Hiring a helper without an agency

You can apply for your helper's Work Permit yourself. MOM allows it, and the process is genuinely manageable. What you are really deciding is whether to take on the administration an agency would otherwise absorb — and whether you want a fallback if the match does not work.

This guide sets out what you take on, what it costs, and the cases where an agency still earns its fee.

One thing to check first

Singapore permits direct hire, but the helper's home country may not. The Philippines in particular restricts deployment to licensed agencies, which makes direct hire of a first-time Filipino helper difficult or impossible in practice. Check the source country's rules before planning around a direct hire — Singapore's permission is only half the question.

Direct hire is most straightforward when you are transferring a helper already in Singapore, which is also where most of the fee saving sits.

Are you eligible to employ?

• At least 21 years old
• Not an undischarged bankrupt
• Able to understand and carry out employer responsibilities
• Able to demonstrate a genuine care-giving need and the financial ability to maintain a helper

What you take on

1. Employers' Orientation Programme (EOP) — mandatory for first-time employers, and it must be completed before you apply for the Work Permit. Do this first; it gates everything else.
2. Security bond — a binding pledge to the government of up to $5,000, required for non-Malaysian helpers. Buy it from any bank or insurer.
3. Personal accident insurance — at least $60,000 coverage.
4. Medical insurance — at least $60,000 a year for in-patient care and day surgery.
5. The Work Permit application — submitted online, by you.
6. Settling-In Programme (SIP) — for a first-time helper, within 7 days of arrival, excluding Sundays and public holidays. It covers her permit conditions, her rights and responsibilities, and safety risks including working at heights.

What an agency actually does

Worth being clear-eyed rather than dismissive. A good agency provides:

• Sourcing and screening — the part that is genuinely hard to replicate alone, especially for a first hire from overseas.
• Paperwork handling — the six items above, done for you.
• A replacement guarantee — the real product. If the match fails in the first months, you are not starting from zero.
• A buffer for disputes — someone to mediate who is not you.

If you already know who you are hiring — a transfer, a returning helper, a friend's recommendation — you are paying mostly for the paperwork, and that is where direct hire makes obvious sense.

The costs that do not change either way

Skipping the agency saves the placement fee. It changes none of the recurring obligations:

• Monthly levy — $300 for a first helper, $450 for subsequent helpers, or $60 at the concessionary rate for families with a young child, an elderly member, or a person with disability. Due by the 17th of the following month.
• Work Permit renewal — $35, roughly every 2 years. See the renewal guide.
• Insurance renewals — at each permit renewal.
• Six-monthly medical examination — every 6 months, throughout employment.

What you are really signing up for

The permit application is a morning's work. The part that lasts is the ongoing relationship: rest days that need agreeing and recording, salary that needs paying and evidencing, three compliance dates on different cycles, and the everyday coordination of two people sharing a home.

Without an agency there is no third party keeping any of it straight — which is fine, provided you have a system that is not "we both remember it the same way". Most disputes between employers and helpers are not about bad faith; they are about two people recalling an arrangement differently weeks later.

That is the gap HAH! fills. Rest days are proposed, approved and recorded; worked Sundays flow into the payslip at the rate you agreed; Work Permit, medical and passport dates sit in one place visible to both of you. If you want to check the maths first, the salary calculator is free, and the rest day rules guide covers what you owe for a Sunday worked.

This guide summarises the Ministry of Manpower's published rules as at August 2026 and is not legal advice. See MOM on employer requirements, the Employers' Orientation Programme, the Settling-In Programme and insurance requirements. Requirements change — check before relying on anything here.