This involves verification by the Indonesian embassy to ensure that the potential employment is legitimate. Documentation will then be prepared and will need to be signed, she said.
“It’s really just as simple as that. So once you follow all this procedure and all documentation, actually nothing will affect you,” she said.
“The government set the regulation in order to assure that our citizens have the best or better protection through the procedures and proper documentation,” she added.
DELAY SINCE LATE MAY
Employment agencies told CNA that the delay affects those that did not go through the Indonesian embassy to get official employment contracts for new workers. Some agencies are also not accredited by the embassy.
The agencies said these administrative steps are often lengthy.
The delays in bringing Indonesian domestic helpers started in late May, they added.
Ms Hilwah Brown, director of Hilwah Maid Agency said: “An agency like us who only specialise (in) Indonesian markets is greatly affected. The feeling of being unable to receive migrant domestic workers is similar to during the pandemic period.”
Co-founder of Ministry of Helpers Otbert de Jong said that the delay has been partly caused by immigration officers reportedly asking for a training certificate from PJTKI – Indonesian migrant work placement companies.
These companies may be pushing for wider use of their certificate to deal with more maid agencies doing direct hires instead of going through them, he said.
However, the certificate does not address problems like human trafficking, he added.
Currently, many agencies go directly to agents in Jakarta to bring helpers into Singapore with an in-principal employment approval from Singapore’s Manpower Ministry, industry experts told CNA.
THE INDONESIAN PERSPECTIVE
Agencies have to see the situation from the Indonesian perspective, said Ms K Jayaprema, president of the Association of Employment Agencies Singapore.
“What they are looking at is for domestic workers to have been properly correctly processed from the source country to be departing for employment to Singapore,” she said. Ms Jayaprema said her association has encouraged members to be accredited with the Indonesian Embassy and to go through the due processes.