The moratorium's real timeline
Cambodia halted sending domestic workers to Malaysia in 2011, after abuse reports including a worker's death drew government attention. The ban stayed in place until 30 November 2017, when the two countries signed a new agreement meant to add protections, though reported figures put only around 175 workers deployed under that arrangement before a follow-up MOU expired in December 2020. Cambodia's prime minister signalled intent to resume the route again in February 2022.
A new five-year memorandum of understanding followed in March 2023, covering SOCSO's Employment Injury and Foreign Workers Health Scheme insurance, a weekly rest day, and religious and dietary protections for Muslim workers. At signing, Cambodia's labour ministry reported 4,422 Cambodians already held Malaysian work permits, 923 of them domestic workers, meaning recruitment hadn't fully stopped even during the gap. That MOU's term runs to roughly 2028, and current Malaysian agency marketing describes rising Cambodian placement activity, though that's market activity, not an official 2026 statement. Don't treat this route as currently frozen, and don't assume any specific current headcount either; the last confirmed figure is from March 2023.
What governs recruitment, and what's still undocumented
Sub-Decree 190, which replaced an earlier 1997 rule, puts Cambodia's foreign recruitment industry under the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. Only MLVT-licensed private agencies may recruit and deploy workers abroad, and the ministry publishes its approved-agency list. This is Cambodia's rough equivalent of Indonesia's One Channel System or Sri Lanka's Bureau of Foreign Employment, though it regulates agencies rather than setting out an individual worker's own registration steps.
What wasn't found in this research is any Cambodia-specific analog to an embassy contract-certification requirement, or a dedicated pre-departure training course for domestic helpers. That's a real gap in what's documented, not a confirmation that no such step exists. Ask your agency directly how the worker's contract is verified and what training or orientation she's completed before you rely on an assumption borrowed from another country's route.
What Malaysia's side requires, and the wage gap
On the Malaysian side, Immigration's current figures place the household income bracket at RM3,000 net monthly income, the same lower tier as Thailand and Laos, and the personal bond at RM250, also the lower tier alongside Indonesia and Thailand. Confirm both figures with your agency before you commit, since Immigration revises them periodically.
What the Malaysia-Cambodia route doesn't have is a set minimum wage. The 2023 MOU explicitly left one out, with pay described as left to individual negotiation rather than a mandated floor, a deliberate contrast to Indonesia's roughly RM1,500 minimum or the Philippines' dollar-denominated floor. Treat any salary figure quoted to you as a negotiated number, and confirm it in writing in the contract rather than assuming a published baseline applies.