SEJONG: South Korea will improve its visa issuance system to attract more talented foreign workers as part of efforts to tackle a declining labour force.
The Labour Ministry quoted the government as saying on Monday it will relax the current points-based system to enable more talented foreigners to emigrate to the country, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
Under the present system, high-scoring foreign talent are granted F2 visa which removes all restrictions on work if they stay for one year and F5 permanent stay visa if they stay three more years after acquiring F2 status.
Foreigners will be automatically granted the F5 visa if they live in the country for at least one year.
Foreign workers who meet certain requirements for income and amount of investment, and investors and students taking master or doctorate programmes in South Korean universities will be allowed to reside in the country together with their parents.
To lure more foreign students to work in South Korea after completing their studies, the government will seek to improve links between schools and companies and relax requirements for their employment.
As for manual workers, the government will work to reform the current employment allowance system to prevent the creation of idle manpower and select additional categories of businesses allowed to recruit foreign employees.
The government is considering imposing a levy on some workplaces that excessively depend on foreign manpower for more than 10 years. –BERNAMA