How to Check a Singapore Helper Agency Is Legitimate

Start with the licence. It takes two minutes.

An employment agency needs a licence to operate in Singapore, and MOM publishes every live licence in a directory anyone can search. If an agency is not in it, stop there. Nothing else about them matters.

How to check an agency licence number, step by step

Four steps, and you can do them on a phone before you reply to anybody. MOM even publishes a user guide to the directory if you want to see the screens first.

1. Open MOM's employment agencies and personnel search, the EA Directory. It covers agencies placing foreign domestic workers, other foreign workers and local workers, and it is available around the clock.
2. Stay on the Search Agencies tab and start typing the agency's name. The field autocompletes, so a partial name is enough. Then press Search Agencies.
3. Open the result and read the scorecard. This is where a licence number gets checked: the record has to carry the same number against the same agency name you were given. Ours is 24C2490. Try it now, before you read another word of what we say about ourselves.
4. If a licence number is all you have, use the Search Agency Personnel tab instead. It accepts an agency name or a licence number, and returns the registered people attached to that agency.

What the licence number itself tells you

Less than people assume, and we would rather say so than invent a decoder ring. MOM does not publish what the characters in a licence number mean, so anyone explaining yours to you is guessing. What MOM does publish is that there are four types of EA licence, that of the four the Comprehensive (All) licence is the one that covers placing any type of worker including domestic helpers, and that every licence runs three years before it has to be renewed. Treat the number as a lookup key, not a credential. It proves nothing until it resolves in the directory against that agency's name.

Check the person, not just the shop. Registered agency personnel carry a registration card showing their name, registration number and the agency they work for, and the same directory has a Search Agency Personnel tab. Match the card against the record. An unregistered consultant inside a licensed agency is a real thing.

What the directory tells you beyond yes or no

Licensed is the floor, not the ceiling. The same record carries years in operation, retention rate, transfer rate, helpers placed in the previous year, a customer star rating, and live demerit points.

Retention rate is the number to read first. MOM defines it as the percentage of domestic workers an agency placed who stayed with the same employer for at least one year. That figure and the number of helpers placed in the previous year are the two indicators MOM itself tells employers to look at. A big placement count next to a weak retention rate describes an agency that is good at closing and less good at matching, and the matching is the part you live with.

Demerit points, and how to read them

MOM issues demerit points to an agency that breaches the Employment Agencies Act, the Employment Agencies Rules or its licence conditions. Below 12 points, each one expires 12 months after it was issued. From 12 the record only clears after a full 12 months with no new points, and the consequences step up as they accumulate.

What that means for you rather than for them: by 12 points the agency cannot use Work Permit Online for at least three months, and that is the system your application goes through. Its surveillance status is public in the directory the whole time. A clean record is the normal case, so points on the board are worth asking about, and how the agency answers is itself information. Severe cases skip the ladder entirely, because MOM can revoke a licence outright for things like deploying workers illegally or abusing them.

The star rating is not a Google review. About three months after a helper is deployed, MOM texts the employer a survey: how well the agency explained the process, fees and both contracts, how helpful it was, how well it matched, and whether they would recommend it. Stars out of five, shown only once an agency has at least three responses. Small, self-selecting sample, so four against five decides nothing. It is still a number an agency cannot write for itself.

Get it in writing, and know what in writing means

An agency placing helpers must sign a written service agreement with you. That is a condition of its licence, not a courtesy, and MOM publishes a recommended service agreement you can read tonight, before you meet anybody. It must state its validity period, then cover three things properly.

• The fees, itemised. A clear breakdown of what you pay, the GST, and any amount paid upfront on the helper's behalf that you may later recover from her. Not one bundled figure.
• The replacement terms. How many you get, by when you must ask, by when the agency must deliver, whether it costs extra, when you get none, and your recourse if the agency cannot find one.
• The refund terms. What comes back if the helper is never placed, if she is placed and then transfers, if she is placed and cannot be transferred, if you decline a replacement, and if you reject the one offered. Each with an amount and a deadline.

It must also name a dispute resolution mechanism, and that has to be an independent third party providing mediation. "We will sort it out" is not one.

Underneath sits a statutory floor: an agency must refund at least 50% of service fees if the helper's employment ends inside six months and the conditions are met. How that works, and the exceptions that catch people out, is in our guide to placements that do not work out.

