<![CDATA[All About Maids travelling overseas]]>Hi All,


Our maid had been with us for coming 2 years. We will be shifting to America as my husband is working there and we have the intention of bringing her with us.

May I know how should we go about it and what is the chances of approval ? As I had read from other forums that the chances of bringing Domestic Helper with us to USA is ZERO.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/topic/24927/all-about-maids-travelling-overseasRSS for NodeSun, 03 May 2026 04:56:53 GMTThu, 24 Mar 2011 00:55:16 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 08:41:58 GMT]]>Hi Little Aunt,


I intend to bring my Indonesian Domestic Helper to Korea. Based on the the conditions and requirements the embassy replied to you, were you successful in getting the visa for her ? How long did it take for them to call back if it was successful?

Thanks in advance.

NZA :thankyou:

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1142371https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1142371Sun, 10 Nov 2013 08:41:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 05:19:56 GMT]]>primera,


You have to check with the US embassy or their website for the visa requirement. I brought my Filipino helper to Korea for holiday and I did her visa (free) at the Korean Embassy.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/618717https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/618717Tue, 25 Oct 2011 05:19:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:06:42 GMT]]>Hi - Slightly off topic but was looking to take my Philippino DH to US for about 4 weeks holiday to see family. What are the chances of visa and is it worth the hassle?

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/617267https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/617267Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:06:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:08:57 GMT]]>Thanks for your reply, Yuanyuan mama.


Just for everyone info, here's the reply from Korean Embassy.

We refer to your inquiry regarding visa application for your domestic helper.
 
2.  Conditions apply before application:
 
(a) Your helper must work for her employer at least 6 months and above upon application with us
 
(b) Your helper is allowed to go to Korea once per year only
 
(c) Your helper is allowed to stay in Korea no more than 30 days
 
(d) Employer is allowed to bring maid to Korea once per year only
 
NOTE: Failure to meet the above conditions, your domestic helper is NOT eligible to apply visa with us.
 
3.  Requirements:

  1.. Visa application form (at http://www.koreaembassy.org.sg , see under quick menu), to be signed by the maid
  2.. Maid's one recent coloured passport-sized photograph
  3.. Maid's actual passport
  4.. Maid's work permit - original & photocopy
  5.. Maid employer's company letter attention to Korean embassy (which indicates job titile/date of commencement/salary) - original
  6.. Maid employer's bank statement or passbook in Singapore (showing transactions of the last 3 months) - original & photocopy
 
** Internet printout must be signed by a bank officer & stamped by the bank before submission. 
    Name and account number must be shown on the printout.

  7.. Maid employer's Singapore IC or any long term pass- original & photocopy
  8.. Letter of Guarantee to be filled and signed by the maid employer (obtain at embassy)
 
NOTE1 : Employer (as stated on maid's WP) must come to apply for the maid in person; maid need not come once she has signed the visa application form
 
NOTE2: If maid employer is unemployed, company letter and bank transactions must come from the spouse who is employed plus an original & photocopy of marriage certificate.
 
NOTE3: If the maid employer cannot apply in person, spouse of employer may come to apply on behalf by showing marriage certificate (original & photocopy)

Procedures
Walk-in basis 
No reservation or pre-appointment.
 
Validity of VISA
3 months upon issuance
 
Processing Duration
4 working days
 
Fees (payment by CASH only/ non-refundable)
Single entry - S$40
 
Operating Hours For VISA Matters
Monday to Friday
9AM to 12 NOON ONLY
 
Address
47 Scotts Road #05-01,
Goldbell Towers,
Singapore 228233 (Newton MRT, Exit A)
 
 
Best regards,
 
Consular Section,
Embassy of the Republic of Korea (Singapore)
Tel: 6256-1188
http://www.koreaembassy.org.sg

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/552541https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/552541Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:08:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 07:10:34 GMT]]>Hi,


There are certain conditions apply and required documents to be submitted from both the maid and maid’s employer. If you could fulfill their requirements, don’t think it is that troublesome.

