Maid wants to stay in SG after employer cancels her Work Permit

SINGAPORE: A foreign domestic helper took to social media asking what her options were after her employer cancelled her Work Permit (WP). In an anonymous post to a support group for domestic helpers and employers alike, the maid asked if she could stay in Singapore even after her employer cancelled her Work Permit and brought her to the airport to send her home. "Can I stay ?If yes, how long?" she asked. According to the Manpower Ministry (MOM, "Depending on which comes first, you must cancel the Work Permit:

• Within 1 week after last day of notice. OR
• 1 day after the Work Permit expires".

The MOM also said that before cancelling, an employer has to: "Give reasonable notice of the worker’s repatriation.

1. Seek tax clearance from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).
2. Settle all outstanding employment issues your worker may raise, including salary payments.
3. Ensure your worker has a valid passport.
4. Buy an air ticket and pay for any connecting transport costs to the international port of entry in your worker’s home country/region nearest to their hometown:
   • You must pay for the air ticket, and it must include check-in luggage.
   • The departure date must be within 2 weeks from the cancellation.

You and your worker should also discuss and agree on the following in writing before buying an air ticket:

• Transit arrangement, such as connecting flights and layover hours
• Allowance needed to sustain the worker during the transit"

Should the worker still be in Singapore, the employer has to print a Special Pass for her. Earlier this year, a foreign domestic helper who was worried she would be deported because she had not registered her fingerprints with the Manpower Ministry (MOM) took to social media asking for advice. She wrote in an anonymous post to a support group that she was in her employer’s house for over a month, “and up to this day I haven’t done thumbprint”. She added that she did not have a Work Permit (WP) either. “Recently,my employer asked me if I am done processing with my permit….I am confused coz I thought it’s their responsibility as employer”, the maid wrote. Her employer also told her to ask her agent for an update on the matter. To this, the agent told her that she would be doing it soon.