How to Check a Maid Agency in Singapore

A maid agency in Singapore is not something you have to take on trust, because MOM licenses every one of them and publishes the register. The single check that matters before you sign anything is whether the agency holds a live licence that permits it to place a foreign domestic worker — and you can confirm that yourself in a minute. This page explains that check, what MOM's published figures on an agency actually mean, and it reproduces MOM's current enforcement list. It does not tell you which agency to pick; it tells you how to read what the government already publishes.

The one check that matters: the licence

Placing a foreign domestic worker is not something any company may do. It requires a Comprehensive employment-agency licence from MOM, and as of 2026-09-24 the register lists 2,769 agencies whose licence permits it. Of all 4,763 licensed employment agencies on the register, 4,756 are live and 7 are suspended.

Every agency has a licence number in the form of a code such as 21C0807. Before you pay a deposit or sign a service agreement, look that number up in MOM's Employment Agency Directory and confirm the status reads live. An agency that cannot give you a licence number, or whose number does not resolve, is the one thing on this page you should treat as a hard stop.

Demerit points, and what they are not

MOM runs a demerit-point system for employment agencies and publishes each agency's current total. As of 2026-09-24, 62 of the 4,763 agencies carry demerit points above zero — 53 of them among the agencies that place domestic workers — and the highest total on the register is 22. Every other agency is printed at zero, which is MOM's own figure and not an assumption.

A demerit point is a record that MOM took a compliance action, not a score of how good an agency is at its job, and it cannot be inverted into one. We report the count in aggregate rather than naming the agencies that carry a point or two, because a single demerit is a long way from a suspension, and MOM itself treats the two very differently. Where MOM has acted formally, that agency appears in the enforcement list below.

The figures MOM publishes, and how to read them

For agencies that place domestic workers, MOM also publishes a few outcome measures over a rolling twelve-month window. They are not published for every agency — a new or low-volume agency often has none — so an empty figure means "not published", not "poor".

• FDW retention success rate (published for 1125 of the 2,769 FDW-placing agencies): the share of placements where the worker stayed with the employer. MOM's own outcome measure, over its stated window.
• FDW transfer rate (published for 1216): the share of workers who transferred to another employer. A figure worth asking an agency about rather than reading as a verdict on its own.
• Customer service rating in stars (published for 922): MOM's published satisfaction figure, on a five-star scale.

These are MOM's measures, reproduced as MOM publishes them. They describe outcomes over a window; they do not predict your own experience, and this page does not rank agencies on them.

MOM's current enforcement list

Separately from demerit points, MOM publishes a list of agencies it has taken formal action against, as a public alert. As of 2026-09-24 it names 15 agencies: 6 with a revoked licence, 7 suspended, and 2 under surveillance. These are reproduced below exactly as MOM lists them. Presence here is MOM's finding, published by MOM; it is not ours.

How to check an agency yourself

1. Ask the agency for its EA licence number.
2. Look it up in MOM's Employment Agency Directory at mom.gov.sg/eadirectory.
3. Confirm the status reads live, and read the demerit total and any figures MOM shows.
4. Check the enforcement alerts for the agency's name before you commit.

What this page cannot tell you

• It cannot tell you which agency is good. A licence is permission to operate, and MOM's figures are outcome measures over a past window — neither is a promise about your placement.
• MOM's register publishes no licence expiry date, only the date a licence was issued, so this page cannot show you how long a licence runs.
• The register carries a status field but a closed agency simply stops appearing rather than being marked closed, so a name absent today may have left for any reason.
• These figures were read from MOM's register on 2026-09-24. MOM updates them, so confirm the current figure on MOM's own directory before you act.