Tour agent cannot apply, maid employer must apply in person. You only need to make 2 trips (provided that your documents are complete) to the embassy (1) submission & (2) collection, according to my friend. You better check with the Embassy.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/550287https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/550287Tue, 16 Aug 2011 07:10:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:14:48 GMT]]>I have booked a tour package to go to Korea and I’m thinking of bringing my Indonesian domestic helper along as an incentive trip for her. However, the tour agent has discouraged as they claimed that the process of visa application is very troublesome. On the other hand, my domestic helper has claimed that her friend’s boss brought her friend to Korea and the visa application was easily.


Anyone brought your Indonesian domestic helper to Korea before? Would appreciate if you can share your experience.

Thank you very much

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/548240https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/548240Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:14:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Mon, 09 May 2011 14:24:50 GMT]]>loosetootht,

You are welcome 🙂

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/417566https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/417566Mon, 09 May 2011 14:24:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Mon, 09 May 2011 12:09:56 GMT]]>Hi Tamarind


I did pay almost half of my salary but no regrets!
Today i pay only 450/ month and everyday i struggle with my maid (s).

I read your blog on singaporemaids alot and i thank you for your time and honesty in sharing with all of us

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/417494https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/417494Mon, 09 May 2011 12:09:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Mon, 09 May 2011 10:27:21 GMT]]>Hi loosetootht,

Thank you for sharing. I am sure that every mommy dreams to have a nanny like the one you have in USA. I would pay her half my salary if she works for me !

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/417435https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/417435Mon, 09 May 2011 10:27:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Mon, 09 May 2011 06:09:33 GMT]]>I agree with Tamarind. The nannies in US are of a different breed.


I lived in US for 2 years. I had a live-out Chinese nanny. I paid her 2K USD a month (no choice - minimum wage).

We had the best 2 years of our lives. She did my marketing for me at 400am everyday at Chinatown so that we only get to eat what's in season and freshest. My freezer was empty as she believed we should have the freshest from the market for the day. She planned the menu for us for our whole time there. She is trained in both Western (beef steaks, lobster bisque) and Chinese (authentic Shanghainese, soups and broths) cooking. She did a dinner party for my friends (20 pax) all by herself (marketing, cooking, prep) - we had salad, prawns, steak, pasta. Even right down to washing up. No help from me. Food was presented fine dining style - with fruit and vegetable carvings!

She was a great disciplinarian to my child. She loved my child with her whole heart and i believed she would have put herself in the way of an oncoming truck for my child. She neither scolded or hit or cajoled my child. She had the old school Chinese way of raising kids. My child was most disciplined and well behaved under her.

She completed all her housework (laundry/ toilets/ floors) during the 2 hours my child slept (PM nap). She had never once let my child oversleep as she believed that it would disrupt her sleep physiology for the night.

In the late afternoon when dinner is cooking on the stove, she gave my child informal mandarin lessons (oral and written, and mind you my child was only 2 years then). She had the work ethic of a good Chinese woman and she did not hesitate to transmit her values to my child. My child left US speaking the most perfect Mandarin.. I am finding it hard to hold on to it today.

When she left for the weekend, (she had a weekend job and never had a day off for the decade she was in US), she would prepare trays of food, all seasoned and ready for me to chuck into the microwave or oven. So as to tide me over the weekend.
When i returned from work early some days and attempted to do any tidying of my home, she took it as an affront to her capability. She would never allow me to lift a finger in my own home as long as she was still around. Her fav line was \"xiao jie, ni qu xiu xi (please do go and rest)\"

She stayed for as long as we needed her even after her stipulated working hours. She never demanded any overtime pay.
She never ate a morsel of food in my home despite repeated invitations. She always came with her own packed lunch. She made clear the boundaries between employer and employee. Not me.

Is there anything wrong with her? The only thing we could think of was she loved us so much (me and hub) she tended to nag us a bit.. about our careers, our dressing, right down to how we invest. Also she made parenting a little too easy for us...

I hope fervently that i would find help like her again (i have moved home to SG). One thing i learnt: 2K USD is too little to pay for close-to-perfect help like her. And $450 is too much to pay for some of the unskilled maids we get today.


