Foreign Employment Allowed in Hotels and Condos... Government "Considering Further Expansion"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

From now on, foreign workers will be allowed to be employed in hotels and condos as well. As the working population decreases due to aging and low birth rates, the number of industries employing foreigners is steadily increasing.

On the 29th, the government held the Foreign Workforce Policy Committee chaired by Bang Gi-seon, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, and finalized the list of newly permitted industries for foreign workers under the Employment Permit System (residence status E-9) and the designation of new sending countries.

First, after conducting field surveys and demand investigations on the hotel and condo industries, which have faced serious labor shortages, it was decided to allow the employment of foreign workers.

The Employment Permit System, introduced in 2004, is a system that allows small and medium-sized businesses experiencing labor shortages due to the inability to hire domestic workers to legally employ foreign laborers.

Hotels and condos (including hostels) located in major tourist areas such as Seoul, Busan, Gangwon, and Jeju will be able to employ foreign workers on a pilot basis for positions such as cleaners and kitchen assistants.

The government will also consider whether to further expand the scope to partner companies that have exclusive one-on-one contracts with hotels, condos, and cleaning services.

Additionally, the government designated Tajikistan as the 17th sending country under the Employment Permit System on the same day.

The existing sending countries are 16 in total: the Philippines, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Myanmar, East Timor, and Laos.

The government evaluated that Tajikistan has appropriate sending capabilities, including transparent sending processes and securing public interest, as well as infrastructure for pre-entry training and selection exams, and its own measures to prevent illegal stay.

Foreign workers from Tajikistan are expected to be introduced starting in 2025 after procedures such as signing an intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Employment Permit System next year.

Bang Gi-seon, chair of the Foreign Workforce Policy Committee, emphasized, "Since taking office, we have held the Foreign Workforce Policy Committee three times to promptly respond to the deepening labor shortages in the industrial field."