Maid Did Not Return From Home Leave? Singapore Employer Guide 2026: Work Permit, Airfare & Repatriation

TL;DR: Maid home leave is optional and its terms are contractual, but when employment ends MOM requires you to pay for her air ticket home (including check-in luggage), cancel the Work Permit within 1 week after her last day of work, and make sure she departs within 2 weeks of cancellation. The S$5,000 security bond is discharged about a week after she leaves, if all conditions are met.

Sooner or later, every employer of a migrant domestic worker in Singapore faces one of three situations. Your helper wants to go home for a visit, she goes home and does not come back, or the employment is ending and you need to send her home for good. Each involves airfare, paperwork, and small mistakes that can cost you money or put you on the wrong side of MOM rules.

This guide walks through all three, using MOM guidance current as of September 2026.

Part 1: Before She Goes on Home Leave

The general rules for home leave, including entitlement, pay, the air ticket, the levy waiver and the documents she needs to re-enter Singapore, are in our main guide: Maid Home Leave Singapore 2026. This guide focuses on what happens if she does not come back, and on sending her home for good at the end of her contract.

Reducing the Risk She Does Not Return

• Agree the return date, pay and ticket terms in writing before she leaves.
• Buy a return ticket for home leave rather than a one-way ticket.
• Keep in touch during the trip, and save her family's contact numbers.
• If she is delayed, agree a new date in writing that falls before her Work Permit expires.

Part 2: What If Your Maid Does Not Return to Singapore After Home Leave?

If your helper does not return from home leave, first confirm her intention. If she is not coming back, MOM requires you to cancel her Work Permit within 1 week from her departure date. MOM then discharges the S$5,000 security bond within two weeks after verifying her departure, provided the bond conditions are met. Because she is already in her home country, there is no repatriation to arrange; what matters is closing the permit correctly and on time.

Work through it in this order:

1. Distinguish a delay from a decision. Flight problems, family emergencies and document renewals happen. If she is delayed but returning, agree a new date in writing and make sure it falls before her Work Permit expiry. After expiry she cannot re-enter to work on the old permit.
2. Confirm her intention directly. Speak to her, and if she is unreachable, try her family contacts and your agency. Keep the messages as your record of what happened and when.
3. If she is not returning, cancel the Work Permit through MOM's FDW eService, selecting the reason that she has left Singapore. MOM's cancellation page says this must be done within 1 week from her departure date. Do not leave the permit hanging in the hope she changes her mind: levy keeps running until the day before cancellation.
4. Security bond. MOM's cancellation page says that where the helper has already left Singapore, the bond is discharged within two weeks after her departure is verified, provided the conditions are met. You can let your insurer or bank know the facts if they ask.
5. Claim the levy waiver. MOM's levy waiver page says to cancel the permit first, then apply using the "Failed to return from overseas leave" option in the Check and pay levy e-service.
6. Dispose of the card. MOM says that once the Work Permit is cancelled, the card should be cut in half and discarded to prevent misuse. If she has the card with her overseas, ask her to do this.
7. Then plan the replacement. Once the permit is cancelled you can hire again. Our placement service handles the full process for a new Indonesian, Filipino or Myanmar helper.

One caution: do not make promises to her family about re-employment until she has confirmed in writing whether she is returning. Mixed signals at this stage are what leave a permit active for months with the levy still running.

Part 3: End-of-Contract Repatriation

End-of-Contract: Scheduling and Handover

Your helper's Work Permit is ending and you have decided not to renew, or she has decided to leave. Plan the dates around MOM's two deadlines: cancel within 1 week after her last day of work, and her departure date must be within 2 weeks from the cancellation.

Before she leaves, MOM's page on sending your helper home says you should:

• Settle all outstanding employment issues and salary payments.
• Check she has a valid passport.
• Agree in writing on transit arrangements, such as connecting flights and layover hours, and any transit allowance.
• Get her written acknowledgement of transport payments, to prevent disputes.

If you plan to hire a replacement, work backwards from her departure date. Our hiring timeline guide shows how long a new placement usually takes.

