SEOUL – South Korea is planning to expand its visa quota for non-professional foreign workers to plug the gaps in labor shortage.
The declining birth rate and an aging population have prompted the authorities to announce a significant increase in the E-9 visa quota.
As per the announcement, the quota would be enhanced by 37.5% to 165,000 next year, the highest since the inception of allowing local small and medium-sized enterprises to employ non-professional foreigners in 2004.
As far as the breakdown is concerned, the allocation includes 95,000 slots for manufacturing, 5,000 for shipbuilding, 16,000 for agriculture, 10,000 for fisheries, 6,000 for construction, and 13,000 for the service industry.
Revealing the details, Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination Bang Ki-sun said the increase in quota was crucial to filling job vacancies that locals avoid.
Related ministries such as the Ministry of Employment and Labor need to seek measures to introduce foreign workers in a timely manner as industries with labor shortage are asking to allow more, said the minister as quoted by Kedglobal.
There has been a steady increase in quota over the years. The quota was increased from 52,000 in 2021 to 120,000 for the current year.
Besides, the authorities in South Korea are exploring options to include six more countries, like India, in the pool of eligible migrant workers origins.
As far as the sectors that foreign workers can explore are concerned, it bears mentioning that the government is poised to permit the E-9 visa holders to work at Korean restaurants as assistants for washing dishes or preparing food ingredients as early as April 2024 in 100 regions including Seoul and Jeju.
Eligibility
As per the instructions, a restaurant with less than five members of staff is allowed to hire only one foreigner with experience of more than seven years. On the other hand, a restaurant with five or more employees is authorized to recruit up to two with experience of more than five years.
The current policy allows South Korean nationals, foreigners with the H-2 visas for ethnic Koreans from 11 countries such as China and the D-2 student visa holders to work at restaurants.
There has been a distinction between hotels and restaurants in the country as the government has yet to include hotels in an eligible sector to hire non-professional foreign workers.
The hotel industry has voiced concerns against permitting hiring foreign workers as the government was all set to allow hotels in Seoul, Jeju and Gangwon State to unskilled foreign workers as cleaners and kitchen assistants.
South Korea is also set to permit the forestry and mining industries to hire foreigners from July next year.
