SLBFE registration, and the Malaysia contract check
Every Sri Lankan leaving for domestic work must register with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) first — it’s mandatory under the SLBFE Act, not optional. Registration needs a passport valid for at least six months, a service agreement, and proof of relevant work experience or training; a woman under 45 also needs a family background report from her local Divisional Secretariat.
For the Malaysia route specifically, the SLBFE names Malaysia among the destinations whose domestic-work employment contract must be verified by the Sri Lankan mission before the worker can register — in practice, the Sri Lanka High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. Sri Lanka also introduced a separate mission contract-certification step in 2025 covering several destinations including Malaysia; whether it applies to a domestic-worker contract, and any fee, is worth confirming with the High Commission directly rather than assuming.
The experience-or-training rule
A Sri Lankan woman going abroad for domestic work needs either 150 days of prior foreign work experience — which can be accumulated across up to three earlier trips — or, if she has none, completion of SLBFE’s own housemaid training. That training is a 7-day Identification of Foreign Experience (IFE) course, and it is waived for those aged 45 or older or already holding a recognised NVQ qualification. Men in domestic work need 30 days of experience rather than 150.
For a household, the practical point is that an inexperienced candidate can still qualify through training, but that adds time before she can be placed. Ask an agency where a specific candidate stands — experienced and already eligible, or still needing the SLBFE course — so the timeline you plan around is the real one.
What Malaysia’s side requires, and what doesn’t apply
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; she enters on a Visa With Reference arranged before travel; she must be certified medically fit before departure and have a FOMEMA check-up within a month of arriving; and a personal bond of RM750 applies for a Sri Lankan helper on Immigration’s domestic-helper schedule.
Two figures that get quoted but don’t belong on this route: the USD 1,500 employer deposit is tied to Middle-East destinations, not Malaysia, so don’t budget for it here; and no Malaysia-specific SLBFE minimum wage was found in the public sources — the salary is set in the individually-verified employment contract. Confirm the going rate and the current Immigration figures with your agency before you commit.