On FDW contract renewal

And so our FDW has almost finished her 2-year contract. I noted down some points here for my future reference and for the benefit of others who might be looking for info on contract renewal.

Things to be done:
(1) Wait for a letter from MOM stating that the work permit is almost expired and employee is to renew or cancel it. The letter usually arrives 1.5 months before the work permit expiry date

(2) Renew passport
This is not compulsory. However, the new work permit will be valid for another 2 years or until the passport's expired, whichever is earlier. So as our FDW's passport was going to expire in 2013, we renewed her passport first to get the full 2 years' of work permit validity. We did the passport renewal by ourselves at the Indonesian Embassy. Thankfully nowadays passport renewal process is very efficient. All the necessary information is provided in the website. The cost was $35 for the renewal and $10 for 6-pieces of photo (I brought her old photographs but it was rejected at the counter so we had to retake the photo). After submission and payment, they took her signature and thumbprint. Then we proceeded to second level for interview for the new contract. It's good as the embassy drafted the new contract for us, including salary and off day clearly stated. The passport was then ready for collection in 3 working days - collection can be done by the FDW, employer, or any other family members with same address as the employer.

(3) renew insurance, security bond and work permit
We chose NTUC Income for this, as it has a complete package with complimentary courier service. They came to our place to get all necessary documents and signatures, then they did all the paperwork. When it's ready, they delivered the new work permit to our place. We're advised that the process would take 3 weeks, but ours was done in 2 weeks time. No hassle at all, we're satisfied with their service.
Another option is to do everything on our own. Insurance and security bond can be purchased online or over the phone to any company that provides FDW insurance. And the work permit renewal can be done online. However, we would need to come personally to MOM 1-2 times.
Note that MOM might decide that an FDW needs to come personally to take photo an thumbprints. The selection is done randomly and there's no way to know beforehand whether you'll need to make that additional trip to MOM.

Note: Indonesian embassy does not take care of KTKLN. It can only be processed in Indonesia. There's no need to renew KTKLN as long as it's still valid when the FDW leaves Indonesia.