Helper Direct Hire - what am i missing?

[matemate]

So we'd like to bring in a second helper from the Philipppines. She has never worked outside the country but we have identified her through our own means as our second helper.

I trawled the forum here for agencies and followed up with a few. The issue I have is on costs where my experience on quotes seems to diverge from what is being said here on the forum.

After reading the forum i was under the impression that it can be all done for as low as 2k HKD and for sure less than 4k. However our lowest quote so far is:
- agency fee employer 3k
- phils insurance 0.8k
- phils mandatory training 1.3k (6-7000 pesos)
- phils health check 0.6k
- processing fee for Phils documents, OWFA fee, HK ID, HK contract, etc 0.6k

total 6.3k

where's the gap coming from? i am looking at total cost of course, but is there any item above which is not mandatory and can be skipped?

 

[matemate]

ps: costs is not our major criteria but i want to be sure that neither us or the helper is being unnecessarily ripped off.

pps: we checked with companies like Emry, Overseas, etc

 

[carang]

if you check 5 or 6 different agencies, you will find that their prices can vary greatly.

if they are not in hk they have to undergo training.

so, one agency quoted me $2k-ish for the handling of the visa but $5k for the training!
other agencies quoted me about $3500 for everything!

 

[matemate]

other agencies quoted me about $3500 for everything!

would you mind sharing the one that charges 3.5k for everything? we checked like 10 agencies, both referrals from her, my colleagues and our helper but nothing in that vicinity so far

 

[carang]

it was years go, i honestly can't remember whom we used... sorry!