Direct hire, or through agency?

[Gataloca]

I am wondering if there is any advantage or disadvantage hiring helper directly or through an agency.

I guess agencies provide some sort of "guarantee", as they will do some screening of their helpers before putting them on the databases. Also they will try to match one's requirement with the helper skills for a better fit.

What about direct hire? would it be a risk that the helper experiences and references are fake? I checked and it seems that as the employer will have to go to an agency anyway to process the visa, the cost is almost the same...... Would the hiring process be faster though, provided that the helper is already in Hong Kong?

 

[yonge]

If you have a referral for a good helper, then there's no need to go through an agency. The Hong Kong government has a pretty transparent process that you could take care of yourself. We've always hired based on referrals, but have engaged an agent just to help us with the paperwork. References can still be faked even if you use an agent, which is again, why I prefer referrals, especially where I can talk to several of the helper's previous employers.

There is technically no advantage to hiring through an agent if you're familiar with the process. However, bear in mind that if your application is missing anything, the Immigration Department just resets the clock from when your application is complete, so there can be delays for that reason. Also, if your helper is already in Hong Kong, she already has an HKID card, and that would make the application process faster as well. We brought our helper with us to Hong Kong twice and it was much faster the second time around because she was already in the system. Good luck!