The Ministry of Employment and Labor noted on the 23rd that it will accept applications from business sites to hire foreign workers under the Employment Permit System (E-9) from February 10 to 21.
The government plans to accept foreign worker hiring applications from business sites a total of five times this year. Starting with the first application in February, the schedules will be as follows: second (April 21 to May 2), third (July 7 to 18), fourth (September 15 to 26), and fifth (November 24 to 28).
The scale of the first foreign worker employment permit is a total of 22,418 people. The manufacturing sector has the highest number at 16,328, followed by agriculture and livestock industry (2,347), fisheries (2,077), shipbuilding (625), service industry (596), and construction (445).
The results of the applications will be announced on March 11. The issuance of employment permits will take place from March 12 to 18 for manufacturing and shipbuilding sectors, and from March 19 to 25 for other industries.
Park Il-hoon, Director General for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, said, "We will promote necessary institutional improvements, such as simplifying the evaluation criteria for applicants, so corporations can hire the foreign workforce they need in a timely manner."
Meanwhile, the government has set the total quota for foreign workers at 130,000 this year. This is a reduction of 35,000 (21%) from last year's quota of 165,000. The reduction was made because last year's foreign worker employment permits reached only half of the quota.