Reply With Quotemy friends have a maid in singpore, they have to pay something like $700 or $800 per month. (by law)
you do the maths on that deal.
Maid services
My maid, a young lady from Kendal, wants to work in Singapore. The agency her big sister uses offers the following:
salary: 2.4mil/mo
bonus for the parents: 1.3mil
spending cash: 1mil
training: They'll train her and place her for one year. It's free because they take the first EIGHT (maybe 8.5) months of her first year's salary.
transportation: She has to pay for all the transportation to/from Singapore. When she asked them, they claimed it's 4mil-5mil for a round-trip ticket (can you believe such a blatant lie?!), DEPENDING ON THE PERSON.
So, my questions:
1) What does it cost for someone to get a work visa in Singapore, and is it usually acquired by the agency, or the employer?
2) Is the above deal as unfair as I think it is, or is this a good deal for her?
3) Can anyone recommend reputable agencies?
It seems like she's going to come home with so little after the first year - about double what she can earn in Semarang, if you average it out over the year. (Ensuing years don't have an amount removed from the salary, but that amount varies. I heard that TKW who go to Hong Kong earn 8mil/year, but the first year is kept by the agency????)
She's a nice young lady, rather naive and can't speak English. My wife and I just want to try and help her so she doesn't get screwed.
Glenn
my friends have a maid in singpore, they have to pay something like $700 or $800 per month. (by law)
you do the maths on that deal.
Ok, so if I understand you correctly - that's some kind of minimum wage for maids over there? Do you know if that includes ALL maids, only Singaporean maids, or only foreign maids? There is no stipulated minimum salary according to the ministry of manpower's website...Can you please check?
Glenn
Actually, looks like what the maid gets and what the employer has to pay are a little different. $345 p/m is actually paid to the singapore government, the remainder is given to agencies and maids. so therefore She's looking at about $250 p/m...... Max.
Some good information here...
http://www.expatsingapore.com/content/view/1174
Employing Foreign House Help
Wages for house help depend on the size of the residence, the number of people in the family, the hours required and experience. Foreign help generally comes from around the SE Asian region - Indonesia, Philippines and Sri Lanka and there are differences in cost dependant on the country of origin and experience. On average, full-time Filipino maids who cook, do general household chores and babysit earn about $300-$400 a month while Indonesian and Sri Lankan maids are paid an average of $230-$250 a month. The difference is mainly due to the superior english capability that a Filipino maid will generally possess. Indivual differences in wages are dependant on the maid's experience - meaning that a maid who is new to Singapore will earn less. Part-time gardeners and drivers are also available.
It is common practice for employers here to provide an air ticket for their maids to return home on annual leave. If the maid chooses not to take leave, then the employer should give her the equivalent of an air ticket in cash. An air ticket to the Philippines (Manila) or to Indonesia (Jakarta) will probably cost no more than $350, because there are always special offers for maids.
Work permits are required for non-citizens, and employers of foreign domestic help must pay a levy, currently standing at $345 per month. In addition, you'll have to undertake an immigration bond of $5000 in case your maid breaks the law or the terms of her permit. The amount will only be paid if that happens.
some more, so my figures of what the employers pay is correct, just that most of it does not go to the maid....
We went to three separate agencies to get an idea of fees. From what we were quoted (May 2000), we can approximate the following costs:
Filipino maid: $800 - $900 Indonesian maid: $600 - $800 Sri Lankan maid: $500 - $800 It is very difficult to give any kind of concrete statement on costings, because Singapore maid agencies are in a fiercely competitive market and the above figures and what they cover can only be approximate at best. However, for this kind of figure, you can typically expect the following to be covered:
- Maid's airfare from her home country
- Insurance for the banker's guarantee - the $5000 bond which is payable to the Immigration Authorities if the maid absconds.
- Insurance for the maid against accident/injury.
- Compulsory medical checkup for maid on arrival.
Salaries are generally a matter for the employer and the maid to agree upon, although the agency may well specify a minimum figure. In any situation, it is best not to go below the minimum figures given below, since the sums involved are small indeed relative to the average workload of a maid. The higher salary is for maids with more experience - presumably the more proficient ones.
Ah, now we're dealing with costs. Yes, there's the levy (tax), plus the health (min. $5000) and accident insurance (min. $40,000), as well as the cost of repatriation all the way home if the maid goes there after finishing the contract. There's lots more than that, but what I found most interesting was your first quote about salaries, which seems to confirm that what she's being offered - for the salary - is pretty much par for the course.
From what I saw on the MOM's website, it seems that the employer is responsible for getting the work permit, but it must be carried around by the maid, so that's question #1.
So, do you still feel that what she's being offered is unfair, keeping in mind they lied about the cost of the transportation, and they said she'd have to pay for it BOTH WAYS? I do...
Do your friends hire from an agency here or in Sg?
Thanks for the help!
Glenn
as I said it was my misunderstanding (a little), in that what my friends have to pay vs what the maid gets.
it sounds a little bit unfair to me, but perhaps not excessively so.
give them a copy of that webite that i posted (translated if need be, www.toggletext.com will do partial translations of websites....
just about everyone hires from agencies, or recommendations of friends in Sing.
personally, i would NOT GET INVOLVED. (beyond a few words of sensible advice for caution)
Thanks for the advice. We're not going to get involved - we just want to make sure she knows what to expect. Forewarned is forearmed (huh? don't we already have two forearms?)...
Glenn
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