Red flags, plainly

• No licence number displayed. A licensed agency must state its full name and licence number on its signboard, on invoices, receipts, service agreements and contracts, and in any advertisement including its website, name cards and social media. The same condition covers the personnel handling your case: their name and registration number belong on the documents for it. A site or an invoice without one is either unlicensed or careless with licence conditions.
• The fee only exists verbally. A number said out loud can move. A number in a signed schedule cannot.
• Pressure to sign the same day. No MOM rule bans it, so this is judgement rather than law. But you are deciding who lives in your home for two years. Urgency that appears the moment you hesitate is a sales technique.
• Biodata nobody can stand behind. Where an agency matched a helper to you, it must give you her full biodata on MOM's prescribed form before the Work Permit application goes in. Ask who verified the experience on it, and ask to speak to her.
• Being asked to pay her placement loan in a way nobody will explain. Employers do sometimes pay part of a helper's loan upfront and recover it from her salary. That is fine when it is in the service agreement as an amount paid on her behalf, and in her contract as a deduction schedule. It is not fine as a figure in a chat message. Her loan is also not the same thing as your agency fee, and agencies that blur the two usually do it on purpose.

Five questions to ask on the phone

A good agency answers all five inside ten minutes without checking with anyone.

1. What is your MOM licence number, and what is the registration number of the person I will be dealing with?
2. Can you email me your service agreement before I come in?
3. What is your fee, and what does it exclude?
4. How many replacements do I get, within what window, and does a replacement cost extra?
5. If it ends inside six months, what comes back to me and by when?

Question two is the sharpest. An agency that intends to improvise cannot send you a document.

Now hold us to the same standard

Our licence number is 24C2490. It is on every page of this site, and it resolves in the EA Directory right now. Our terms go to you in writing before you commit to anything, and you can have the service agreement before you visit rather than at the table. We put same-day pressure on nobody, because a placement made under pressure is the one that comes back.

We do not publish our fee as a number, and we would rather say why than let that look evasive. It depends on where the helper is coming from and whether she is already in Singapore. A headline figure that is wrong for your household is the behaviour this page argues against. We will give you the number for your situation, in writing, before you owe us anything.

Then apply all of it to us. If we fail one of these tests, the right answer is the one we would give you about anybody else, which is to walk. Our full FAQ and our contact page are where to start.

Questions employers actually ask

How do I check that a helper agency in Singapore is licensed?

Search MOM's EA Directory, the employment agencies and personnel search on mom.gov.sg. On the Search Agencies tab, type the agency's name and open the result. The record tells you whether the licence is live, how long the agency has operated, its retention rate and how many helpers it placed last year, its customer star rating, and whether MOM has issued it demerit points. If an agency does not appear at all, it is not licensed to place helpers.

What does an employment agency licence number look like?

Short. Ours is 24C2490. The format matters less than the check: put the number into the EA Directory and confirm it returns a live record with that agency's name on it. A number printed on a website proves nothing until it resolves.

How do I check an agency's demerit points, and what do they mean?

They sit on the agency's own record in MOM's EA Directory, beside its licence. MOM issues demerit points for breaches of the Employment Agencies Act, the Employment Agencies Rules or the licence conditions. Below 12 points, each one expires 12 months after it was issued. At 4 and at 8 points MOM sets a floor under the agency's security deposit, which for a newer agency may already be met, at 12 part of that deposit is forfeited and the agency goes under surveillance for 12 months with its Work Permit Online account suspended, and at 24 the licence is suspended or revoked. A clean record is the normal case.

What do MOM's employment agency star ratings actually mean?

They come from employers, not from agencies. About three months after a helper is deployed, MOM sends the employer an SMS survey covering how well the agency explained the process, fees and contracts, how helpful it was, how well it matched, and whether they would recommend it. Scores show as stars out of five, and only after at least three responses.

What must be in the service agreement an agency signs with me?

A written service agreement is a licence condition, not a courtesy. It must set out its validity period, a clear breakdown of the fees and taxes you pay, what is refunded in each situation and within what timeframe, how many replacements you get and by when, and a dispute resolution mechanism using an independent third-party mediator.

Is it a bad sign if an agency will not put its fee in writing?

Yes. MOM requires the fees you pay to be broken down in the written service agreement, including the GST and any amount paid upfront on the helper's behalf. A verbal-only quote leaves the agency room to move the number later, and leaves you nothing to point at when it does.