Vietnamese workers receive health check-ups before going to the RoK for working (Photo: VNA) The temporary extension of stay will apply to the E-9non-professional employment and H-2 visiting employment visa holders, whoseperiod of staying and working in the RoK is set to expire between April 13 andDecember 31.
Local media reported that the extraordinary measure will beimplemented in consideration of COVID-19-related travel restrictions faced bymigrant workers and labour shortages at domestic industrial, farming andfishing businesses.
The RoK’s labour and justice ministries said 62,239 E-9 visaholders eligible for the special measure will all be allowed to extend theirperiod of stay and work activities by one year.
In the case of 52,357 eligible H-2 visa holders,confirmation on whether they are legally employed or not is needed prior to theextension of stay, they said, noting a maximum of 114,596 foreigners maybenefit from the measure.
According to the Korean government’s data, the number offoreign workers arriving in the country with E-9 visas fell sharply from 51,365in 2019 to 6,688 last year, due mainly to massive cancellations ofinternational flights caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
Arrivals of H-2 visa holders also dived from 63,339 to 6,044in the same period.
Thus, the number of E-9 visa holders staying in the RoKstood at 237,000 as of the end of last year, marking a fall of 14.4 percentfrom 277,000 a year earlier, while H-2 visa workers also shrank 31.4 percentfrom 226,000 to 155,000.
The steep reductions in E-9 and H-2 visa holders haveworsened labour shortages at small and medium-sized companies and in farmingand fishing villages./.
VNA
