The Ministry of Justice on June 25 announced the easing of requirements for the E-7-4 work visa for highly skilled personnel and expand the number of foreign employees per company.
Launched in 2017, this visa offers foreign workers who acquire skills in simple labor over a long period the opportunity to switch to a longer-term visa.
Both industry and local governments, however, have criticized the visa for its onerous requirements for changing residency status and that the number of recipients is far too low to meet the labor demand of business.
The required employment period for a foreign worker to change residency status will be cut from five years to four. Unlike the previous limit of eight foreign staff per workplace regardless of business size, the revision allows the percentage of foreign employees to rise up to 20% of that of Koreans depending on business scale, and the quota for core sectors, agriculture, livestock and fisheries, and manufacturers not in the capital region is a maximum 30%.
This year's 5,000 visa recipients will be selected by early next month. The ministry plans to grant the visa to more workers after receiving opinions from related ministries in the second half of the year.
From June 27 to July 5, foreign workers who wish to switch to the E-7-4 visa can apply at their designated immigration office and check eligibility requirements and necessary documents on the government portal Hi Korea (https://www.hikorea.go.kr/Main.pt).
The ministry said, "We will actively respond to labor shortages at industrial sites without infringing on the public's employment opportunities."
By Wu Jinhua
jane0614@korea.kr