South Korea to offer new visa, incentives for skilled foreign labour

South Korea to offer new visa, incentives for skilled foreign labour

Job Fair For Foreign Residents 2019 is held in COEX centre in Seoul on Wednesday. (Pulse photo)
Job Fair For Foreign Residents 2019 is held in COEX centre in Seoul on Wednesday. (Pulse photo)

The South Korean government will introduce incentives and new visa for proactive employment of foreign nationals to compensate for a thinning and graying population.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance on Wednesday came up with an agenda addressing problems stemming from the aging society and demographic challenges, Pulse reported.

The plan includes a new visa system for well-educated and high-income foreigners, allowing them to enjoy benefits like longer stay and work in South Korea, as well as visit with family to the country.

In the longer term, a tailored service will be offered to the foreigners to help their entry into and departure from South Korea, job search, medical consulting and child education.

The latest plan is aimed at drawing more highly-educated and skilled labors from overseas as most of foreigners currently engage in simple, repetitive and low-skill tasks that are not in need of professional expertise in Korea.

As of July, 48.6% out of 1.07 million foreigners residing in South Korea with work visa were non-professional workers. Non-Korean nationals expanded from 1.4 million in 2011 to 2.37 million in 2018, but the number of skilled labours fell to 48,000 from 47,000 over the cited period.

Outside talents living in sparsely populated areas will be given various incentives such as some plus points for permanent residency as part of the plan. A violation of the law that has restricted foreigners to extending visa validity will be subject to a penalty only, a move that can also help raise up to government revenue of 195.7 billion won (5 billion baht) per year, according to the ministry.

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