Agency checks

Questions to Ask a Maid Agency

A practical set of questions to work through with any maid agency before you commit, covering what the law checks and what only you can judge.

The short answer

No government checklist tells a household exactly what to ask a maid agency: this is a household-judgement question, not a regulated one, in the same way choosing which duties a helper handles is. What can be grounded in fact is which of your questions have a real, checkable answer (licence number, category, validity) and which are commercial terms the agency itself sets (fees, timelines, replacement terms) and that only exist once you get them in writing. Structuring your questions around that split keeps the conversation efficient and stops a vague verbal answer from standing in for something checkable.

At a glance

Checkable against the register
Licence number, category, validityThese three have a direct yes-or-no answer on JTKSM’s public register; nothing an agency says verbally substitutes for checking it.
Only real in writing
Fees, timelines, replacement termsNone of these are set or capped by law for the household side; a verbal figure or promise isn’t the same thing as a written one.
Not a government-set question
Which questions to ask at allNo official checklist exists for this; treat this as household judgement informed by what’s checkable, not a compliance requirement.
Where to check licence facts
JTKSM public registerSearch the exact registered company name or licence number before, not after, discussing anything else.

Start with what has a checkable answer

Ask for the agency’s exact registered company name, licence number, and licence category before anything else. These three facts can be searched directly against JTKSM’s public register in a few minutes, and a category other than B or C is a disqualifying answer on its own, since it doesn’t legally cover foreign domestic worker placement at all. Treat any hesitation to provide these as information worth noting.

This is the one part of the conversation where you’re not relying on the agency’s own word: the register either confirms what you’ve been told or it doesn’t, independent of how the conversation has gone otherwise.

  • Exact registered company name and SSM number, not a trading name.
  • Licence number and category, checked against the register yourself.
  • Whether the entry is active, not on the cancelled or suspended list.

Then move to what needs to be in writing

Once the licence itself checks out, the rest of what matters, the full itemised fee breakdown, what any replacement or guarantee term actually covers, what happens if a placement doesn’t work out, and the expected timeline, is a commercial term the agency sets, not a figure regulated by any government source found. A verbal answer here is a starting point for a question, not a fact to rely on.

Ask for each of these in writing before agreeing to anything, and treat a written answer you can point back to later very differently from a spoken one in a conversation. This is the same discipline the site’s guide on reviewing an agency contract works through in more detail.

The rules and figures here follow official Malaysian sources as at the review date, and your own situation can differ. Check what applies to your own case with the Immigration Department of Malaysia for permits and passes, or the Department of Labour Peninsular Malaysia for agency licensing and employment terms, before you act on it.

Questions this page answers

Is there an official list of questions I’m supposed to ask a maid agency?

No. Choosing what to ask is a household decision, not a government-set requirement, though some of the answers you’ll get (licence number, category) are directly checkable against an official register.

What’s the single most important question to start with?

The agency’s exact registered company name and licence number, since that’s the one answer you can independently verify rather than take on trust.

Should I ask about fees before or after checking the licence?

After. The licence check has a clear pass-or-fail answer in a few minutes; fee terms take longer to work through and are worth discussing once you know you’re speaking to a legitimately licensed agency.

Why does it matter whether an answer is written down?

Because nothing regulates the household-facing terms an agency offers (fees, guarantees, timelines); the written version is the only one you can hold the agency to later, since there’s no government-set floor behind a verbal promise.

Questions to Ask a Maid Agency

Prepare a useful first enquiry

Add a few key facts about your household and the question you want answered, so the reply is useful.

  • Agency legal name
  • Licence number if supplied
  • Household location
  • Quotation or term to check
  • Question still open

This opens a WhatsApp draft to the DomesticHelper enquiry team, who help connect you with a maid-hiring service. Nothing is sent until you press send, and you can edit it first.

Open WhatsApp draft
DomesticHelper editorial teamReviewed 14 August 2026Sourced from Malaysian government registriesIndependent of the hiring agenciesEditorial standards
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