South Korea to ease migrant worker ban next month to tackle labor crunch

South Korea is preparing to let more foreign workers return to the country to provide relief to local farms, factories, and construction sites, which heavily rely on migrant labor after it has limited non-professional working visa issuance for almost two years during a Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Labour Ministry officials on Wednesday, the government is seeking to allow the entry of more foreigners with an E-9 non-professional employment visa, which is issued for those coming to work in the manual labor field.

The measure is being taken along with the government’s planned shift to the ‘living with Covid-19 scheme’ in November, and more details on the expansion of foreign labor are expected to be announced next month.

E-9 visas were mainly issued to workers from 16 countries, most of them in Southeast Asia, but their entry to Korea was completely prohibited after the pandemic hit the country in early 2020. In response to growing complaints about labor shortages, local authorities lifted the ban on one country in November last year, and on five more in April this year.

Foreign workers are now coming from six countries including Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, but the number of new immigrant workers in South Korea remains down by 90% from the pre-Covid peak in 2019.

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