Increase the number of workers recruited to go to Korea

The first round of the 2024 exam to select workers to go to Korea is expected to select 15,400 successful candidates to work in 5 industries.

On January 3, Mr. Dang Huy Hong, Director of the Overseas Labor Center (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs), said that this is the expected number of successful candidates under the Employment Permit Program for Foreign Workers (EPS). Compared to the first batch in 2023, the expected number of successful candidates this year has increased by more than 3,000 people.

Workers need to pass two rounds of Korean language proficiency tests and skills assessments. "The number of recruits in the next rounds will depend on the demand from Korea," said Mr. Hong.

The target industries include manufacturing with more than 11,200 workers, construction with 200 workers, agriculture with nearly 900 workers, and fishing with about 3,000 workers. This year, Korea will accept more workers in steel and carpentry in the construction industry.

Candidates walk through the anti-cheating gate at the 2017 Korean proficiency test. Photo: Giang Huy — Candidates walk through the anti-cheating gate at the 2017 Korean proficiency test. Photo: *Giang Huy*

Candidates must be aged 18-39 and have never been deported from Korea. Those who have resided illegally but voluntarily returned to their home country must present proof of residence. Candidates applying for the agricultural and fishery sector must be ethnic minorities and permanently reside in one of the 74 poor districts and 54 extremely disadvantaged communes in coastal and island areas in the 2021-2025 period.

The registration period is at the end of January, the Korean proficiency test is from March 5 to June 14. Workers who pass this round will have their skills tested and their abilities assessed from April 16 to July 6. After two rounds, workers are eligible to submit their application to work in Korea. Apart from the registration fee of 28 USD (about 585,000 VND), candidates do not have to pay any other fees.

Workers pass three tests to take the Korean language test. — Workers complete procedures before entering the Korean language test room, May 2023. Video: *Ngoc Thanh*

The Employment Permit System for Foreign Workers (EPS) was launched in 2004. To date, Vietnam has sent about 127,000 workers to work in Korea. By October 2023, over 36,000 EPS workers, including 10,000 illegal residents, were working and living in this country.

By the end of November 2023, nearly 1,700 insurance payments worth more than 1.8 billion won (about 36 billion VND) were still outstanding because workers returning from Korea had not yet received them. According to regulations, workers working under the EPS Program, when their contracts expire and they return home on time, will receive two insurance payments from Korea: an exit insurance payment for each year of work, equivalent to one month of basic salary, and a repatriation insurance payment of 400,000 won to buy a plane ticket back home.

The backlog of money is partly due to workers not completing the procedures to receive the money because the amount is not large, some have changed addresses and cannot be identified due to illegal residence in Korea or switching to another program. Previously, the Korean side paid 3,330 insurance payments to repatriated workers with more than 2 billion won, about 40 billion VND.

In 2023, Vietnam will send about 155,000 people to work abroad, an increase of more than 8.5% compared to 2022. Currently, about 650,000 Vietnamese workers are working in 40 countries and territories around the world.

Hong Chieu

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