Illustrative consultation table with an open document folder, a printed checklist and two cups — CONSENT / HANDOVER DAY / TWO HOUSEHOLDS

Transfer · Domestic helper agency · Singapore

She is already here.
The date is agreed, not announced.

Transfers for a helper already in Singapore, with the eligibility gate, the consent rule, the handover sequence and the replacement window published as terms rather than fine print.

Send the transfer brief

Paths: New, transfer or re-employment
Shortlist: After a written household brief
Fee schedule: On request, in writing

New placementsTransfersRe-employmentWhy there is no catalogue of helpers ↓

The rules you are hiring under

A transfer is
a three-party act.

A helper already in Singapore can change employer only with her current employer’s written consent, filed through MOM’s FDW eService. No agency, and no incoming household, can grant that consent. This chapter states the consent rule, the conditions the replacement clause depends on, and what we will not do.

The consent that cannot be worked around

The current employer approves the transfer request in MOM’s FDW eService. Nothing is filed before that consent exists
Both households receive the In-Principle Approval, and it carries the transfer date
When the new permit is issued, the previous one is cancelled by MOM on the same day
The outgoing employer pays the levy up to the day the new permit is issued, and cuts the cancelled permit card in half
The outgoing employer settles wages, leave and the flight before the handover date; an unsettled wage dispute delays the new permit
The release date is hers and her current employer’s to agree. We negotiate no release on anyone’s behalf

The conditions the replacement clause depends on

The terms and the role staying as they were agreed and signed, not materially changed after the start
Fees settled as the written schedule states, and any termination notified in writing inside the days the schedule states
Working and living conditions that are lawful and safe, with wages paid in full and on time to her account
The employment not ending because of mistreatment, a misdescribed role, or a change to what was agreed
The window having started inside the period the schedule states and not already been used
One further search only: the entitlement is counted, and it is not renewed by a second early ending

What we will not do

No public catalogue of helpers, no browsable profiles, and no photographs of people
No biodata to anyone who is not a prospective employer, and only with her written consent
No fee, salary, loan or payment-mode figure in advertising: categories only, with the written schedule on request
No wording that presents a person as merchandise that can be bought, delivered quickly or replaced
No character adjectives, and no remark about a helper’s temperament. An early ending is usually the household’s circumstance, and it is not evidence about how she works
No pressure on a helper’s decision, and no claim that a transfer will happen on a date her current employer has not agreed

The agency’s licence number appears on every quotation and on every advertisement, as the licence conditions require. MOM’s advertising requirements for employment agencies were read on 18 September 2026, and MOM’s transfer page was read on the same day.

Three ways to engage us

Transfer, new placement,
or a further search.

She is already here

Transfer

A helper in Singapore whose employment is ending and whose permit allows a transfer. The release date the two households agree decides the whole timeline.

Enquire about a transfer ↗From overseas

New placement

A helper who has not worked in Singapore before. The source country's deployment rules apply, so the route is longer and less in our hands.

Enquire about a new placement ↗Inside the window

Replacement search

One counted search where an employment has ended inside the window the written schedule states. The conditions, the exclusions and the way the search ends are set out below.

Ask about the window ↗

Can she transfer at all

We say who
cannot transfer.

An eligibility gate is more useful than a promise: a helper whose permit has lapsed, whose medical examination is overdue, or whose current employer will not consent is not transferable, and saying so early is the honest version of this page.

Permit and medical requirements change, so the position below is dated: it was read on 18 September 2026 from MOM’s own transfer pages.
Situation	Can she transfer?	What has to be true
Her contract has run its natural course	Yes	The current employer’s written consent, and validity left on her permit to file the application.
The current employer releases her early	Yes, where the release is a permitted one	A written release, the consent approved in the FDW eService, and a transfer date both households sign for.
Her permit has lapsed, or she is already overseas	No	There is nothing left to transfer. That is a new placement and it follows the source country’s rules.
Her six-monthly medical examination is overdue	Not yet	The current employer sends her for it before the application can move, and the entry steps have to be current.
The ending is a disputed one	No	Where the ending is a breach or an unresolved dispute, the release is not ours, or the household’s, to grant.
The current employer will not consent	No	Consent is the gate. Nothing is filed, interviewed or promised without it.

