HCMC – South Korea needs more than 12,000 Vietnamese workers this year for its Employment Permit System (EPS), a licensed program for foreign labor, with a focus on the manufacturing and fishery industries.
The demand for Vietnamese guest workers in South Korea varies in each industry, with some 6,300 people for the manufacturing sector, 4,000 for the fishery sector, 901 for construction and 841 for agriculture.
To be eligible for employment, interested people should register for the EPS program and pass two rounds of testing, including a language proficiency test and a vocational skills test.
Moreover, those laborers must be aged from 18 to 39, with no criminal record and no previous deportation from South Korea. They must not be prohibited from exiting Vietnam and have no family members living illegally in South Korea.
If the worker had previously resided in South Korea under E9 or E10 visas, his/her residency period should not exceed five years.
Workers who have worked in South Korea under EPS must leave on time according to the contract. If they had previously resided illegally in South Korea but returned voluntarily during a period when the government exempted penalties, they are eligible to participate in this program.
Additionally, the manufacturing and construction sectors will not recruit workers from areas where labor recruitment has been temporarily suspended, according to the notice of the Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.
The agriculture sector will prioritize recruiting workers in poor districts, particularly remote communes, coastal areas, islands in the 2021-2025 period and mountainous regions.
Vietnam sent around 9,900 Vietnamese workers to South Korea for guest work in 2022, with over 8,900 people under the EPS program, according to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.
