Only 12.4% of Foreign Skilled Workers...Urgent Need to Ease Income and Education Requirements for Permanent Residency

The National Assembly Budget Office pointed out that excessive immigration policy standards for foreign skilled workers should be relaxed to expand the economically active population amid low birth rates and aging population issues. It argued that income criteria and educational requirements for obtaining permanent residency should be eased to encourage long-term stay of foreign skilled workers, and that the naturalization fast track, currently focused on science and technology talents, should be expanded to various fields.

According to the report titled "Mid- to Long-term Fiscal Issues Analysis Population Crisis Response Strategy: Measures to Expand the Economically Active Population through Immigration Policy," recently published by the National Assembly Budget Office on the 10th, as of August this year, the number of foreign workers with employment-qualified visas was 514,445, of which only 12.4% (63,850 people) were skilled workers. The visas classified by the government as foreign skilled worker visas include eight types: Professor (E-1), Language Instructor (E-2), Research (E-3), Technical Guidance (E-4), Professional Occupation (E-5), Arts and Performance (E-6), Specific Activities (E-7), and Short-term Employment (C-4).

The proportion of foreign skilled workers who have stayed in Korea for more than five years was only about half (50.8%). This is lower than the rates for overseas Koreans (80.6%), marriage immigrants (71.6%), and visit employment (63.0%). Even among those wishing to stay, a significant number preferred to extend their current visas (E1~E7). Only 13.7% wanted to obtain permanent residency, and just 1.0% hoped to acquire Korean nationality. According to the Global Human Capital Competitiveness Index published by a European business school, Korea ranked 27th out of 133 surveyed countries, but among the 38 OECD countries, it was in the lower-middle tier at 24th place. Particularly, in the 'attractiveness' ranking measuring talent inflow and female workforce ratio, Korea ranked 55th among all countries.

The report identified excessive visa issuance and permanent residency acquisition criteria as factors hindering the long-term stay of foreign skilled workers. To stay long-term in Korea, skilled workers must periodically renew their E-series visas or change their status to residence (F-2) or permanent residency (F-5). Eligibility for the general permanent resident (F-5-1) visa requires meeting an income standard of at least twice the previous year's per capita Gross National Income (GNI) (last year 84.4 million KRW), but young researchers often fail to meet this income requirement, resulting in failure to obtain permanent residency. For Specific Activities (E-7) visa holders, the bachelor's degree or higher educational requirement acts as a barrier to obtaining general permanent residency. Skilled workers such as chefs, cooks, and aquaculture technicians holding E-7 visas can build careers regardless of education level, but this specificity is not considered at all. The report suggested that income and educational requirements should be relaxed appropriately to the situation to promote long-term stay of skilled workers.

The report also proposed expanding preferential visa issuance measures, currently focused on high-level skilled workers, to include mid-level skilled workers. According to the government's foreigner policy implementation plan, the immigration policy budget increased from 332.6 billion KRW last year to a proposed 362.5 billion KRW next year, with the budget for skilled workers (37.9 billion KRW) ranked second after international students (126.1 billion KRW). This is 7.3 times larger than the budget for supporting foreign simple laborers (5.2 billion KRW). The report analyzed that the settlement of mid-level skilled workers could be a key measure to supplement the domestic labor market and enhance national competitiveness.

The absence of a control tower for immigration policy was pointed out as an obstacle to establishing comprehensive foreign workforce policies. Currently, immigration policies carried out by various ministries lack an integrated coordination mechanism, raising concerns about policy silos, overlaps, and blind spots. In fact, the skilled worker points system (E-7-4) is managed by the Ministry of Justice, other skilled worker attraction projects by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the employment permit system for non-skilled workers (E-9, H-2) by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The report emphasized that since the preparatory organization for the planned 'Immigration and Immigration Management Agency (tentative name)' is composed solely of internal personnel from the Ministry of Justice, there is a limitation, and it is necessary to design immigration policies that can incorporate opinions from various ministries.

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