the maid process

i didn't realize the process of obtaining a maid is really tedious, unless you're willing to part with lots of money to get someone to settle everything for you.

anyway, just wanted to crap about my experience with FOMEMA (and as a reminder to myself the next time i decide to get another maid, haha). each maid is required to go through a full medical checkup before they are allowed to work in Malaysia. since mil was not around when the maid flew in from Jakarta, i had to bring the maid for the checkup myself. bil had volunteered to send her last week, but due to dunno what circumstances, he didn't get around to doing it. so i had to take EL half day yesterday to settle that.

mil only informed me that i had to bring the maid to a FOMEMA clinic panel to have her medical checkup done and have her do an X-ray available at DEMC. but when i arrived at the clinic the nurse asked me for the FOMEMA form, to which i made a blank face until she informed me that i first need to obtain a printed form from FOMEMA. so i had to go to the nearest FOMEMA office to obtain the form. once there the lady seated behind the counter told me that i had to first fill up a form, do a bank draft to be made out to FOMEMA Sdn Bhd for a total of RM190 for woman (or RM180 for man), and have the following photostated:
1) main front page of the maid's passport (personal particulars)
2) date of entry to Malaysia as stated in passport at immigration
3) the calling visa approval form

i was lucky in the sense that i managed to get everything i need under the Kompleks PKNS roof, but i had to run around the building to get everything completed. i was also relieved that there weren't many people waiting in line in any of the offices i had to deal with, so i settled everything earlier than i expected to.

i went to the Post Office to have a money order made out to FOMEMA Sdn Bhd, photostated the necessary documents, and then headed back to the FOMEMA office to submit everything. i finally received the FOMEMA document to be given to the panel clinic conducting the medical checkup. so off we went back to the clinic. our last stop was DEMC to have the maid's X-ray done, so by 12pm everything was completed. yay. phew.

now i have to wait for 10 working days to pass by before i can contact FOMEMA to check the status of the medical checkup. once everything has been verified, i need to go back to Immigration to obtain the maid's work permit. hopefully the next process isn't tedious. the Immigration offices always seem to be crowded no matter what day you go. haiz.

seriously alot of things have to be done when you want to obtain a maid. when the maid first flew in from Jakarta barely two weeks ago, we didn't know that we had to personally pick up the maid at Immigration. when my bil went to pick her up on Sunday morning at 10.30am, he assumed that the maid would walk through the arrival gates as any ordinary passenger would. he waited quite a long time before he had the sense to ask around for help. apparently only the registered names on the form were the only persons permitted to pick up the maid at Immigration, unless a letter of consent was issued. so my bil had to drive back all the way home from LCCT to pick me up. and by default the maid will always be registered under the husband's name, so naturally i had to come up with a letter of consent of which i wrote crap in it and got Significant Other to sign. and we had to bring along a couple of photostated documents which included i forgot what (will update this later when i remember to). and stupidly enough they don't even have a photostat facility at the LCCT. so we have to drive all the way out just to find a photostat machine??? LCCT is in the middle of nowhere okay! don't you have offices there? *rolls eyes to the sky*

i had to report at the front desk office somewhere at the first floor (simply crap. i dunno what you call this place) and produce the necessary documents before i was issued a daily pass, which i had to pay RM1 for. wth? at one point the lady behind the counter even asked me for my marriage license to prove that i was the wifey, which i haven't even picked up at Jawi yet. but luckily the letter of consent was suffice, else i would've strangled her in exasperation. i was given an armband to wear (like those you wear when you enter the Genting Theme park) and had to wait for an escort to personally escort me to Immigration because they don't allow people to simply roam about like nobody's business.

my bil stayed behind to take car of Dayana, who i also brought along. after walking through the various halls of LCCT, i finally reached the Immigration area where there were a number of foreign people waiting, presumably hired maids to work in Malaysia (i think). thanks to our benongness our maid had been waiting at the airport for us for almost 5 hours, poor thing. so we quickly had her passport cleared and her luggage picked up at the baggage area before heading back to the front desk office. i think the whole process took about half an hour. and i had to fork out rm20 for the escort service. bahhhh.

so that's about it. i haven't even started rambling on the process of submitting the initial forms to Immigration in order to get the calling visa for the maid to enter Malaysia which i did with my mil a couple of weeks before. that is also a tedious process, and i had to go there three times just to get everything settled. but my mil helped alot on that part (which required mailing a bunch of forms back and forth Jakarta - Malaysia) so i don't really remember what was required. but the photostated documents i handed to my mil, which were required from the employer (both husband and wife) included:
1) employers IC
2) salary payslip
3) EA form
4) child's birth cirtificate (if you're hiring the maid for childminding purposes)

i was lucky the Immigration offices opened as early as 7.30am so i could still get to work on time after that. then we had to wait for 5 working days and come back again to obtain the calling visa approval form, which would allow the maid temporary entry into Malaysia before the actual working permit is issued. i think we had to pay about rm400+ for the calling visa. sigh. and we had to mail a copy of the letter to Jakarta, and that process took days as well. and courier is expensive. not cheap!

confusing isn't it? but you save alot on total cost spent if you settle everything yourself rather than if you decide to pay the agency to do it for you. they charge a bomb.

just my two cents. now i'm just glad we have a maid to help take care around the house. worth it? i hope so.