Can a maid without 8 years of formal education still be hired in Singapore?

SINGAPORE — An employer took to social media asking if they would be able to get a work permit for a maid who had less than eight years of formal education.

In a post to Facebook group FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), the employer asked: “one of the conditions to get a work permit for MDW in Singapore is ‘at least 8 years of formal education’ Is this an absolute requirement? Has anyone successfully acquired a work permit even if you had, say 7 years of education?”

She added that she wanted to know if the maid’s work permit application would be rejected if she only had seven years of education instead of eight.

“If you have a first hand experience as an employer in applying for a work permit for a helper with less than 8 years of experience, please let me know”, the woman wrote in her post.

According to the Manpower Ministry (MOM), helpers must meet these requirements to be eligible for a Work Permit:

Some helpers who commented on the woman’s post had the misconception that they could still apply for a work permit and be successful in the said application even though they did not have the necessary educational qualification. Others also said that when they previously applied, eight years of formal education was not a requirement then and they had managed to have their applications approved.

Here’s what they said:

Last year, a foreign domestic helper asked other helpers and employers for their advice on what to do when she had already returned home, but her work permit had not been cancelled.

In an anonymous post to Facebook group FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), the helper wrote on Friday (Jul 22) that she had already returned to her hometown two weeks ago and was trying to find a new employer with another agency. She explained that she was not comfortable with her current employer and agency.

However, because her current employer had not yet cancelled her work permit, she wrote that she was not able to find a new employer.

In her post, she added that though she had messaged her current employers many times, there was no response from them. When she called her agent as well, she said they did not care.

She wrote that even when she was working in Singapore, she found that her agency did not care about her, but would only consider what her employers were saying.

“I’ve been working with my current employer for 3 yers+ but i really cant tahan alrdy then ask to go back.. He send me back but not cancel my permit”, she wrote in her post.

Asking others for help on what she should do, she said that she needed to be able to earn money again in order to support her family.

Netizens who commented on her post said that her employers would have cancelled her work permit, as it did not make sense for them to continue to pay her levy if she was sent back. However, another netizen noted that the employers did not have to pay a helper’s levy if she was away on home leave. The netizens then suspected that the helper did not clearly convey to her employers that she was not coming back, which was why they had not cancelled her work permit.

Maid went back hometown cos she can’t stand her employer, but her work permit was not cancelled, so she’s unable to work for another employer, agency doesn’t care