The channel: the Migrant Workers Office and the DMW
There is no direct-hire route for a Filipino domestic worker. Recruitment goes through a licensed Malaysian recruitment agency working with the Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Kuala Lumpur — the labour arm of the Philippine Embassy, formerly POLO KL — paired with a recruitment agency licensed by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) in the Philippines. The employment contract is verified by MWO KL before the worker can be deployed, and she travels on an Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) issued by the DMW as her exit document.
Because the process runs through these named institutions rather than an open market, the practical first check is that your agency is properly licensed on both sides. Ask the Malaysian agency for its licence details and confirm the Philippine side is a DMW-licensed partner — an arrangement described any other way isn’t following the current channel.
The USD 500 wage floor, and why it still needs a direct check
In 2025 the DMW raised the minimum wage floor for overseas Filipino domestic workers to about USD 500 a month for new DMW-verified contracts, up from the long-standing USD 400. Malaysia was among the first destinations to apply it, while the Gulf states were kept at USD 400. What this page won’t state as settled is whether USD 500 is yet a hard, enforced minimum: the DMW has publicly described the floor as voluntary and incentive-based, with a review to follow, and no public confirmation of a switch to mandatory enforcement was found. Treat the figure as a DMW policy floor for new contracts, and confirm the current position with your agency or MWO KL before you budget.
One part of the Philippine side is not in doubt: the worker cannot be charged placement fees. Under Philippine law the employer bears the recruitment cost, and recruitment fees can’t be deducted from her salary even with her agreement. If an arrangement asks the worker to shoulder those costs, it isn’t following the rule.
What Malaysia’s side requires
On the Malaysian side the requirements are Immigration’s standard Foreign Domestic Helper terms. The household needs to show RM5,000 net monthly income to hire one helper; she must be female, aged 21 to 45; and she enters on a Visa With Reference (Visa Dengan Rujukan) arranged from the Philippines before travel, not a walk-in visa.
She must be certified medically fit before departure, then have a FOMEMA check-up within a month of arriving. A personal bond also applies — RM750 for a Filipino helper on Immigration’s domestic-helper schedule. These are the figures Immigration currently lists; because such figures are revised periodically, confirm the current ones with your agency rather than assuming last year’s still hold.