Contract ends naturally
The clock is the last day of her contract, not a countdown somebody else set. Interviews, terms and the application can run in order before that date.
Released before the contract ends
The release letter names the last day, and the application clock starts there. Expect less room to sequence the interviews, so agree the transfer date before you promise a start date to anyone.

What changes between the two routes. The rows are steps and obligations, never amounts: no figure for a fee, a wage or a payment method is stated, and the written schedule is issued on request.
What changes	Transfer	New placement from overseas
Source-country steps	None: she is already in Singapore on a permit	The source country’s deployment system applies
Settling-In Programme	Not required again where she has already attended	Required for a first-time helper
Medical examination	Already on file; the six-monthly schedule still runs	A fresh pre-employment examination before deployment
Current employer’s consent	Required in writing, approved through the FDW eService	Not applicable
Insurance, security bond and levy	Required in your name, as for any employer	Required in your name
What decides the date	The transfer date the two households agree, then MOM’s processing	Approval, medical and travel, none of which we control
What is identical	The contract, the rest day, the safety agreement and the medical schedule	The same obligations, in the same order

What it costs

Categories here,
amounts on request.

The replacement clause in the written schedule means one thing: no further agency fee for the one counted search inside the window. It does not mean the agency becomes the employer, and it does not mean the agency pays wages, travel, accommodation or any other employment cost.

An agency advertises the categories of what it charges and states the amounts in a written schedule when a client asks. So this page names the categories and stops there. The schedule issued on request carries the fees, the refund terms, the replacement clause and the licence number.

Counted, not open ended: one further search inside the window, no search for a trial period that did not become an employment, and none after a further search has already been run.

Illustrative concept pricing, not a quotation. No fee, salary, loan or payment-mode figure is advertised: the current schedule of fees, the refund terms and the replacement clause are provided in writing when you ask for them, which is what the advertising guidelines require of an employment agency. What moves the total: which categories you engage us for, whether insurance, bond and levy fall due in the same month as the transfer, and whether the window is used.
Category	Whose cost	How it is stated
Agency service fee	Ours	One fee in the written schedule, with the scope it covers
The further search inside the window	Ours	One counted search with no further agency fee, subject to the window and its conditions
Refund terms	Ours	The terms the licence conditions require, in writing before you sign
Work permit levy	Employer	Paid to MOM, not to us, up to the day the new permit is issued
Insurance and the security bond	Employer	Arranged in your name; the bond is discharged by MOM about a week after she starts with you
Medical and entry steps that fall due	Employer	Stated as they fall due on a transfer
Her wages	Employer	Credited by you to her account, in full and on time, and never held by us
The outgoing employer’s settlement	Outgoing employer	Wages, leave and the flight, settled before the handover date

Three stages of one transfer

Consent, handover,
and the window after.

Illustrative entryway bench with a phone lying face-down, a slim unmarked folder, a bunch of house keys and a stoneware cup in daylight

Consent · the outgoing employer files it

Scope: the gate · one approval in the FDW eService, from the current employer

Nothing else starts here. The request goes to the current employer through MOM’s FDW eService, and MOM treats the response as an employment matter between the two of them.

What we do while consent is pending ↗

We confirm the permit validity and the date of her six-monthly medical examination before the request is sent, so the consent is not asked for and then found to be unusable. We write the transfer date into the terms both households sign, and we do not promise a start date to either household until the approval is in their hands. Where the consent does not come, we say so and the file closes there.

Illustrative doorway at handover time with a packed canvas duffel bag and a tote on a tiled floor beside a shoe rack, keys hanging on a hook above

Handover day · both households, one date

Scope: the date · agreed by both employers, issued by MOM, printed as a Temporary Work Permit

On the agreed date the new permit is issued and the previous one is cancelled by MOM on the same day. She starts with a Temporary Work Permit in her hand, not with a promise.