So do give some of the US nannies a chance and try them out. Who knows you may end up crying over a Chinese woman like me? (my hub's fav joke since coming home)

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/417198https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/417198Mon, 09 May 2011 06:09:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Tue, 03 May 2011 03:40:55 GMT]]>

ExpatMom:
When you go to the US, you will find that people do not have a maid unless they are quite rich (especially with the minimum wage laws).


On the other hand, there are plenty of services to help working parents. You can get a nanny that comes during the day or at night, but doesn't live with you. Unlike Singapore, there are tons of people willing to babysit (especially high school students who want to make a little extra money) since there is a big demand for babysitting services. However, they come to watch the kids-- not to clean your house or do laundry etc. Cleaning services are readily available, and most working parents put their kids in daycare or after school care (a full-time daycare in the US costs $900-$1200 USD per month... and that's a daycare that doesn't even have to teach anything, just watches your kids for you).

But really, for the most part, people in America do their own housework after they get back from work. It's more economical than paying others to do it when you have to pay at least the minimum hourly wage.

I have to admit, I was pretty shocked to hear that maids here only get to take home $450/mo. It's no wonder there are so many people with maids as it is more economical to have one than it would be to have a bunch of services do these things for you. In contrast, in the US, a live-in maid can pull in as much as $25-30k USD per year.
You have to put their salaries in perspective. I am in the process of recruiting someone for our telemarketing team in Manila - she is a graduate and a very smart lady but her on-target starting salary will be less than SGD900/month. If you look at it like that, $450 a month with room & board included is not so bad.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/411467https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/411467Tue, 03 May 2011 03:40:55 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Tue, 03 May 2011 01:55:50 GMT]]>

tamarind:
[quote]I have to admit, I was pretty shocked to hear that maids here only get to take home $450/mo. It's no wonder there are so many people with maids as it is more economical to have one than it would be to have a bunch of services do these things for you. In contrast, in the US, a live-in maid can pull in as much as $25-30k USD per year.

Please note that the foreign maids who work in Singapore are unskilled workers. I have encountered maids who cannot cook, cannot clean, and cannot even take care of babies or toddlers. I even had an ex-filipino maid who claimed she had university degree, but could not communicate in English to me. Do you think that these maids deserve anything higher than $450 a month ?

Please bear in mind that the quality of maids here is very different from those working in USA.[/quote]
:goodpost:


not everyone follows the minimum wage in usa. there are thousands of mexicans (the worst treated people) and other foreigners getting peanuts for the work they do (especially the domestic workers and labourers).

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/411300https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/411300Tue, 03 May 2011 01:55:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Sun, 01 May 2011 04:32:02 GMT]]>[quote]I have to admit, I was pretty shocked to hear that maids here only get to take home $450/mo. It's no wonder there are so many people with maids as it is more economical to have one than it would be to have a bunch of services do these things for you. In contrast, in the US, a live-in maid can pull in as much as $25-30k USD per year.[/quote]
Please note that the foreign maids who work in Singapore are unskilled workers. I have encountered maids who cannot cook, cannot clean, and cannot even take care of babies or toddlers. I even had an ex-filipino maid who claimed she had university degree, but could not communicate in English to me. Do you think that these maids deserve anything higher than $450 a month ?

Please bear in mind that the quality of maids here is very different from those working in USA.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/410572https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/410572Sun, 01 May 2011 04:32:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:30:03 GMT]]>

ExpatMom:
When you go to the US, you will find that people do not have a maid unless they are quite rich (especially with the minimum wage laws).


On the other hand, there are plenty of services to help working parents. You can get a nanny that comes during the day or at night, but doesn't live with you. Unlike Singapore, there are tons of people willing to babysit (especially high school students who want to make a little extra money) since there is a big demand for babysitting services. However, they come to watch the kids-- not to clean your house or do laundry etc. Cleaning services are readily available, and most working parents put their kids in daycare or after school care (a full-time daycare in the US costs $900-$1200 USD per month... and that's a daycare that doesn't even have to teach anything, just watches your kids for you).

But really, for the most part, people in America do their own housework after they get back from work. It's more economical than paying others to do it when you have to pay at least the minimum hourly wage.

