Overseas Leave Application Steps for Employers

When your helper goes home for a visit, a few steps before, during and after the trip keep everything in order: her travel, your levy and her Work Permit. Here is the sequence most employers follow.

Before she travels

1. Agree the dates in writing, including the return date, and check them against your employment contract's home leave terms.
2. Check her documents: passport validity, her Work Permit card or digital work pass in the SGWorkPass app, and her return ticket.
3. Check the Work Permit expiry. If it expires while she is away, arrange the renewal before she leaves.
4. Six-monthly medical examination: MOM allows you to defer it if it falls due while she is away, if needed.
5. Pay her salary up to date before she leaves, and agree how leave days are paid.

While she is away

• The levy continues to be charged. Keep paying it as usual.
• Stay in touch in case plans change.

After she returns: the levy waiver

If she was away for at least 7 consecutive days, you can apply for a levy waiver. MOM caps the waiver at 60 calendar days per calendar year.

1. Log in to Check and pay foreign worker levy.
2. Apply for a waiver and select "On overseas leave".
3. Enter the date she left Singapore as the start date and the date she returned as the end date.
4. Apply from the 1st of the month after you receive the levy bill, and within 1 year of that bill.

MOM processes most requests within 12 working days. The waived amount is credited to your levy account and offsets your next bill; any balance shows as "CR" for future bills.

If she does not return

1. Cancel her Work Permit to stop the levy.
2. Keep a copy of her travel ticket or itinerary as proof.
3. Advise her to cut her card in half and discard it.
4. Apply for a waiver and select "Failed to return from overseas leave", using the dates MOM specifies.

After MOM verifies she left and did not re-enter, it proceeds to discharge the security bond. See our security bond guide.

Tips for a smooth trip

• Plan home leave around your family's calendar early, so you can arrange cover for childcare or eldercare.
• Ask her to message you when she lands and before she flies back.
• Keep copies of her tickets in your records.

Official source: MOM's overseas leave for MDWs page and levy waiver page.

Keep a note of each trip's dates in your records, because the 60-day cap is counted per calendar year.

Common questions

Can I apply for the waiver before she comes back?

The waiver for overseas leave is applied for after she returns, using her departure and return dates.

Does the waiver cover a 5-day trip?

MOM's rule is at least 7 consecutive days of overseas leave, so shorter trips are charged the normal levy.

Last reviewed: September 2026. Procedures change, so confirm the current steps on mom.gov.sg or with your licensed employment agency.