Work Permit Renewal
Renewing your helper's Work Permit.
A renewal is one letter, one S$35 fee and a short list of things that have to be in place first. MOM's letter arrives about 8 weeks before the permit expires, and it goes wrong for one reason: people start the week it is due. Here is the whole process, and the dates that matter.
Verify our EA Licence 24C2490 on the MOM EA DirectoryThe Timeline
Three dates decide everything.
The renewal figures on this page are quoted from MOM's own renewal page, checked on 04/08/2026. Everything else links to the MOM page that sets it.
8 weeks
Before expiry, the letter arrives
MOM sends your renewal letter about eight weeks out, and that letter is what opens the renewal. Page 2 tells you whether a medical examination is needed this time. Treat it as the start of the job, not a reminder to file away. To go earlier, you submit a request to MOM rather than simply renewing.
2 years
The length you should get back
A renewed permit usually runs two years. MOM issues less in exactly two cases: the insurance runs under 26 months, so the permit ends two months before the cover does, or your helper is approaching 60, so it ends the day she turns 60. Sixty is a ceiling too, because a helper who is already 50 or above can be renewed only until she turns 60. Short permits almost always trace back to insurance dates.
S$35
MOM's fee per renewal
That is the whole government charge, and MOM lists one fee for a renewal. The S$70 you may have seen is a new application, which MOM charges in two halves. The outcome is immediate once you submit with everything in place. The insurance and the bond are separate purchases, and the levy never pauses.
Before You Renew
What has to be in place first.
None of this is difficult. All of it takes longer than you think if you start late, which is the entire reason renewals go wrong.
A new security bond, S$5,000
Required for every helper who is not Malaysian. Like the original, it is a banker's or insurer's guarantee rather than cash you hand over, and it is usually bundled into the same insurance package. MOM is explicit that a renewal needs a new bond rather than the one you already have: your bank or insurer sends the new details to MOM before you renew, and MOM allows up to 3 working days for that. The bond can be post-dated to at most 1 day after the current permit expires. The conditions are on the MOM security bond page.
Personal accident insurance, at least S$60,000 a year
Either extended on the existing policy or bought new, and it has to run for the permit period you are renewing into. MOM sets the floor at a sum assured of at least S$60,000 a year for permanent disability or death from an accident, with the compensation payable to your helper or her beneficiaries. You cannot pass the premium on to her. The MOM insurance requirements page sets both minimums.
Medical insurance, at least S$60,000 a year
Same again: extended or new. MOM sets a minimum annual claim limit of S$60,000 for inpatient care and day surgery, and where a plan carries sub-limits, each sub-limit has to meet that same minimum. Above S$15,000 on a claim, the insurer pays 75% and you pay the remaining 25%. Policies bought, renewed or extended from 1 July 2025 also carry standardised exclusion clauses, premiums banded by the helper's age at 50, and payment made direct to the hospital. If the cover runs less than 26 months, MOM may issue a shorter permit than the usual two years.
A medical examination, if MOM asks
Page 2 of your renewal letter is where it says whether one is needed, and if it is, the doctor's signed form is uploaded when you renew. This is separate from the six-monthly medical examination, which continues on its own schedule throughout the employment. One exception is worth knowing: a helper aged 50 or above does not sit the six-monthly examination at all, and instead has a medical examination at each renewal. MOM's six-monthly medical examination page sets out both.
An up to date passport copy
Her passport no longer sets how long the permit runs. MOM renews even if it has expired or has under two years left. What MOM does need is a record of the current passport if she has renewed it, and she still needs a valid one to travel.
Measles immunity, if a child under 7 lives with you
Since 1 September 2025, if there are children under 7 in your household who are not fully vaccinated against measles, you have to make sure your helper is immune, and you declare it at the point of renewal. MOM accepts proof of vaccination, a serology test, or laboratory confirmation of past infection, and the vaccine is two MMR doses at least 28 days apart from a private GP. Any cost of meeting the requirement is yours, not hers. MOM's own advice is to check her status ahead of the renewal rather than at it. The rule is set out in MOM's announcement of the measles immunity requirement.
The monthly levy continues throughout at your usual rate, S$300 for most households or S$60 if you qualify for the levy concession. The levy is billed monthly and runs until the permit is cancelled or expires, so renewing neither restarts it nor changes the rate. What changes it is your household. If you have had a baby, or a parent has moved in, since your last renewal, check whether you now qualify. It is the most commonly missed saving in the whole arrangement. Meeting the criteria is not always enough on its own: a parent of a citizen child gets it from birth, but in most other cases you have to add the eligible person to your household on MOM's eService first, and the disability route also needs a recommendation letter from the Agency for Integrated Care. Once it is in place the adjustment shows up within your next two levy bills. It runs the other way too: a child turning 16 moves you from S$60 back to S$300 a month, and that S$240 swing on a first helper deserves more of your attention than the S$35 fee. Our guide to the cost of hiring a helper sets out every figure in one place.
If You Are Late
The one avoidable cost in employing a helper.
Renew after the permit has expired and you are still liable for the levy, and MOM may add levy penalties or an overstaying fine on top, which MOM puts at up to S$500. The larger number is the quieter one. The security bond can be forfeited if you fail to send your helper home once her permit has expired, and that is S$5,000, not S$500. Nothing about either is a grey area, and nothing about either is unavoidable. It happens because a letter arrived eight weeks early and got put somewhere safe.
If you are not going to make the date, there is a route most people do not know exists. You can request a four week extension of the permit when you need more time to buy the security bond or her insurance, through MOM's FDW eService and within the two months before the expiry date, which is the same runway the renewal letter gives you. If MOM refuses the renewal outright, the non-renewal letter gives the reason and there is an appeal, which takes about three weeks and is unlikely to succeed unless you can put new information in front of them. Appeal early: MOM is clear that a permit expiring, or already expired, is not given priority.
We diarise renewal dates for the families we place and start the conversation when the letter is due, not when the permit is. If you are already close to the date, message us and we will tell you honestly whether it is still comfortable or whether you need to move today.
Check my renewal dateQuestions
Renewal, answered.
More questions about employing a helper in Singapore are answered on our frequently asked questions page, or see everything we do on the services overview.