Early Termination

If you are ending the employment early:

• Notice: follow the notice period in her employment contract, or pay salary in lieu if the contract allows it.
• Final pay: pay everything owed up to her last day, including anything due under the contract.
• Ticket: MOM's sending-home page says you must pay for her air ticket, including check-in luggage.

The MOM Repatriation Process

1. Cancel the Work Permit through MOM's FDW eService within 1 week after her last day of work. If she is still in Singapore, MOM issues a Special Pass that lets her stay until she leaves.
2. Buy the ticket. MOM requires the employer to pay for her air ticket with check-in luggage, plus connecting transport to the international port nearest her hometown. The departure date must be within 2 weeks from the cancellation.
3. Settle final salary. Pay her in full before she leaves and keep a signed record.
4. Home-country documents. Check with her embassy or your agency whether anything is needed for her final journey home.
5. Dispose of the Work Permit card. MOM says to cut the card in half and discard it to prevent misuse.
6. See her off. Make sure she leaves before the Special Pass expires, with her passport and ticket.
7. Levy stops. MOM stops charging levy from 1 day before the cancellation date.
8. Security bond discharge. MOM's security bond page says the bond is released about one week after she leaves, provided the permit is cancelled, she has returned home and no bond conditions were breached.

Employer's Obligations Summary

• Pay for her air ticket home, including check-in luggage and connecting transport to the nearest international port to her hometown.
• Pay all salary and settle outstanding employment issues before she leaves.
• Allow her to take all personal belongings.
• Make sure she has her own passport.
• Cancel the Work Permit within 1 week after her last day of work, and make sure she departs within 2 weeks of cancellation.

Tax Clearance (IR21)

IR21 tax clearance applies to non-Singapore Citizen employees who stop working in Singapore, so do not assume it never applies to a helper. IRAS lists scenarios where tax clearance is not required, including employees who worked 183 days or more in a calendar year and earned less than S$21,000 in that year, and continuous employment across three years with income under S$21,000 in each year. These exemptions only apply if she was not employed by another Singapore employer in the cessation year or the year before. If you are unsure, IRAS says to e-File Form IR21 at myTax Portal, which tells you immediately if clearance is not required.

What If She Goes Missing Before Departure?

If your helper disappears before she is sent home, MOM's guidance on a missing helper is clear:

1. Within 1 week of knowing she is missing, file a missing person police report.
2. Within the same week, cancel her Work Permit with MOM.
3. MOM says that if she is not found within 1 month from the cancellation date, S$2,500 (half of the S$5,000 security bond) is forfeited to cover repatriation and related costs.

MOM also explains that a helper who has run away becomes an overstayer once her Work Permit is cancelled, and can be fined, jailed or both before being sent home. Acting quickly protects you.

Renewing Instead of Repatriating

If you want to keep her on, you do not repatriate at all. Just renew the Work Permit before it expires. See our work permit renewal guide. If you are unsure whether to renew, our employment history checker helps you review her track record.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do if my maid did not return to Singapore after home leave? Confirm whether she is delayed or has decided not to return. If she is not coming back, cancel her Work Permit within 1 week from her departure date, as MOM requires. See the step-by-step section above.

Will I lose the S$5,000 security bond if my helper does not return from home leave? Not in the typical case. MOM says that where the helper has already left Singapore, the bond is discharged within two weeks after her departure is verified, provided the conditions are met.

Do I keep paying levy if my maid has not come back? Levy runs until the day before the Work Permit is cancelled. Cancel promptly, then apply for a waiver using the "Failed to return from overseas leave" option.

Can my helper come back to work for me after not returning? Once her permit is cancelled she would need a fresh Work Permit application. If she genuinely intends to return and the dates are close, extending the agreed leave in writing before expiry is simpler.

Can my helper extend her home leave? Yes, with your written agreement. Make sure she returns before her Work Permit expires.

Do I pay levy while she is on home leave? Yes, you keep being charged, but you can claim a waiver after she returns if she was away at least 7 consecutive days, capped at 60 calendar days a year.

Can the helper buy her own ticket? For home leave, it depends on what you agreed. For the trip home when employment ends, MOM requires the employer to pay.

What if her passport is lost before repatriation? She will need to apply to her embassy for a replacement or travel document, which can take time, so contact the embassy and your agency immediately and plan the cancellation and departure dates around it.