Relocating to Malaysia with your helper, from Hong Kong, Singapore or Taiwan

Can you transfer your helper’s permit to Malaysia?

No. There’s no transfer, no porting and no reciprocal arrangement. Her existing visa ends when she leaves her current employer’s jurisdiction, and Malaysia issues from scratch. Every household we speak to about this has assumed otherwise, usually because the move itself feels administrative: a flight, a new address, the same person doing the same job.

The practical consequence is a gap. She stops being lawfully employed in Hong Kong or Singapore before she starts being lawfully employed in Malaysia, and how you handle those weeks is the whole problem. Bring her in on a social visit pass and put her to work and you have committed an immigration offence in your own home.

What changes depending on where you’re moving from?

Less than you’d think at the Malaysian end, and more than you’d think at the other one. The Malaysian application is the same whichever city she flies from, because Malaysia cares about her passport and her paperwork. What differs is how cleanly she can exit.

We file the Malaysian side and we’ll tell you plainly where our knowledge stops. Release letters, permit cancellation and final settlement in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan are governed by those jurisdictions, and we don’t publish procedures we don’t file ourselves. We’ll tell you what we need from that end and when we need it.

Does her experience and certification count in Malaysia?

Her experience counts with you, which is presumably why you’re bringing her. Her certification may not. Indonesia and the Philippines certify their workers for a destination country, so a certificate issued for Hong Kong or Taiwan doesn’t automatically satisfy Malaysia, and she may need to re-certify before she can be documented for this market.

That’s frustrating and it’s not unreasonable. The certification is what makes a domestic worker’s training verifiable instead of asserted, and it’s part of why her contract can be enforced here. It does mean the timeline for a relocation is closer to a fresh hire than to a transfer, and you should plan for that.

Her nationality is what drives this, so read the route that applies to her: an Indonesian helper goes through the Indonesian mission and an accredited clinic, and a Filipino helper goes through the Department of Migrant Workers with an Overseas Employment Certificate.

What does a relocation cost and how long does it take?

The service fee is the same as any direct hire: RM2,880 service fee, before government costs and the helper’s salary in Peninsular Malaysia. Kuching is quoted per case. What sits on top is the levy, the security bond, insurance, her medical and her airfare, and those depend on where she’ll be flying from and which passport she holds.

On timing, the honest answer is that we can’t give you a single range yet. The Malaysian half of a relocation runs like a direct hire and the exit half depends on a jurisdiction we don’t file in. Get on a call with us early. Six to eight weeks before you want her in Malaysia is not too soon to start.

• Direct hire in Kuala Lumpur RM2,880 service fee.
• Direct hire in Kuching Sarawak’s own permit system.

What do we ask of you in return?

One thing. Keep to the contract you sign. We’ll do the filing, the chasing and the arrival logistics, and the price holds as long as the employment itself is lawful. This is the part of a direct hire that an agency would otherwise supervise for you, and it is now yours.

• Pay the salary in the contract, in full, on time, into an account in her name.
• Give her the rest day the contract provides, or pay the overtime rate instead.
• Register her with PERKESO and keep the contributions current.
• Renew her permit before it lapses. A lapsed permit is your offence, not hers.