Employment Agencies in Singapore: How to Check an Agency Before You Proceed

Choose a starting point

Start with your target function or industry and whether you want permanent, temporary or contract work. Morgan McKinley Singapore and Hays Singapore show examples of specialisms to compare, not recommendations or independent licence checks. Ask whether they recruit your function and experience level, then check both agency and person in the MOM EA Directory.

Check agency and recruiter

Ask for the agency's legal name and licence number and the recruiter's registration card. Compare the name, registration number and employing agency with the MOM directory. Check its ‘Under revocation / suspension / surveillance’ tab. Record the date and result. If details do not match, pause and contact the agency independently. See MOM's licence-check guidance.

A licence check addresses a specific question about the agency and personnel. It does not tell you whether a particular role matches your goals, whether the terms are suitable or whether you will get an offer. Those need separate checks.

Understand the role

Request the employer's name, job title, work location, duties, working arrangements, salary and contract duration. Ask which entity will employ you and whether the role is in Singapore or overseas. Get the proposed terms in writing, and take time to read them. If a detail is uncertain, write the question down rather than filling the gap yourself.

Compare the information with the employer's independently located official channels where possible. A real employer name in a message is not by itself proof that a particular vacancy or recruiter is genuine. Ask the agency to explain inconsistencies and avoid sending sensitive documents until you understand who is requesting them and why.

You can also continue your search through more than one route. Our Singapore job search guide covers other ways to discover roles; use that guide alongside this one when an agency is only one part of your search.

Before a recruiter sends your CV, ask for the employer and exact vacancy reference or original link. Check whether you already applied or agreed to another submission. If you want to limit permission, say: Please do not send my CV to other employers or vacancies without checking with me first.

Check fees and timing

Ask whether you will be charged, what each amount covers, who receives it, when it is due and what happens if the placement does not proceed. Ask the agency to distinguish its own fee from other proposed charges, such as a third-party service, and explain the basis for each. A verbal total is difficult to check later; request a written, itemised breakdown and retain it with your correspondence.

For foreign workers, MOM's Singapore-EA fee guidance states a limit of one month's fixed-monthly salary for each year of service, capped at two months. An applicable in-principle approval letter records fixed-monthly salary and fees paid to the Singapore EA. Ask which rule applies to your category and each charge; the cap is not a target price.

MOM says employment agencies must not collect agency fees before successful placement. Its EA alert also addresses Singapore agencies arranging overseas employment: collection is after placement and the relevant hiring-country visa. The distinction matters when someone describes a payment as a “deposit” or asks you to pay immediately: ask what it is for and check the current guidance before paying.

Fee limits depend on the applicable worker category and circumstances. MOM's salary-basis explanation says the salary basis includes basic pay and fixed allowances, excluding bonuses, overtime and other variable components. Do not assume a quoted percentage or a colleague's situation determines your own limit. For foreign workers, MOM says agencies cannot charge EA fees for work-pass renewals or recover related administrative costs from workers; see its renewal FAQ.

Ask for an itemised receipt for any fee paid and keep it. If an amount or label is unclear, ask for an explanation in writing and check with MOM before proceeding. A receipt and a written breakdown help you reconstruct what happened; neither establishes on its own that every charge is permitted.

Worked example

Fictional example: Priya, Northstar Recruitment and the operations vacancy are invented. No real agency, recruiter or vacancy was verified. In this example only, the identity records and independently obtained contact are assumed matched. The employer and vacancy reference remain missing; a similar earlier saved role may be the same. A fictional S$300 processing request has no itemised explanation. Priya has not authorised a CV submission.

Result: request the employer, reference, terms and itemised payment details. No payment and no CV submission are authorised. The amount alone does not establish legality; identity checks do not resolve the job or fee questions.

AGENCY AND VACANCY CHECK RECORD
For your own notes. Record facts, not assumptions.
Date checked:
Agency legal name and licence number:
Recruiter name, registration number and employing agency on card:
Directory result, restriction-tab check and any mismatch:
Independently obtained agency contact and source:
Employer and exact vacancy reference/original link:
Employing entity, role, duties, location and contract duration:
Salary and written terms received:
Previous application or recruiter submission for this vacancy:
CV-sharing purpose and permission agreed, including limits:
Each payment: amount / purpose / recipient / due date:
Applicable MOM source checked and unresolved fee questions:
Decision: pause identity check / request terms / consider role / step back
Next action and date:
Records saved: directory notes / terms / correspondence / receipts

If details do not add up

Keep the original messages, written terms, payment requests and receipts. Record dates and the agency and personnel details you were given. Describe what happened and distinguish what you saw from what you suspect; do not alter the records to make a concern sound stronger.

If you need to report an infringement, use MOM's reporting guidance and select the employment-agency route. MOM says to report when you are certain a violation occurred. An unresolved mismatch is a reason to pause and seek clarification, not proof of fraud. MOM requires your identity so it can clarify facts; you can request confidentiality from the party reported. This is not anonymous reporting to MOM.

Your checklist

Before proceeding, record the following:

1. Agency legal name and licence number, directory result and check date.
2. Recruiter's name and registration details, checked separately.
3. Employer, role, location, salary and contract duration, with unclear points listed.
4. Each proposed payment, its purpose, recipient and timing, in writing.
5. Applicable MOM guidance checked for your circumstances; no agency fee paid before successful placement.
6. Written terms, correspondence and itemised receipts saved together.
7. Any mismatch or concern documented, with the MOM reporting route available if needed.

A careful record will not make the decision for you. It does make the questions, evidence and next step easier to see.

Continue your search

Continue using the Singapore job search guide. ApplyLah 2.0 is in development, with planned discovery, tailoring and auto apply to supported jobs you approve. Public auto apply is unavailable yet. Join the waitlist for updates. This guide does not mean ApplyLah lists or vets employment agencies.