Before you sign anything
The S$5,000 security bond, and the part nobody mentions
MOM requires a S$5,000 security bond for every migrant domestic worker who is not Malaysian. Almost every employer satisfies it without paying a cent extra. Almost none of them are told they can still lose the S$5,000.
This is the explanation Shwe Match, a licensed Burmese helper agency in Singapore, gives every family before they sign anything.
1. It is not money you hand over
MOM puts it plainly: “You must buy a $5,000 security bond for each helper you employ, except for Malaysian helpers,” and “the bond is in the form of a banker's or insurer's guarantee.” A guarantee is a promise to pay if something goes wrong, not a payment. Nothing leaves your account when it is issued.
MOM also states you cannot ask your helper to pay for it. If anyone suggests deducting it from her salary, that is not a grey area.
MOM: security bond requirements →2. Your maid insurance already issues it, free
Maid insurance is compulsory anyway, and the policy carries the bond guarantee inside the premium at no separate charge. MSIG's MaidPlus lists “letter of guarantee for a $5,000 security bond issued on your behalf to the Ministry of Manpower” in all three tiers; Income's domestic helper insurance lists the S$5,000 security bond as a standard benefit across all three plans.
That premium runs roughly S$486.14–S$728.12 per permit cycle for a helper aged 50 or under, and about double in the 51–60 band. The bond adds nothing to it.
So if an agency quote shows a separate line for the security bond, ask what it is for. Neither of the two real agency fee sheets we have seen carried one.
3. Included is not the same as covered
This is the part that surprises people. The guarantee is a counter-indemnity. Your insurer promises MOM that it will pay if you breach a bond condition — and you promise your insurer that you will pay it back. If MOM forfeits the bond, the insurer pays MOM and then recovers the S$5,000 from you.
The proof is that both insurers sell a rider to switch it off. MSIG offers a “Waiver of Counter Indemnity” at S$54.50 including GST with a S$250 excess. Income offers a “MOM security bond protector” that caps your liability at S$250 instead of S$5,000. Neither would exist if the included guarantee already left you with nothing to lose.
MOM lists what forfeits it: a Work Permit or bond condition breached, her salary not paid on time, or failing to send her home when the permit expires, is revoked or cancelled. Otherwise MOM discharges the bond about a week after she leaves Singapore.
4. The bank route is the expensive way to do the same thing
MOM accepts a banker's guarantee instead. You arrange it with your own bank, so no agency quote covers it, and it costs roughly S$150–S$216.67 in commission on published rates. UOB issues against 100% cash margin, which would tie up the full S$5,000 of your own money for the permit on top of that.
Since your compulsory insurance already issues the guarantee for nothing, there is rarely a reason to. We mention it only so the comparison is on the table.
That range is an estimate. Neither DBS nor UOB names a maid bond on its price page, so which of their published guarantee rates applies is not something we can settle from those pages.
Want the four questions to ask before you sign?
What the waiver costs at your insurer, whether your quote already includes the premium, what happens to the bond when she goes home, and what your agency is charging on top. We'll send them over. We are not an insurer and cannot sell you a policy — this is so you can ask the people who can.
Shwe Match is a licensed employment agency (MOM EA 26C3625). We are not an insurer, an insurance agent or a broker, we cannot sell you a policy, and we are not paid by any insurer named here. Figures are quoted from MOM and from the insurers' and banks' own published pages, checked 2026-08-02. Check them yourself before relying on them.