Hiring a Filipino Maid? Sounds Fantastic, But Not Easy

It sounds so cool to hire a Filipino maid at home, but it is not easy in China. Some law limitations might break that wish.

After a report on the employment of Filipino maids by people from Wenzhou, on a radio hotline, many citizens are discussing this hot topic- hiring a Filipino maid at home. “The local maid in my house is paid 2,000 RMB (299 US $) each month and always needs to take holidays. Though a Filipino maid is paid over 3,000 RMB (448 US $), it seems their service deserves the price. Are they really so good at housework? ” “Hiring a Filipino maid is just for those wealthy people to show off.” “Since we now have the ability to hire foreigners to serve us at home, why is it forbidden by the national law to hire a Filipino maid?”

With questions from the citizens, the reporter interviewed an officer from Employment Administration Bureau of Zhejiang province, who told reporter, “we have read the relevant reports on employment of Filipino maids by people from Wenzhou, and are planning to investigate and deal with the Wenzhou citizens and their hired Filipino maids, based on collected clues.”

Employment of Filipino Maids: Illegal VS. Difficulty in Investigation & Punishment

Another agent from the provincial bureau gives a categorical statement, “It must be illegal to hire a Filipino maid. In Article VI of Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China, it clearly states that the post to be filled by the foreigner recruited by the employer shall be the post of special need, a post that cannot be filled by any domestic candidates for the time being but violates no government regulations.”

This agent states that, Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China, is the general principle of employment of foreigners in our country. In addition, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China, also issued specific supplementary regulations, which explicitly defined the employment of foreigners in China is targeted on introducing high-level personnel and strictly limit input of low-end labour who are not able to get employment permit under Chinese regulations. Therefore, employment of Filipino maid belongs to illegal employment.

At the same time, this agent emphasized that, individual economic organizations and private citizens are prohibited from employing foreigners. The employer of foreigners must be enterprise or unit. Even the individual business is not allowed to employ foreigners; otherwise, it all belongs to illegal employment. Once illegal employment is discovered, employment administration bureau will request the public security department and bureau of exit and entry administration to investigate and deal with the relevant cases.

In 2008, the provincial employment administration bureau actually investigated once, but did not find our employment of Filipino maids in large scale. He also admitted that there is practical difficulty to investigate and punish Filipino employments, for example, getting the evidence. 

There is practical need in the market. A law, which was 15 years old, can it still function now? Just like what is mentioned by this agent, with legal risks, some elites or foreigners in Zhejiang are indeed hiring Filipino maids using some indirect ways, and some people else want to hire high-end domestic maid servants similar to Filipino maids. While Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China, which was issued by Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Trade in 1996, has been used for 15 years, during a period when China has undergone tremendous changes. It is inevitable to question its practical function now.

This agent told reporter that, the enactment of Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China, was based on the background at that time and it is very probable that it has not been able to fully meet the conditions in 2010. But he stressed that since it is a law, all the people need to comply with it.

However, one senior industry personnel does not agree with this view. In his opinion, Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China is not out of date. Tao Xiaoying，general manager in Hangzhou Santi Group Ltd. Company, told the reporter that China is a country with rich labour resources, and not in lack of low-end labour. Now there are many unemployed college graduates. The need to hire Filipino maids takes only a small part. If the gate towards them is opened, it will make the employment situation in China much worse.

In Singapore, maid minimum monthly income of a Filipino maid is about 2000 yuan (299 US $). As for Filipino maid, Tao Xiaoying, who have engaged in domestic service industry for nearly 20 years, really have a say. She even made a special trip to Singapore to investigate Filipino maids in August 2010.

Filipina maids are all over the world, and their favorite places to work inclued these three countries and places: Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States. Because Singapore is the nearest to the Philippines, the number of Filipino maids there is also very large.

Tao introduced, at a Saturday, walking on the busiest pedestrian street, Wujie Road, she noticed those who sat on the benches are all Filipino maids and they were enjoying the leisure on holiday. But I also noticed a Filipino maid crying, just like fellowmen met each other in China and chatting aroused the feeling for hometown. According to her understanding, in Singapore, the employer needs to pay at least 700 Singapore dollars, including the monthly salary for the cheapest Filipino maid 400 Singapore dollars and nearly 300 Singapore dollars are turned over to the government for relevant taxes and fees.

Tao made an conclusion that, because the space in Singapore is small, with fewer resources and less people, employment of Filipino maids can solve the problem of low-end labour shortage and bring substantial revenue to the government. 1 Singapore dollar is approximately equal to 5 RMB, which means that a minimum monthly income of a Filipino maid is about 2,000 RMB (299 US $), the same as an ordinary local maid. However, this has already been multiplied than their income in the Philippines.

As mentioned in other reports, the monthly income of a Filipino maid in China is around 4,000 RMB (507 US $) in China, which makes many people want to make their fortunes in China. Are Filipino maids really as good as what they are described? Tao thought, the high-end maids in Hangzhou are factually better than Filipino maids. The biggest difference between Filipino maid and ordinary local maid is the career concept: the ordinary local maid considers housekeeping service as a means of life, while Filipino maid as a career. Meanwhile, the housekeeping service of Filipino maid is based on standards, procedures, with a stronger initiative. Many Filipino maids have college degrees, and their college courses are also connected with housekeeping service.

Of course, not all the Filipino maids are of high quality and college students. Tao said in fact good and bad Filipino maids are intermingled. In Hong Kong, there was once a vicious killing-employer case by Filipino maid and aroused huge discussion. Fluent English is the biggest selling point of Filipino maid, and also the biggest drawback. In China, Filipino maids are generally the second maid in a family, and their main job is looking after children, because some families think it is helpful to create an English growing atmosphere for children’s spoken English in the future. As for cooking dishes, the employer prefers to hire Chinese maids, because most Filipino maids do not know how to cook Chinese dishes.

Tao explained, many people think that the biggest drawback of Filipino maid is only speaking English. For those elites such as white-collar workers, it is ok to communicate in English, but for the elderly at home, it would be very difficult to communicate. Most importantly, Filipino maid employment in China is illegal and it is impossible to employ them through formal channels. Thus many problems will be left behind in the future.

Just because of the shortage of high-end maids, Filipino maid becomes so mysterious. Tao cited an example: Santi Group has started a high-end maid program called “Golden Key Housekeeper”, which has trained over 1,000 housekeepers and is still in short supply. These Golden Key Housekeepers are with high education and many with college degrees and receive professional housekeeping service including cleaning, cooking, tea art, Western-style pastry, etc. In fact, they are better than Filipino maids. The annual salaries for them starts from 50,000 RMB (7463 US $) and the highest is 100,000 RMB (14925 US $).

For example, the Golden Key Housekeeper who has the highest annual income, work very easily. The employer is back to the motherland for 4 months a year, and leaves the home to the housekeeper. The content of the job includes using the laptop regularly; drive the Mercedes-Bens car to keep their good qualities, etc. The annual income is composed of: 6,000 RMB (896 US $) per month which is 72,000 RMB (10,746 US $) a year, plus 7,000 RMB (1045 US $) of social insurance, annual bonus, birthday fees, costume fees, management fees and other fees.