Myanmar Workers in Singapore Face Job Scams, Debt and Fear of Returning to War

Promised a Salon Job, Sent to a Massage Shop

Mary paid more than S$5,800 in agency fees to secure what she believed would be a job at a beauty salon in Singapore. When the Myanmar national arrived, her agent told her the salon was temporarily closed. She was sent instead to a massage shop, where she was forced to provide illicit services. Her employer dismissed her immediately after she refused to perform sexual acts for a male client.

Her experience is part of a growing caseload for organisations helping migrant workers. Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) recorded 131 cases involving Myanmar workers in 2025, compared with just one in 2022. The Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) has also documented an increase in Myanmar nationals seeking assistance. Aid groups believe many more workers remain silent because they fear losing their jobs or being sent home.

Myanmar workers face a particularly difficult choice. Since the military coup in 2021, civil war has displaced more than one million people and damaged the economy. Strict military conscription laws took effect in 2024, prompting young people to leave the country to avoid compulsory service. Returning can mean facing conflict, recruitment into the military or persecution, while staying in Singapore can mean accepting work that bears little resemblance to what an agent promised.

As of March 12, 2026, the dispute over how well workers are protected extends from recruitment offices to workplaces and complaint procedures. Aid organisations describe deception, large debts and fear of deportation. Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM) says it has seen no notable increase in errant employment practices affecting Myanmar workers over the past three years. The difference matters because workers who cannot safely return home may be especially reluctant to report abuse.

Different Jobs, Shorter Permits and Heavy Fees

Diana, 28, paid approximately S$4,700 in fees. Her paperwork listed her as a food processing worker, and she was promised training as a beautician. Instead, she was sent to a massage parlour, where she alleges she was molested. She fled and sought protection from an NGO.

Zaw and Kyaw left Myanmar to avoid military conscription. Each paid more than S$4,000 for what they understood would be a contract lasting two years as a kitchen assistant. After arriving in Singapore, they discovered that their work permits classified them as performing artistes and were valid for only six months. The difference was substantial: they expected 24 months of employment but received permission for just six.

Mary's payment represented years of savings or debt. For workers in that position, discovering that a job has been misrepresented does not simply mean looking for another employer. They have already spent money they may be unable to recover, and their ability to stay in Singapore depends on their immigration and employment status.

Stephanie Chok, executive director of HOME, describes how that financial pressure can push women into sexual services they never agreed to provide. After paying large recruitment fees, some fear that refusing an employer's demands will lead to termination and deportation. Agencies can then profit again by recruiting replacements, while dismissed workers are left with the loss.

Salary changes can deepen the pressure after arrival. Some workers face reductions of more than 60 percent. Others are moved to payment based on commission, meaning their earnings depend on the business they bring in, with basic wages and housing allowances removed entirely. A worker who borrowed money for a promised salary can suddenly have much less income available to repay the debt or support relatives.

Why Going Home Can Feel Impossible

Singapore's stability and proximity have made it a primary destination for people leaving Myanmar. Estimates suggest approximately 200,000 Myanmar nationals work in the city state. Their reasons for staying often extend beyond their own earnings: families at home depend on money sent back for survival.

Ethan Guo, executive director of TWC2, says Myanmar workers differ from other migrant groups because they simply cannot afford to return home. For some, the danger is personal as well as financial. Kyaw's parents have been detained by the military, making contact with them dangerous.

Zaw has been issued a special pass by MOM lasting 14 days while his case is investigated. The pass allows him to remain temporarily, but the short period has left him acutely stressed about the outcome of his complaint. He is also worried about his sick father in Myanmar. No resolution date is given for his case.

Workers in these circumstances may tolerate salary cuts, wrongful deductions or poor conditions because termination can lead to repatriation. An employer's control over a job therefore carries consequences far beyond a lost pay cheque. It can affect whether a worker remains in a place of relative safety or returns to a country at war.

Fear also affects whether complaints are made at all. Some workers avoid reporting problems to preserve their chances of future employment in Singapore or because they fear blacklisting. Others accept short payment and poor conditions to keep their work permits. Aid groups argue that this silence leaves many instances of exploitation outside official complaint figures.

Migration Bans and the Routes Around Them

Myanmar's recruitment problems predate the current war. In September 2014, its government imposed a ban lasting five months on women migrating to Singapore as domestic workers, following prominent abuse cases. A second ban followed in June 2015. Restrictions during the period from 2014 to 2016 pushed migration into informal channels rather than ending it.

