly ensuring that each maid is paid no less than US$400. My colleague and I both don't pay US$400 per month, so i guess the contract will be just to faciliate travel to/from Philippines?
My maid agency wants to charge me $290 for obtaining the exit pass, and another agency is charging $280. Subsequent to this initial exit pass, the maid need only pay S$6 for each exit pass.
Anyone experienced it?
Or anyone who managed to get the exit pass on his/her own?
Sigh ... one maid's home vacation = S$1k. OUCH !!!
My experience is similar to yours when our maid went for home leave last year. It is much more convenient to get the maid agency to do the exit pass for you and pay the $280 or $290. I did some research last year and I think doing it yourself is rather difficult, though you may save a little bit of money.
Yes, this contract thing is a farce. You will have to sign a contract showing that you pay the Filipino maid a certain minimum salary, or else the Filipino embassy will not give you the exit pass.
Legally, the maid can then attempt to enforce the contract against you. But as this is a civil issue, I don't think maids have the financial capacity to hire lawyers to fight their case.
My suggestion to you is that you sign a separate contract with your maid, to state clearly her salary and whatever perks you give her. This can be a simple contract. Just in case there is dispute later on, you have this piece of paper to back up your claims that your maid agreed to the salary that you are paying her. -
noobparent:
Thanks noobparent, i intend to have my own contract with my maid stating her salary. I certainly won't leave it to that contract from the embassy!
Well, hiring of maids ain't cheap.
My experience is similar to yours when our maid went for home leave last year. It is much more convenient to get the maid agency to do the exit pass for you and pay the $280 or $290. I did some research last year and I think doing it yourself is rather difficult, though you may save a little bit of money.
Yes, this contract thing is a farce. You will have to sign a contract showing that you pay the Filipino maid a certain minimum salary, or else the Filipino embassy will not give you the exit pass.
Legally, the maid can then attempt to enforce the contract against you. But as this is a civil issue, I don't think maids have the financial capacity to hire lawyers to fight their case.
My suggestion to you is that you sign a separate contract with your maid, to state clearly her salary and whatever perks you give her. This can be a simple contract. Just in case there is dispute later on, you have this piece of paper to back up your claims that your maid agreed to the salary that you are paying her.
Not that i intend to overwork or abuse my helper, but like u said, my own contact is more so to protect me.
While i'm on this topic .... i have another grouse!
(a) the MOM work permit online portal operates only during office hours
(b) i can't renew my maid's permit in advance without \"losing\" part of the 2 years contract
eg my maid's work permit expires on Dec 28.
she will be on home vacation on that day, and returns to singapore only after the expiry.
hence i need to renew her permit before my helper goes home.
i called MOM enquiring if i can renew her work permit, say now.
the officer says CAN but it means that i will be bringing forward the expiry date from Dec to Aug.
ie renewal for 2 years means her new work permit will now expire in AUG 2012.
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?
I asked the officer for the rationale behind it, and she offers a perfunctory \"MOM policy\". Argh ........... -
liuhao:
i learnt from other forum that the large amount of cost for exit pass can be saved if you have the phillipine embassy stamped contract. this is a contract that states that maid salary is at least US$400. it's required when you do maid passport renewal in Singapore and must also be provided to apply exit pass. so if your maid has done the passport renewal before, you or the agent should have this contract. it's important. most of the cost for the exit pass is to pay the phi embassy to obtain this stamped contract.
however if maid has never done passport renewal before, this contract does not exist, because nowadays maid normally entered singapore using travel/holiday purpose and round trip air ticket to fool the Philippine custom, rather than the working purpose to save cost. the return ticket will be canceled later once maid landed. legally by right, they should not work as maid but once they are in singapore, they are not under control of phil government. but the phil embassy will catch you when maid needs to do passport renewal (that is for working purpose, cant escape cant fool) because this stamp contract is required for passport renewal.
correct me if i am wrong.
Thanks liuhao
you're right ... most of the expense of getting that exit permit goes to the phil embassy for getting that contract.
i was told that some employers tried to save cost by doing the application on their own, and almost all of them failed.
like noobparent suggests, i will just kiss my $280/290 goodbye by letting the agent handle it.
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cody:
i heard the cheapest rate is about $220 in 2008. there is an agent in lucky plaza level 4 charging this amount. the agent only makes $20 which means phi embassy charges $200.liuhao:
i learnt from other forum that the large amount of cost for exit pass can be saved if you have the phillipine embassy stamped contract. this is a contract that states that maid salary is at least US$400. it's required when you do maid passport renewal in Singapore and must also be provided to apply exit pass. so if your maid has done the passport renewal before, you or the agent should have this contract. it's important. most of the cost for the exit pass is to pay the phi embassy to obtain this stamped contract.
however if maid has never done passport renewal before, this contract does not exist, because nowadays maid normally entered singapore using travel/holiday purpose and round trip air ticket to fool the Philippine custom, rather than the working purpose to save cost. the return ticket will be canceled later once maid landed. legally by right, they should not work as maid but once they are in singapore, they are not under control of phil government. but the phil embassy will catch you when maid needs to do passport renewal (that is for working purpose, cant escape cant fool) because this stamp contract is required for passport renewal.
correct me if i am wrong.
Thanks liuhao
you're right ... most of the expense of getting that exit permit goes to the phil embassy for getting that contract.
i was told that some employers tried to save cost by doing the application on their own, and almost all of them failed.
like noobparent suggests, i will just kiss my $280/290 goodbye by letting the agent handle it. -
cody:
Wah!well, that $1k is just an approximate.
here's the breakdown:
Air Ticket $530 (can be cheaper if you book waaaaay in advance)
Exit Pass $290 (done thru a maid agency)
Insurance $50
That sums up to $870 already.