I have to admit, I was pretty shocked to hear that maids here only get to take home $450/mo. It's no wonder there are so many people with maids as it is more economical to have one than it would be to have a bunch of services do these things for you. In contrast, in the US, a live-in maid can pull in as much as $25-30k USD per year.
I am sooooooo tempted to make a comment here, but shall desist for fear of being pummeled into the ground by irate maid-loving SG mums.......

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/407762https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/407762Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:30:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:49:54 GMT]]>When you go to the US, you will find that people do not have a maid unless they are quite rich (especially with the minimum wage laws).


On the other hand, there are plenty of services to help working parents. You can get a nanny that comes during the day or at night, but doesn’t live with you. Unlike Singapore, there are tons of people willing to babysit (especially high school students who want to make a little extra money) since there is a big demand for babysitting services. However, they come to watch the kids-- not to clean your house or do laundry etc. Cleaning services are readily available, and most working parents put their kids in daycare or after school care (a full-time daycare in the US costs $900-$1200 USD per month… and that’s a daycare that doesn’t even have to teach anything, just watches your kids for you).

But really, for the most part, people in America do their own housework after they get back from work. It’s more economical than paying others to do it when you have to pay at least the minimum hourly wage.

I have to admit, I was pretty shocked to hear that maids here only get to take home $450/mo. It’s no wonder there are so many people with maids as it is more economical to have one than it would be to have a bunch of services do these things for you. In contrast, in the US, a live-in maid can pull in as much as $25-30k USD per year.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/407657https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/407657Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:49:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 06:06:46 GMT]]>

LKVM:
gumiho:

Hi All,


Thank you for your advise.

As far as I know, the chances are ZERO.

Yeah unless you wanna adopt her 😛

Hahaha... Wat a joke !

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/392841https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/392841Wed, 06 Apr 2011 06:06:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:44:23 GMT]]>Hi All,


Thank you for your advise.

As far as I know, the chances are ZERO.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/392206https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/392206Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:44:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:11:56 GMT]]>It is true. The chance is zero, but you can manage it. We did. I even did my own confinement for my 2nd child w/o helper. 😉

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/391681https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/391681Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:11:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:46:43 GMT]]>maybe disappointing you, the chance is zero.

i am from hk. three years ago i lived happily with my family and a well trained maid in hk. suddenly my hubby's company shifted him to US. at that time my younger one was only 6 months old. i strongly wanted my maid to go with us. i checked against the admission criteria of US and tried to ask when i went thro the embrassy and they said provided the maid was in no relations with us, the chance was almost zero.
i lived in US for 2 1/2 years. at first i was so exhaused looking after 2 kids with endless housework and errand to run. but i would say its good that we didn't bring along with a maid. needless to say you need to provide holidays, wages according to the US labour law, the other thing like arranging her to help grocery shopping, letting her send money back to her country, letting her make her own friends there.... all are difficult. if you are not living in cities like ny with good public transport to and from your place, your maid will need to drive, and that is another issue that she can go thro the driving test there. there will be so much problems and inconvenience so you really may not want her anymore.
though without a live in maid, in US there are a lot of house cleaning services. last time i arrange one to come every week to clean the house and their charge is ok. of course those grocery shopping trips, meal preparing, fetching kids to and from schools, sending them to enrichment classes... will be all done by myself. but life in US actually quite good and we always have sweet memories back there. :love:
what city are you going to stay? for how long? my two cents is to make sure you and your hubby have valid driving license. and you may want to look for used furnitures or electronic stuff in your area, try the craigslist.com and ebay.com for buy and sell fun.
:celebrate:

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/391594https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/391594Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:46:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to All About Maids travelling overseas on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 01:20:40 GMT]]>check the us embassy website under visa.


a piece of advice from me (i took mine to uk) - make sure you follow the rules (like minimum wage, day off, hr of work etc) and not break them.

the relevant govt / non-govt agencies who look after these people will be knocking at your door faster than you could blink your eyes if they hear of any abuse.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/384775https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/384775Thu, 24 Mar 2011 01:20:40 GMT