Working in Hong Kong

What the employer must have

• The Hong Kong employer applies to the Immigration Department for the helper's employment visa using the Standard Employment Contract (ID 407) — the helper cannot self-apply.
• The employer must pay at least the Minimum Allowable Wage — HK$5,100 a month for contracts signed on or after 30 September 2025 — and must provide free food or a food allowance of not less than HK$1,236 a month.
• The employer must provide free accommodation, free medical treatment and free passage to and from Hong Kong.
• To hire a Filipino it must also be accredited with a DMW-licensed Philippine agency and its job order approved by the DMW.

What you must do before you leave

1. Go through a DMW-licensed recruitment agency. Direct hiring is banned by Article 18 of the Labor Code — only the narrow categories listed in POEA Memorandum Circular 08-2018 are exempt — and you can check any agency's licence on dmw.gov.ph before you pay or sign anything.
2. Your employment contract must be verified by the Migrant Workers Office (MWO, formerly POLO) at the Philippine post covering your destination before you can be deployed.
3. Complete the Pre-Employment Orientation Seminar (PEOS) and the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS) and keep both certificates — they are part of the documentary requirements.
4. Get your Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) before you leave. Every departing OFW needs one, it exempts you from travel tax and the airport terminal fee, and it is valid for 60 days from the date it is issued.
5. Check that the wage written in your contract is at least the current Minimum Allowable Wage and that food is either provided free or paid as the stated allowance — both are conditions of the Hong Kong visa, not extras to negotiate away.

Things to watch

• If you are hired as a household service worker you must NOT be charged a placement fee at all — Republic Act 10361 sec. 13 puts the recruitment cost on the employer, and collecting a fee from a domestic worker is a ground for cancelling the agency's licence. For every other job the placement fee is capped at one month's basic salary and may only be collected once you have a signed contract.
• A job order on the DMW approved list means the government approved the employer's demand and the agency's licence. It does not mean you have been hired, and an order stops being real once its approved slots are filled.
• Hong Kong law caps what a Hong Kong employment agency may charge a helper at 10% of the first month's salary, and Philippine law charges a household service worker nothing at all. Anyone asking for more, on either side, is overcharging you.

Official sources

• Hong Kong Immigration Department — Foreign domestic helpers
• Hong Kong Government — increase in Minimum Allowable Wage for FDHs (press release)
• DMW — Licensed recruitment agencies (check your agency before you pay)
• DMW — Approved job orders

Jobs in Hong Kong right now