Plus i typically give at least 1 month bonus upon completion of each year of service .... definitely crossed the $1k mark already.
:!:
That is certainly ex indeed for a maid home leave! If I had ever considered hiring from Phil, this definitely kills it!
I let my Indo maid go home every year for past 3 years already. First 2 years we book Garuda air at about SGD430 per ticket and I already found it ex. Got to go embassy for passport etc. but cost minimal such that I cannot remember how much.
This year we use Batavia Air and to my great delight and relief, booked online myself, air-ticket only SGD280!!
So happy so much savings!
Didn't know so costly to get Phil maid, if that type of cost I don't think I can afford to be very generous with my maid ie. bonus etc....
:celebrate: -
cody:
i called MOM enquiring if i can renew her work permit, say now.
the officer says CAN but it means that i will be bringing forward the expiry date from Dec to Aug.
ie renewal for 2 years means her new work permit will now expire in AUG 2012.
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?
I asked the officer for the rationale behind it, and she offers a perfunctory \"MOM policy\". Argh ...........
Yah, happened for me too. Maid contract expiring in Sep and I want to let her go home leave one-month earlier hence got to renew by Aug. Work-permit will expire earlier in Aug too going forward!
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Hi TimmyOwner,
How long has your maid been with you? My maid with my 3 yo DS since birth too and he prefers her during the day because he is very used to her and she gave in to him and know how to play with him. Recently when she went on home leave, for first 2 days he was not used to me and was angry and asked \"Where?\" ie. where is my maid?
After that OK.
But my DS is definitely quite clear who to look for what. For eg. daddy is the driver and for going out, he definitely will \"prefer\" daddy. For night DS sleep with me so DS will definitely look for me and push maid away during bedtime. (I refused to let DS sleep with maid as I think then they will become TOO close for my comfort). Nowadays I think my baby is growing up because he wants mummy to clean his back-side for him after he poo and mummy to bath for him (not the maid). I will clean and bath him whenever I can like on weekends.
I just not comfortable with what you said about the \"politics\" your maid has/is playing. If I put myself into your shoes, I will consider changing maid at an appropriate time ie. when the child goes to P1 or K1 or whatever \"major turning points\" to break the attachments as painlessly for the kid as possible.
Best regards.TimmyOwner:
Dear all
Appreciate your opinions/ comments about maids.
I got a maid to take care of my children 'cos my husband and I are both working. My maid has been with my DD and DS since they were born.
1. My children likes the maid alot, to the extend that they prefer the maid to feed them, tuck them to bed, etc over mummy and daddy sometimes. But my children also love their mummy and daddy. How old were your children before they grew out of their maids and love mummy and daddy the most?
2. My maid is generally ok, although sometimes she show us \"bochup\" face. She likes to play politics abit with my relatives. I overlook small matters as long as she does not go overboard and takes good care of my children. I am afraid that as my toddler age children grows bigger, she may try to manipulate them against mummy and daddy. Did that happen to your children? E.g. maid don't want to wash car or something and tell your children mummy and daddy treat her badly, and the child is angry with mummy and daddy, and ask her parents why they bully the maid?
3. There were some incidents in the past where my maid did some wrong things to my relatives and me. She has since apologised for what she did. I accept her apologies and want to move on. Any of you have maids who commit wrongs, and your family forgave her, and decided to carry on with her?
Thanks for your opinions. -
Hi Dessertwind,
Thanks for your reply. Yes, I think of doing that too. When my child goes K1 or P1.
Right now DD is very happy everyday and loves everyone, although she likes the maid best.
My only prob is that when my DD is big enough, her younger sibling is still young, and attached to the maid, so I have to wait for all my children to be big enough, and that will take at least 7 years…
Govt always encourage Singaporean parents to have more children, but really, it’s very difficult for us, because of child care concerns. If I work, I have to worry who takes care of the children. Not everyone is blessed to have grandparents willing to take care of grandchildren. One solution is childcare, but in UK countries where the birth rate is higher, the maternity leave can go up 1 year, with employment laws to protect the mother. At least at after 1 year old, you feel better about committing your child to full day childcare.
We still don’t have that kind of pro-family, pro-children culture in Singapore society and among local based companies. So I think it’s very difficult for the birth rates to increase very much. -
TimmyOwner:
Timmy, i agree with you ..... there's just not enough being done for mothers to encourage procreation, or worse, for married couples to start a family.Hi Dessertwind,
Thanks for your reply. Yes, I think of doing that too. When my child goes K1 or P1.
Right now DD is very happy everyday and loves everyone, although she likes the maid best.
My only prob is that when my DD is big enough, her younger sibling is still young, and attached to the maid, so I have to wait for all my children to be big enough, and that will take at least 7 years...
Govt always encourage Singaporean parents to have more children, but really, it's very difficult for us, because of child care concerns. If I work, I have to worry who takes care of the children. Not everyone is blessed to have grandparents willing to take care of grandchildren. One solution is childcare, but in UK countries where the birth rate is higher, the maternity leave can go up 1 year, with employment laws to protect the mother. At least at after 1 year old, you feel better about committing your child to full day childcare.
We still don't have that kind of pro-family, pro-children culture in Singapore society and among local based companies. So I think it's very difficult for the birth rates to increase very much.
Can't commnet on the maid situation as it hasn't happened to me, but Dessertwind has a good point ie to change maid at a major turning point.
Good luck!
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