What has to be true that morning ↗

The declaration form, signed by you and by her. The insurance and the security bond in your name, in force. The outgoing employer’s settlement of wages, leave and the flight done rather than promised. The permit card cut in half by the outgoing employer once the new permit is issued. And the transfer date the approval carries, which either household may ask to move if both agree — the approval has to be extended before the new date can be printed.

Illustrative small round table by a window with a blank notebook, a glass of water, a potted plant and folded green linen, a woven chair in the foreground

Inside the window · one further search

Scope: the term after a transfer · one counted search, no further agency fee

If the employment ends inside the window and the conditions hold, the entitlement is one further search. It covers the agency fee for that search and nothing else.

What ends it ↗

A completed search, suitable replacement candidates declined, or nobody responding inside the period the schedule states — all three close the entitlement, and it is not renewed by a second early ending. Wages, travel, accommodation and every other employment cost stay with the employer throughout. A trial is an extended interview with stated expectations, never a week of unpaid work, and where a paid trial day is agreed it is paid by you to her directly.

Three stages, and only the third is ours to shape: the consent belongs to the outgoing employer, the date belongs to both households and to MOM, and the window is the term we write down and then have to live with.

What is checked, and what is not

Verified, and
described as verified.

Facts, not adjectives

Name, nationality, languages, the duration and content of previous employment, food-handling preferences, and the training and medical records the process produces. Nothing in a biodata describes her temperament, in this route or any other.

Every field on a biodata is one we can point to a document for.

Sent on request, with consent

Biodata goes to you as a prospective employer when you ask for it, and only with her written consent. It is not published, not browsable, and carries no photograph.

Biodata is never posted, and never sent to anyone but the household that asked for it.

The checks a transfer adds

How much validity is left on her permit, the date of her six-monthly medical examination, the length and content of her previous employment, and the reason the current employment is ending. Where a check has not been done, the shortlist says so.

The date of her six-monthly medical examination is confirmed before the consent request is sent, not after.

An early ending is not damage

Most transfers here follow the household’s circumstances: a relocation, a child starting school, an elderly parent admitted to care. An early ending is not a statement about how she works, and this page does not treat it as one.

Where an ending was a breach or an unresolved dispute, we say so and we do not take the transfer on.

The claim, bounded

We state what we verified and how we verified it, and the final decision to employ rests with you. A check we did not run is not described as run, and a reference is not converted into an endorsement of character.

The final decision to employ rests with you, and we say so on the first call rather than the last.

The window, in four lines.

What starts it
The employment start date, written into the schedule rather than remembered afterwards.
How long it runs
Stated per case in the schedule issued on request, before consent from the current employer is asked for.
What it provides
One further search: shortlist, introduction and the paperwork that goes with it, at no further agency fee.
What it does not cover
Wages, travel, accommodation and every other employment cost stay with the employer, whichever household the transfer ends in.

From consent to handover day

The date the two
households agree.

The sequence below belongs to MOM and to both employers, not to any agency. MOM publishes the clocks: the first two steps at least thirty days before the permit expires, an outcome within a week, and the new permit issued within twenty-one days of approval or by the current permit’s expiry date, whichever comes first. The current employer pays the levy up to the day the new permit is issued and cuts the cancelled card in half; MOM discharges the security bond about a week after she starts with you. Those are constraints rather than a delivery time, and we state them instead of a promise.

The replacement window is a term, not a slogan. It runs from her employment start date, it is longer where the employment ends at the helper’s initiative than where it ends at yours, and it provides one further search subject to the conditions in the written schedule.

