South Korea plans on issuing a record number of visas for foreign skilled workers this year, with the justice minister announcing on Wednesday a fifteen-fold increase in the yearly quota to 30,000 to assist businesses in dealing with labor shortages.
With younger South Koreans hesitant to take up blue-collar professions, Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s industrial and agricultural industries are failing to fill vacancies.
The annual allotment for the E-7-4 visa programme has been increased from 300 in 2017 to 2,000 in 2022 since its inception.
According to a justice ministry official, this year’s increase will be the greatest by far and will assist address persistent shortages of skilled personnel in the manufacturing and agriculture sectors. South Korea has planned to set a quota of 5,000 for this year.
According to the presidential office, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon told a cabinet gathering that there should be no more “talk of foreigners being unable to come due to insufficient quota.”
The conditions for visa applications will also be modified in response to requests from industry, according to the ministry.
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