South Korea announces the first batch of foreign workers to be accepted in 2024

The Ministry of Employment and Labor of Korea has announced that it will begin accepting applications for the first batch of foreign labor recruitment permits in 2024 for employers nationwide. The recruitment permits will be issued under the Employment Permit System (EPS) that issues E-9 visas (non-professional work visas) for unskilled workers.

Hàn Quốc triển khai tiếp nhận lao động nước ngoài đợt đầu năm 2024

Vietnamese workers under the EPS Program enter Korea at Incheon airport. (Source: VNA)

Information from the Ministry on January 19 said that in this first round, the total number of quotas granted is 35,000 people, an increase of 73.6% compared to the first round in 2023. The registration period will start from January 29 to February 8.

By industry, 23,232 jobs will be assigned to manufacturing, 1,500 to shipbuilding, 4,209 to agriculture and livestock, 2,595 to fishing, 1,632 to construction, and 1,297 to services. In addition, the Ministry of Labor also plans to use and allocate a flexible quota of 20,000 people for the increased demand of industries.

The licensing process this year will be shortened from 14 days to seven days for not only the agriculture, livestock and fisheries sectors but also the manufacturing, shipbuilding, construction and service sectors to ensure businesses can quickly recruit workers, the ministry said.

Starting from late April this year, restaurant businesses in 100 major regions and hotel and apartment businesses in Seoul, Busan, Gangwon and Jeju can apply to hire foreign workers.

The South Korean government previously announced that it would allow the recruitment of a record number of foreign workers (E-9) in 2024, with 165,000 people, to meet the huge shortage of unskilled workers in the country.

This year is also the first year that Korea has expanded its fields, allowing foreign workers to work in the restaurant, hotel, forestry and mining industries.

In order for small and medium-sized enterprises that are short of labor to hire foreign workers, the Korean government has continuously increased the labor quota over the years.

In 2022, the foreign worker quota was only 60,000 people, but it will increase sharply to 120,000 in 2023 and 165,000 in 2024. This will be the largest number of E-9 visas issued in a year since Korea implemented the EPS foreign worker recruitment licensing system in 2004.

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