Foreign workers are also allowed in the hotel and condominium industry… Manpower sending countries from 16 to 17

The government decided to allow foreign workers (E-9) in the hotel and condominium industry and to consider further expansion in the future after introducing them on a pilot basis to cleaners and kitchen assistants in the hotel and condominium industry.

In addition, the number of manpower sending countries will be expanded from the existing 16 countries to 17 countries by additionally designating Tajikistan as a new sending country, and foreign workers from Tajikistan are planned to be introduced starting in 2025.

The government held the Foreign Workforce Policy Committee on the 29th and confirmed the designation of new industries and new sending countries for foreign workers under the Employment Permit System (E-9 residence status).

Meanwhile, in response to the serious labor market shortage, the government is making active efforts to smoothly utilize foreign workers, such as expanding the scale of introduction of foreign workers, early issuance of employment permits and rapid entry into the country, expansion of industries to be introduced, and doubling the foreign worker employment limit for each business site. .

First, the government decided to allow the employment of foreign workers through on-site surveys and demand surveys for the hotel and condominium industries, which had continued to complain of manpower shortages and requests to allow foreign workers in industrial sites.

Accordingly, the employment of E-9 foreign workers will be introduced on a pilot basis for the positions of cleaners and kitchen assistants in hotel and condominium companies (including hostels) located in major tourist areas such as Seoul, Busan, Gangwon, and Jeju.

Afterwards, we plan to sufficiently collect opinions from stakeholders such as customers, citizens, and workers in the relevant industry, and review whether to expand further through joint pilot project evaluations with related ministries.

For newly permitted industries, job training and industrial safety education specialized for the industry will be provided through industry-specific associations, and human resource management supplementary measures will be promoted in consideration of industry conditions and characteristics of the employment permit system.

If you go through designation of a sending country, selection of personnel, and designation of an employment training institution, you will be able to apply for foreign workers within the next year.

In addition, in order to supply manpower that meets industrial demands, Tajikistan was designated as the 17th Employment Permit System (E-9) sending country after conducting a suitability assessment of the sending country, including field surveys.

Tajikistan was assessed as being able to ensure transparent transmission and publicness as the government and public institutions take full responsibility for transmission. In addition, it has adequate transmission capabilities in terms of transmission infrastructure such as pre-entry training and selection tests, and its own illegal stay prevention measures.

Tajikistan’s E-9 foreign workers designated this time are scheduled to be introduced from 2025 through procedures such as signing an MOU on the intergovernmental employment permit system next year and establishing a local EPS (Foreign Employment Management) center.

In addition, in the future, we plan to receive applications from countries wishing to send the Employment Permit System and designate additional sending countries, thereby diversifying the sending countries and continuously expanding the sending infrastructure.

Bang Ki-seon, Chairman of the Foreign Workforce Policy Committee (Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination), said, “We are quickly responding to the deepening job shortage in industrial sites, to the point where we have held the Foreign Workforce Policy Committee three times since taking office,” and added, “In order to properly understand the serious situation in industrial sites, we have “Please listen to the voices of various fields, including industry and labor,” he said.

He added, “We will closely analyze the possibility of encroachment on Korean jobs and the management efforts of business owners to determine whether to expand in the future,” adding, “We have additionally designated Tajikistan as a sending country, and established a local EPS center to ensure that excellent human resources tailored to field demand can be introduced.” “Please make every effort to follow up,” he added.

Meanwhile, on this day, the Foreign Workforce Policy Committee held a Foreign Workforce Integrated Management Promotion TF to inspect the current status of the greatly expanded skilled manpower (E-7-4) program this year and discuss plans for next year.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice plans to announce the operation status of skilled workers in 2023 and the operation plan for 2024 early next year.