KTKLN, visa and your Indonesian maid

Many Malaysian households include an Indonesian maid as part of the family.

We do.

Having a maid eases my workload, and having the same maid for many years makes her presence an accepted and appreciated part of our lives.

And when you have an Indonesian maid, there are documentation issues that you have to know.

Working visa

The most crucial and basic issue. This has to be renewed on an annual basis. The Malaysian Immigration Dept is the responsible authority for this matter.

Most employers I know use the services of a maid agency to get this done. The agency charges around RM400-600 for this service.

I do it myself. It's not very difficult:

• go to the Malaysian Immigration office
• bring your maid's valid passport with the attached working visa that is about to expire
• ask for the relevant form to extend your maid's visa
• bring copies of the employer's IC, the first page of your maid's passport and the current working visa 
• bring money to pay for the new visa (about RM495)

Maid's passport

Now, getting this document extended is much more difficult and demanding!

Only because the Indonesian Embassy on Jalan Tun Razak in KL is always, always inundated with hundreds of people. Which means you and your maid have to get there well before 8am and start queuing.

You pick up the form and contract of employment from the officer while you are queuing.

I usually fill up the form and the contract of employment as the both of us walk in the queue. Don't worry - the queue moves quite slowly so you should be able to write while standing. Although my maid says the others in the queue often stare at me writing and walking. Well, I'm not about to give up my spot in the queue just to sit down and fill out the forms!

Then you get inside the Embassy and wait for your number to be called. Your maid will be called to another room to have her photo taken for her new passport. Don't expect to leave the Embassy until around 4-5pm!

You need to bring:

• your maid's passport, original and a copy
• a copy of the visa
• 2 copies of employer's IC
• 2 copies of authorization letter because in my case, my husband is the registered employer
• 2 copies of domestic maid insurance
• employment contract which you have just filled up, signed by both you and your maid
• your maid's bank book with her salary credited inside

Go have tea and lunch at the Embassy cafeteria upstairs. Bring a book or Ipad to play games.

KTKLN  (Kartu Tenaga Kerja Luar Negeri)

Now, this is the real bummer that we were caught unawares 2 years ago. As I understand it, many others were caught unawares too.

You can read more about it at about KTKLN  but in a nutshell, if your maid doesn't have it, she's gotta have this card. Otherwise, when your maid returns to Indonesia for a holiday and plans to come back to you to continue work, she will be prevented from leaving Indonesia. Simple as that.

That happened to my maid 2 years ago, and after much worry, toing and froing, changing the date of her return flight, she managed to secure the card and come  back to Malaysia.

That's not all. The KTKLN has to be renewed. Sigh....and all this can only be done in Indonesia.

I sure hope the Indonesian Embassy will be authorised to issue the KTKLN in the near future, or at least enable us to obtain and renew the KTKLN online.