Gyeongbuk Province Selected for Regional Specialized Visa Pilot Project Competition

Proactive Response to Region-Specific Visa Policies

Mitigating Population Crisis and Revitalizing Local Economy

Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Office.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Gyeongbuk Province was selected on the 5th as part of the Ministry of Justice’s pilot project for the ‘Region-Specialized Visa’ program.

The region-specialized visa is a system promoted as part of population policies responding to regional extinction and the decline of the productive population.

It aims to secure local talent, promote national balanced development, and reflect regional demands by granting visa exceptions to foreigners needed in the region, encouraging settlement in local communities, stimulating regional economic activities, and curbing population outflow.

The pilot project, which will be implemented for one year starting this October, targets outstanding local talents (international students) and families of compatriots.

Foreigners who meet the Ministry of Justice’s basic requirements and regional specialization conditions will be issued residence (F-2) and compatriot (F-4) visas in advance, on the condition of mandatory residence and employment for a certain period in population-declining areas.

This pilot project call was conducted nationwide targeting population-declining areas to verify the sustainability and expansion potential of the program before its full implementation.

Six local governments (4 metropolitan, 2 basic) were selected through a comprehensive evaluation of the necessity of project promotion, appropriateness of the project plan, and social integration plans.

Gyeongbuk Province believes that the ‘Region-Specialized Visa’ system can be the first step toward the ‘Foreigners Metropolitan Visa’ proposed by the Local Era Leading Preparatory Committee of the 8th local government, and actively responded to the call, which is analyzed as the reason it was selected despite high interest from local governments nationwide.

In this pilot project, considering Gyeongbuk Province’s economic development plans, industrial structure, acceptance of foreigners, and the willingness of basic local governments to promote the project, four cities/counties?Yeongju, Yeongcheon, Uiseong, and Goryeong?were selected as project target areas.

The project plans to operate the pilot program targeting outstanding local talents and families of compatriots by accurately investigating and analyzing labor demand according to the population structure and job status of the respective areas.

Also, since the project will be operated on the principle of matching essential foreign labor according to regional industrial demand, it is expected to establish a virtuous cycle structure such as revitalizing local production and consumption while minimizing the displacement of domestic jobs.

To promote this project, the province will establish a governance system involving industry, academia, civil society, and government, and form a region-specialized visa TF team centered on the dedicated organization, the AI Women’s Happiness Bureau, to provide equal opportunities to newly arrived foreigners and nationals.

Additionally, customized settlement support programs such as housing support, Korean language education, and learning support for accompanying children will be implemented to ensure no difficulties in initial settlement.

Social integration programs will also be promoted to increase the acceptance of foreigners by local residents and workplaces in the respective areas.

In order to build a job system utilizing foreign labor, incentives will be provided to participating companies and universities.

Companies employing outstanding foreign talents and compatriots will receive partial support for labor costs, and scholarships will be provided to international students participating in university region-specialized visa-linked employment programs.

This is expected to contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of local universities through attracting international students and recovering the productivity of local small and medium enterprises, which have been stagnant since COVID-19.

To resolve conflicts with domestic residents, a public-private consultative body for foreigners and nationals will be formed and operated, an SOS emergency support team will be run, and dedicated personnel will be assigned to family centers to help newly arrived foreigners integrate with native residents, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and basic local governments, to prepare integration measures.

In particular, active promotion will be made to publicize that the region-specialized visa policy is a policy that helps revitalize the regional economy.

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, said, “We welcome the Ministry of Justice’s introduction of the region-specialized visa for outstanding foreign talents and families of compatriots amid the population decline caused by the metropolitan area disease and the continuous decline in productivity due to aging. We will strive to expand the specialized visa to include parents of foreign students and families of marriage immigrants. We will actively promote the perception that they are residents like us and provide unwavering support so that they can settle in the region and grow as sound residents.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.