"Breathing Room for Population-Declining Areas"... Small Business Sector Welcomes Regional Vitality Employment Special Exception

Plan to Advocate for Relaxed Requirements and Expanded Support

The small business sector has expressed its support for the Ministry of Justice’s recent announcement of the establishment and pilot operation of the new “Regional Vitality Small Business Employment Special Exception.”

Foreign seasonal workers who entered through the foreign seasonal worker system are attending an "Entry Orientation." Photo by The Asia Business Daily DB

On May 14, the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise stated in an official commentary, “This measure, which opens the door for qualified small business owners to employ outstanding foreign talent even if they have no domestic employees, is a very forward-looking and effective policy.”

To ease the labor shortage in areas with declining populations, the Ministry of Justice plans to introduce the Regional Vitality Small Business Employment Special Exception to the regional specialized visa system, beginning pilot operations on May 18. This special exception will allow small business owners and agricultural corporations in population-declining regions, who meet certain requirements, to hire one regional specialized outstanding talent (F-2-R) as an exception, even if they have no domestic employees.

The federation pointed out, “Small business owners in population-declining regions have faced a dual hardship: not only struggling to secure domestic workers amid severe labor shortages, but also being pushed to the brink of closure due to strict foreign labor employment requirements.” They added, “In particular, the fact that the regional specialized outstanding talent (F-2-R) visa, which requires a high level of Korean language proficiency, was previously only available to businesses that had a record of employing domestic workers, has long been criticized as an excessively high barrier that fails to reflect the severe labor shortages in marginalized areas.”

The federation went on to say, “With the implementation of this system, we expect it will help ease chronic manpower shortages in small business sectors that form the backbone of the local economy, such as manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and food service.” They added, “Furthermore, we anticipate that allowing skilled foreign talent to settle stably in these regions will bring new vitality to stagnant local commercial districts.”

Meanwhile, the federation also stated its intention to continue advocating for relaxed requirements and expanded support during the formal institutionalization phase, so that more small businesses can benefit from the system.

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