Who does what on a transfer, and when. The same rows appear in the written schedule, which is where the amounts are.
Stage	Who does this	What you hold afterwards
Interview, then agree the transfer date	You and the helper, with the outgoing employer agreeing the date	A written transfer date both households have signed for
Request consent and file the application	The outgoing employer approves in the FDW eService; the application is filed at least thirty days before the permit expires	The application reference and the date it was filed
On the In-Principle Approval	Both households receive it. You arrange insurance and the security bond in your name, and sign the declaration, the contract and the safety agreement with her	The approval, the policy, the bond and the signed agreement
On the transfer date	You issue the new permit in the FDW eService and print the Temporary Work Permit; MOM cancels the previous permit on issuance	The new permit and the cancelled old one, on the record
The first two weeks	She attends the medical examination if she has not had one with the previous employer; the levy and the six-monthly medical schedule follow	The medical date and the levy arrangement in your name
Inside the window	Us, where a further search is requested and the conditions hold	One counted search, and a written record of how it ended

Who ended it decides the window

Two triggers, two lengths. Where the employment ends at your initiative the window is the shorter one; where it ends at the helper’s initiative it is the longer one. Both lengths and both start dates are stated in the written schedule, and neither continues or restarts because a search ran long.

One search, counted

The entitlement is one further search inside the window. There is no search for a trial period that did not become an employment, and none after a further search has already been run. A second early ending does not renew it.

What the further search does not cover

It covers the agency fee for the second search and nothing else. Wages, travel, accommodation and any other employment cost stay with the employer. The agency does not become the employer at any point on this route.

How the search ends

Declining suitable replacement candidates fulfils the entitlement, and so does not responding inside the period the schedule states. The search is closed when the window closes, whether or not it produced a placement.

No informal trial

A helper is never lent out for a week to be tried. A trial is an extended or second interview plus stated expectations for the first weeks, and if a paid trial day is ever agreed it is paid by you to her directly. Nothing about that changes the permit or the consent rule.

A window is not a substitute for a brief. Where the conditions in the schedule are not kept, the further search is not provided, and we name which condition was not met rather than arguing about it afterwards.

On reviews

“The window was written as a term with a start date and two lengths, not as a promise. We knew which one applied to us before we signed.”

Transfer · sample story

Sample story. Not a real customer review. Our licence record and any demerit points are published by MOM on the employment agencies directory, and a transfer that ends early is reported there as a transfer, not as a complaint.

Before you commit

The cases where
the window does not apply.

When is no further search provided?

Where the role or the terms were materially changed after they were agreed; where the household’s circumstances changed and the job no longer exists as signed; where wages or conditions fell below what was agreed; where the working or living conditions were unsafe, or a wage was not paid in full and on time; where the employment ended because the role was misdescribed; or where the household decides not to continue for reasons unconnected to how she works. The list is the same in the written schedule, and it is published here rather than discovered later.

How does the window end?

In three ways: a further search is completed, suitable replacement candidates are declined so the entitlement is treated as fulfilled, or nobody responds inside the period the schedule states and the search is closed. The window also has a stated period after her employment start date and does not continue or restart beyond it.

Is a helper who is transferring available because something is wrong with her?

Usually the household’s circumstances changed: a relocation, a child starting school, an elderly parent admitted to care, or a contract simply ending. Where an ending was caused by a breach, a dispute or an unresolved settlement, we say so and we do not take the transfer on. An early ending is not a verdict on how someone works.

What consent do we need, and from whom?

The current employer’s approval in MOM’s FDW eService, and a release date for the transfer that both households sign for. Both employers then receive the In-Principle Approval, which carries the transfer date. Without that consent there is no transfer, no interview worth holding and no date to promise.

How is her biodata handled?

It comes to you as a prospective employer when you ask, and only with her written consent. It is not published, not searchable, and not a profile with a photograph. The permitted fields are the factual ones, and nothing in them describes her temperament.

What does the transfer cost us?

Categories, not amounts: our service fee, the further search inside the window, and the costs that are yours in any employment — the levy, insurance, the security bond, the medical steps as they fall due and her wages. The written schedule issued on request states the amounts, the refund terms, the replacement clause and the licence number.

Start with the release date

Tell us the gate.
We will name the sequence.

Describe the household, the work and what you know about the current employment and its end date. The written schedule, the amounts and the licence number follow when you ask for them.

Concept only. Nothing is sent or booked.

Can she transfer · What the fee covers · Ask a question