My Silverpen: July 2014

How to renew Indonesian domestic maid’s passport DIY without an agent’s help

Updated with new information on Feb 26, 2019

In the past when a maid needed to renew their passport, it was typical that we would approach a maid agent to carry out the necessary.

In the most recent case of our Indonesian maid having to renew her passport here in Singapore, I decided to DIY and to find out the procedures which from hearsay was uncomplicated and extremely straight forward.

Henceforward I could save paying a fee to the agent and for all future cases, I could thus renew the passports of future maids without a hitch.

For anyone interested to DIY like me, foremost before proceeding, please check on the expiry date of your maid’s work permit and her passport.

Normally , it was advisable by the Embassy that the passport should be renewed at least 2 weeks before the expiry of the work permit, not the expiry of her passport or whichever expire earlier.

Before the actual day , one must get ready all the necessary documents and to choose a suitable date.

Consequently, on 8 July 2014, our maid together with the Employer mentioned in the work permit went together with myself for this matter.

We chose Tuesday as Monday, being all Mondays were often crowded everywhere because of the weekends.

These are the following documents to bring along:

1) Form PERDIM 11 form which can be downloaded from the Embassy website (http://www.embassypages.com/missions/embassy5051/ OR http://kemlu.go.id/singapore/Pages/AboutUs.aspx?IDP=51&l=en ) or obtain one from the counter upon arrival. Just get the maid to fill it in as it is in Indonesian language, but make sure she fill it with black ink pen.

2) One photocopy of Employer’s I/C ( front and back)

3) One photocopy of maid’s passport, front and back page and also bring the original passport

4) One copy of her Singapore work permit (front and back) and also the original work permit.

5) You can bring along other form of identifications like Driver’s license, EZ link card, etc. This is to help you submit one ID at the security counter while you bring the original work permit or passport or I/C to the counter for the renewal.

That’s all the documents you need to bring. Remember to bring cash ( S $38) for the payment of the new passport. It seems that they do not accept credit cards, or Nets.

THE DAY OF RENEWAL OF PASSPORT

Take note of the Embassy address:

Indonesian Embassy in Singapore

No: 7, Chatsworth Road

Singapore 249761

( Between Botanic Gardens and Redhill MRT) besides Tanglin Road.

Telephone (+65) 6737-7422

Telefax (+65) 6737-5037

E-mail info@indonesianembassy.sg

Website: www.kemlu.go.id/singapore/

On that date, set out early. Be ahead of time so that you can park your car along the side road of the Embassy which has limited space but be prepared that you may get an illegal parking ticket.

It may be more convenient to go by taxi and also then return by taxi . Getting a taxi along the main road of the Embassy is effortless as many people will arrive there by taxi and you can easily get one to go back. In addition, you can also radio a taxi or use Mobileapps like Grabtaxi.

The Embassy opens on normal business day at 9am to 12 noon (Monday to Friday except PH) for passport renewal.

But when you arrive, you will find that there may be already a short queue at the security guard’s post.

Upon clearing the security, proceed to the first floor waiting area at the main building. There is sufficient signage to guide you there.

Upon entering, take a queue number and wait to be called at Counter 1, 2 and 3. You can wait at the reception area for your number. Meanwhile, you can use the restrooms located on the same floor.

Unless you are first five in the line, you may take your breakfast at the canteen which is located just behind the reception area in the outside garden area ( 5 metres away)

Simple breakfast should cost you about S$6 each. The waiting time to submit the passport renewal should take about 10 mins to 30 mins depending on the queue and your queue number.

Please note that you need not be present at this renewal submission as the maid should be able to carry it out on her own as it is very simple.

After the maid has submitted the documents to the counter and all things being in order, she will be given a form for collection of the new passport with the date of collection stated on it.

Usually, the collection date should be 3 days later in the afternoon only (between 2.30pm to 5pm except PH) and from the same counters.

Since the application was made on Tuesday morning, hence the collection day would be on Friday afternoon.

For collection of domestic worker passport, a work agreement must be produced. The work agreement is issued by Consular Department (second floor of the Indonesian Embassy) after the domestic worker and her employer are interviewed by our officer.

Before proceeding to the second floor, the maid must pay at the cashier’s counter for the passport renewal which costs S$38 for 48 pages passport.

After that, she must wait at the reception area again to wait her name to be called into the Biometric Room for her thumbprint and her signature.

After all these matters are fulfilled, only then will the Employer needs to proceed with the maid to the 2^nd storey of the same building for a short interview for work agreement.

When both of you reach the 2^nd storey, take another queue number and wait. The Embassy staff will call both of you thereafter for a short interview when they will enquire about her current pay and her off days. The whole interview takes less than 5 minutes.

