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| A passenger walks past a flight information board at Incheon International Airport, Thursday. Newsis |
By Lee Yeon-woo
Korea will introduce new visa rules starting in 2023 to attract more skilled foreign nationals to work in high-tech industries such as biotechnology, robotics and semiconductors.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice announced that it will ease requirements for the so-called "foreign national of special ability visa", also known as E-7, from January. The new measure is also being carried out in order to solve a labor shortage and to strengthen the competitiveness of those industries, the ministry explained.
The E-7 visa is issued to foreign nationals with specialized occupations, such as developers and engineers, who sign contracts with Korean institutions or corporations to work here.
This time the ministry will create a new category under the E-7 visa, which will be called E-7-S, in order to reflect the newly designated jobs that have not been included in the current government list. So far, the E-7 visa has been issued to only 87 types of occupations.
New employees in high-tech industries or workers whose wages are more than Korea's Gross National Income (GNI) ― of the previous year ― will be eligible to apply for the E-7-S visa.
The ministry explained that new wage regulations will be introduced to protect jobs for Koreans because it is worried that companies might prefer recruiting foreign nationals over Koreans, by paying lower wages.
The ministry will also increase the number of people receiving the skilled worker's visa (E-7-4) from 2,000 to 5,000 a year. Foreign employees who have worked legally in Korea for five years can apply for this visa and are guaranteed long-term employment. Those who have a history of illegal stay cannot apply.
Other than that, the ministry will ease wage requirements for foreign nationals who work for small and medium-sized businesses and startups. So far, those whose wages are more than 80 percent of Korea's GNI have been eligible to apply for an E-7 visa. Under the new rule, the wage should be more than 70 percent of the GNI.
The number of foreign nationals that a single hotel can hire will be increased from two to five to help boost the tourism industry.
"Our main direction in future immigration policy is to recruit a skilled workforce, talents for high-tech industries and lead them to voluntarily contribute to Korea's development. In the meantime, we will firmly prohibit illegal stays and maintain order in staying Korea," Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon said.
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