North Gyeongsang Province said on the 16th it will be the first in the country to use the automotive parts manufacturing (E7-3) visa system to match local corporations with foreign talent.
The province will hold an E7-3 foreign workforce–corporations job-matching event at 2 p.m. on this day at Daegu Grand Hotel.
About 40 people are expected to attend, including provincial officials; the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy; Korea Automobile Research Institute; officials from automotive parts manufacturers; and foreign workers.
The province said the event is a case of most proactively carrying out the Ministry of Justice's E7-3 visa pilot program nationwide. First created in May last year, the E7-3 visa pilot program targets non-capital region corporations with fewer than 300 employees that receive an automotive parts corporation certificate from the provincial governor. In Aug. of the same year, North Gyeongsang was selected as a pilot project area along with North Chungcheong, South Chungcheong and Gwangju, and has pushed the program in earnest since Oct.
The foreign workers arriving this time completed training specialized in automotive parts manufacturing, North Gyeongsang's flagship industry. Upon entry, they will be immediately assigned to corporations in the province's automotive parts belt materials cluster. This is the result of the province completing a corporation-by-corporation demand survey in advance and activating a customized matching system.
Lee Jae-hoon, head of the Economic and Trade Bureau of North Gyeongsang Province, said, "This event proves that the E7-3 visa is a powerful tool that goes beyond a simple policy idea to actually giving our field room to breathe," adding, "Successful matching here will serve as a catalyst for expansion across all industrial sectors."