By now, all matters are in order, just wait again at the reception before the Embassy staff will return to you the collection form duly cleared and in good order.

Now after all this, you and your maid can go back, which in our case, the whole procedure only takes 1 to one half hours.

ON THE DAY OF COLLECTION

Three days later, your maid can go alone to the Embassy following the same procedure at the same premise to collect her new passport.

The new passport can also be collected by the Employer, the maid herself or someone with the same address of the Employer with an authorization letter.

Remember to bring the collection form.

You can only collect the passport in the afternoon (Monday to Friday except PH) between 2.30pm to 5pm.

The whole procedure to collect the passport is again very simple and fast with the passport collected in just 30 minutes.

UPDATED on Feb 26, 2019

Five years had since lapsed from my last visit to the Embassy. So, I was pleasantly surprised at some of the improvements in many areas during my recent visit to the Embassy on 26 Feb 2019.

Services improved/ changes/ Important matters to note

Please ensure that proper attire and suitable shoes were worn for both the Employer, the Domestic helpers and all visitors to the Embassy. Those who wore slippers like flip-flop would definitely be turned away, hence it could unnecessarily be a wasted fruitless trip.

At the security guard post, following the security check-in, a label sticker with barcode and photo of the visitor would be issued. This should be displayed on one’s clothing’s by pasting the sticker on the front of one’s body throughout the visit inside the Embassy.

Immediately you should proceed to queue up at the new modest bench counters adjacent to the security post, with the right-side counter for passport and visa application and the left side counter for all consular matters.

The duties of these 2 staffs for these counters would be to check all your documents to ensure that all forms and attachments were correct before you could proceed to the main building to continue the necessary applications.

All the necessary queue number for the appropriate application would presently be issued by these 2 counter staffs, hence cutting down the mad rush for the queue number as in the past.

I later found out that the queue number on the monitor screen in the main hall of passport/visa section at the first storey was the same as the monitor screen of the consular section on the second storey. These monitor screens for all queues were operated concurrently.

For those who were applying for both passport matters and also getting the contract agreement on the second storey, there was no need to get another queue number at the second storey because it would be issued after the applicant for the passport had completed the biometric scan in the biometric room at the first storey.

Another improvement for the passport section, the passport could be collected one day earlier than before. Hence since the passport application was made on Tuesday, the collection was made possible on Thursday, not Friday.

Nonetheless for the contract agreement at second storey, there was a requirement to apply with another different form obtained from the receptionist, where the Employer should declare the amount of salary of the domestic helper and the number of off-days.

PERFORMANCE BOND

Since Feb 1, 2018, Employers of new Indonesian

domestic workers would be required to furnish a Performance Bond of $6000 to the Embassy to ensure that the Employers would abide by the terms of the employment contract issued by the Embassy. The aim was to improve protection for the workers, the bond premium being $74.90 inclusive of GST.

This could be a paperless submission with immediate issuance of the letter of guarantee, however payment was strictly by credit card.

For those domestic helpers who had worked many years in Singapore with a monthly salary of $600 per month or higher and 2 Sundays off-day per month would be exempted.

Some Important Note

For the interview with the Consular staff for the contract agreement, diligent attention to the calling of the queue number must be maintained.

The reason was that the monitor screen could announce 5 running numbers at the same time. If for some reasons, it was missed, then a new queue number must be obtained at the Consular queue back at the security post.

This happened to me as I unknowingly missed my queue number being called and had to walk back to the security post at the Consular queue to obtain a new queue number. This alone caused the queue number to increase from number 13 to number 29, hence a loss of 15 minutes.

During the interview, if the Employer could not be present, another person of the same address could act on behalf. It was advisable to bring the original IC of the Employer, including a letter of authorisation.

In my case, the letter of authorisation was requested by the officer. Fortunately, I had prepared the letter of authorisation, just in case if required and it definitely turned out to be extremely handy and useful.

After the short interview, the contract agreement would be prepared and made ready for prompt collection at the receptionist at the second storey.

KPIS CARD

One last matter. In the past, the domestic helper would have to apply for an Indonesia-Singapore Worker’s card ( Kartu Pekerja Indonesia-Singapura KPIS) when they returned to Indonesia for their home leave and they had to apply for this KPIS card at the nearest office in their hometown.

The card was to facilitate them when they leave their country for without it, they could not leave Indonesia. However, the application at their hometown could be very tedious as I understood that it might require several trips, hence hardly productive for sure!

Now the greatest change was that the local Embassy at Singapore had brought this service to the doorstep of the domestic workers, i.e. here at the local Embassy in Singapore.

Thus, as soon as the contract agreement matters were attended to, the domestic worker should go immediately to the room beside the receptionist for the making of this card and it would be FREE. It could be ready in about 10 minutes.

Sample of the card could be seen below.