Government Reduces Procedure for Introducing Foreign Workers in Shipbuilding from 4 Months to 1 Month

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The time required to hire foreign skilled workers in the shipbuilding industry will be shortened from the existing 4 months to 1 month. The allowable ratio of foreign workforce introduction per company will be temporarily expanded by 10% for two years.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Justice announced on the 6th the "Measures to Resolve Difficulties in Introducing Foreign Workforce in the Shipbuilding Industry." This is due to the difficulty in securing manpower as the government’s screening process for companies to hire foreign workers takes at least one month. The government stated, "Although recent shipbuilding industry order performance is improving, it is necessary to promptly process visa issuance for recommended foreign workers due to manpower shortages."

According to the Shipbuilding Association, domestic orders last year amounted to 15.59 million CGT (a shipbuilding volume indicator), and it is expected that there will be a shortage of 14,000 production workers by the end of this year. Since the private direct introduction was implemented in April last year, out of 1,621 foreign skilled workers recommended for employment in the shipbuilding industry, only 412 visas have been issued, accounting for just 25.4%.

The hiring process for foreign skilled workers in the shipbuilding industry is broadly divided into three stages. The Korea Offshore & Shipbuilding Association verifies the skills of foreign workers, and then each shipbuilding company signs a labor contract. However, for the workers to enter the country, the association must submit a 'preliminary employment recommendation' to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. After the ministry’s final review, the Ministry of Justice conducts screening and issues visas.

Accordingly, when companies applying for introduction submit preliminary recommendations, the Shipbuilding Association will shorten the processing period, which previously took an average of 5 days to make a preliminary recommendation, to within 3 days. Also, the period from the Shipbuilding Association’s preliminary recommendation to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s employment recommendation will be reduced from an average of 5 days to within 3 days.

The Ministry of Justice will increase special visa screening support personnel for the shipbuilding industry by 20 and operate a rapid screening system. Four personnel will be dispatched to five regions?Busan, Ulsan, Changwon, Geoje, and Mokpo?to shorten the period from preliminary screening to visa issuance from 5 weeks to within 10 days.

Additionally, the allowable ratio of foreign workforce introduction per company will be expanded from 20% to 30% for two years. International students graduating from domestic science and engineering departments related to the shipbuilding field who are issued E-7-3 visas will be exempted from practical skill verification. Furthermore, the annual quota for skilled workers (E-7-4) will be expanded from 2,000 to 5,000, and a separate quota of 400 for the shipbuilding field will be newly established. The foreign trainee system (D-4-6) will also operate an E-7 conversion program.

A government official said, "We will process all 1,000 or so cases currently waiting for visas within January," adding, "The domestic procedure, which previously took 4 months, will be shortened to 1 month in the future."

Hyundai Heavy Industries dock view.