Hiring a Myanmar domestic worker in Singapore

3C — Myanmar

The position

Myanmar law requires all overseas deployment to be processed through licensed Overseas Employment Agencies (OEAs) under the Overseas Employment Law, administered by the Ministry of Labour. Exit clearance, contract approval, pre-departure training and medical screening are all compulsory and all agency-mediated.

On top of that, conditions on the ground are volatile. Deployment to Singapore was suspended from 2014 to 2019, resumed in April 2019, then disrupted by the events of 2021. Even helpers with complete and valid documentation have been denied boarding at Yangon. Alternative exit routes exist in practice but are unpredictable, disruption-prone, and expose the helper to real risk.

Our honest recommendation

If you want a Myanmar helper, look for a transfer candidate already in Singapore (Part 1) or a returning helper (Part 2). Both avoid the departure risk entirely.

If you proceed with a fresh hire anyway, work through a Singapore agency with long-standing, tested Myanmar partnerships, and treat any quoted timeline as optimistic. Do not make commitments — resigning from childcare, ending another helper's contract — that assume she will arrive on schedule.

What you still do yourself

The MOM process in Part 3.2 is unchanged and entirely yours to complete.

Contacts

Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Singapore
15 St Martin's Drive, Singapore 257996
Tel: (65) 6735 0209 · Consular Section: (65) 6735 2035
Website: myanmarembassy.sg
Contact details compiled from public directories — confirm before relying on them.

Pitfalls

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