Research from the Migration Policy Institute found that the number of Myanmar domestic workers in Singapore grew by 50 percent between 2013 and 2015, reaching around 30,000 despite the official bans. Workers continued to migrate, but some entered on tourist visas or used forged documents. Those routes made them harder to identify within formal protection systems and more vulnerable to trafficking.

The restrictions also increased costs. Workers paid higher fees to cover bribes used to get around the rules. Many arrived without proper documentation, losing legal coverage and becoming dependent on agents operating outside regulated channels.

Recruitment networks operate on both sides of the border. Unscrupulous agents in Yangon and Singapore have recruited underage workers using forged travel documents. Many agencies are run by foreign nationals from offices without proper signs, sometimes in commercial buildings different from their officially listed addresses.

Attempts to contact agencies allegedly involved in these practices produced little accountability. One did not respond, while another had a disconnected telephone number. For a worker trying to recover fees or identify who made a false promise, an agent who cannot be reached creates another practical barrier.

Myanmar has also lacked explicit migration governance and regulatory instruments comparable to those described for the Philippines and Indonesia. The Philippines maintains the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, while Indonesia has its National Authority for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers. Myanmar's approach has remained reactive as more people leave, leaving workers without comparable protection.

How Recruitment Debt Keeps Workers Silent

Domestic workers often migrate with little money paid upfront, but the cost is collected later. Agencies recover recruitment expenses through salary deductions lasting six to eight months. During that period, a worker may receive only an allowance of tens of dollars each month.

This arrangement can create debt bondage, a situation in which the need to repay recruitment costs keeps someone tied to work they would otherwise leave. Reporting abuse can threaten the job before the debt has been cleared. A worker may therefore endure mistreatment while waiting to receive a full salary.

Male workers in construction or shipping face a similar pressure through a different borrowing arrangement. Migration costs are often funded by relatives or moneylenders. Losing employment leaves the debt in place while removing the income expected to repay it.

Singapore's employment agency rules limit fees to one month of a worker's salary for each contract year, with a maximum of two months in total. Recovering money through a complaint, however, depends on evidence. When HOME assists workers seeking repayment of agency fees, the worker bears the burden of showing that payment was made.

Informal payments and transactions across borders frequently leave workers without receipts. Investigations can stretch over months or years and may end without restitution. For someone whose family borrowed to fund the journey, a lengthy complaint process prolongs the financial strain even after the worker has escaped the original workplace.

Different Laws for Domestic Workers

Migrant domestic workers are excluded from Singapore's Employment Act, which provides basic protections for other workers concerning matters such as hours, rest days and salary. They instead fall under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act. Under the framework described, employers determine salary and working hours, with guidance rather than the same enforceable standards available under the Employment Act.

The difference in coverage leaves domestic workers exposed to an employer's decisions within a private home. Their work and living arrangements can be closely connected, making it difficult to separate a dispute over pay from concerns about rest, food or personal freedom.

The consequences of abuse have sometimes been fatal. In 2016, Piang Ngaih Don, a domestic worker from Myanmar aged 24, died from starvation and torture. She weighed just 24 kilograms when she died.

Her employer, former police officer Kevin Chelvam, received a sentence of 10 years for abetting grievous hurt and tampering with evidence. His former wife received 30 years, and his mother in law received 17 years. The case showed the extreme consequences when oversight fails, while most abuse never reaches court.

A 2017 study by Research Across Borders found that six out of ten domestic workers in Singapore experienced abuse. The conduct described ranged from verbal threats to physical violence and food deprivation. Those findings concern domestic workers more broadly, while the recent increase recorded by TWC2 concerns cases involving Myanmar workers.

What the Ministry Says About Protection

MOM maintains that Singapore provides comprehensive protection for foreign domestic workers. It cites a survey from 2015 in which more than 97 percent expressed high satisfaction and close to 80 percent wanted to continue working in the country.

A ministry spokesperson said there had been no notable increase in errant employment practices affecting Myanmar workers over the past three years, and that their problems were similar to those experienced by other migrant groups. TWC2's figures, meanwhile, show its Myanmar caseload rising from one in 2022 to 131 in 2025. The ministry is describing the employment practices appearing in its records, while the charity is counting workers seeking its assistance.

Penalties exist for employers who take money improperly. Employers collecting kickbacks face fines of up to S$30,000 and imprisonment for up to two years. A kickback is money demanded or received in return for providing or maintaining employment. Unauthorised salary deductions carry fines of up to S$20,000.

Workers with valid claims may receive special passes until their cases conclude. While waiting, they cannot work legally and may spend months in uncertainty. Without a resolution, they must return home or find new employment only if their current employers agree.

HOME and TWC2 argue that fear of repatriation to an active war zone discourages complaints and causes official statistics to understate the problem. Advocacy groups are calling for stronger prevention and cooperation across borders so that deceptive recruitment can be stopped before workers arrive in Singapore.

Support at Peninsula Plaza and Beyond

Myanmar workers have built their own networks of assistance alongside the formal complaint system. Peninsula Plaza in the City Hall area, known as Singapore's Little Burma, is a meeting place where community members share information and resources.

Many people there declined to speak with journalists because they feared repercussions from Myanmar's military government. Their reluctance reflects how concerns about home can follow workers even while they are living abroad.

HEARTS@SG provides another form of support. On Sundays, women who previously worked as engineers, mathematicians and nurses in Myanmar gather for caregiving training. Former nurse Yee Leh Winn leads the sessions, which combine practical skills with psychological support.

Participants share meals and discuss worries about relatives living in conflict zones. The programme also addresses nutrition and sleep deprivation. For women caring for people with dementia in Singapore, anxiety about family members in Myanmar can damage their mental health while they carry out demanding care work.

Aye Aye sought help from HOME after her employer confiscated her phone and withheld her salary for months. After finding safety through support networks, she began encouraging other workers to seek assistance when they are exploited.

Liyana, an Indonesian worker who experienced similar restrictions and excessive working hours, shares that message of persistence. These connections give workers somewhere to turn when they feel isolated or when formal processes take too long to meet their immediate needs.

The Events Behind the Current Crisis

Recruitment restrictions, documented abuse and Myanmar's political crisis have developed over more than a decade. The recent rise in requests for help sits within that longer sequence, rather than beginning with the latest job scams.

• 2013 to 2015: The population of Myanmar domestic workers in Singapore increased by 50 percent to around 30,000, according to Migration Policy Institute research.
• September 2014: Myanmar imposed a ban lasting five months on women migrating to Singapore as domestic workers.
• June 2015: A second migration ban followed.
• 2015: MOM's survey recorded high satisfaction among more than 97 percent of foreign domestic workers, with close to 80 percent wishing to continue working in Singapore.
• 2016: Piang Ngaih Don died from starvation and torture at the age of 24.
• 2017: Research Across Borders found that six out of ten domestic workers in Singapore experienced abuse.
• 2021: Myanmar's military coup was followed by civil war, displacement and economic damage.
• 2022: TWC2 recorded one case involving a Myanmar worker.
• 2024: Strict military conscription laws took effect in Myanmar, prompting young people to flee.
• 2025: TWC2 recorded 131 cases involving Myanmar workers.

Mary, Diana, Zaw and Kyaw remain examples of how recruitment promises can fail after workers have paid substantial fees. Their circumstances bring together several pressures: documents that misrepresent the expected work, employers with considerable control, slow complaint procedures and fear of returning to Myanmar.

Community groups provide shelter, assistance with complaints, training and personal support. For workers who cannot return safely and cannot work while a claim is investigated, those services are an immediate source of help. Their longer term prospects depend on recovering money, resolving their cases or securing a way to remain employed.

Key Points

• TWC2 recorded 131 cases involving Myanmar workers in 2025, compared with one in 2022.
• Mary paid more than S$5,800, Diana approximately S$4,700, and Zaw and Kyaw more than S$4,000 each for jobs that differed from what they were promised.
• Myanmar's civil war and military conscription have made returning home dangerous or financially impossible for many workers.
• Migration restrictions beginning in 2014 drove some workers towards tourist visas, forged documents and more expensive informal recruitment.
• Domestic workers fall under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act rather than the Employment Act.
• MOM says it has seen no notable increase in errant employment practices affecting Myanmar workers over the past three years.
• Workers seeking fee refunds can face missing receipts, lengthy investigations and an inability to work while on special passes.
• HOME, TWC2, HEARTS@SG and community networks help workers obtain protection, pursue complaints and support one another.