The number of foreigners who came to Korea to find work last year was the second highest since data was first tracked in 2000.

This was mainly due to an increase in eligible potential job seekers due to the relaxation of visa regulations, according to Statistics Korea on Thursday.
A total of 173,000 people – 36 percent of the 480,000 foreigners who came to Korea last year – came for employment reasons, according to the statistics agency’s data. This was an increase of 25.5 percent from the 138,000 people who arrived in 2022, and was the largest figure recorded in 15 years since the 176,000 in 2008.

Statistics Korea said the influx was mainly driven by policy changes such as those attracting expatriates, the quota increase for E-9 visas and the expansion of the Employment Permit System (EPS), which is designed to help SMEs legally hire foreign workers.

The number of E-9 visa holders coming to Korea increased by 4 percent, or 3,000 more people, in 2023 compared to 2022. Of particular note was the sharp increase in the number of E-7 visa holders during the year. for staff employed for professional services: up 206.6 percent from 4,000 in 2022 to 11,000 in 2023.

The Department of Justice increased the annual quota for E-7-4 visas from 2,000 to 35,000 in 2022, and the government plans to admit a record 165,000 non-professional migrants under the EPS this year.

The net migration rate, meanwhile, was 161,000, down from the record 168,000 posted in 2022. There was a net inflow of 121,000 people in 2023, up 3,300 from 2022. More foreigners left Korea, up 11.4 percent from the year before, but the amount that came in compensated for those that left with an increased rate of 15.2 percent.

However, the number of foreigners who came for studies or training dropped from 89,000 people in 2022 to 83,000 in 2023.

In recent years, the government and the private sector have stepped up efforts to bring in more workers from abroad to compensate for the increasingly shrinking and aging population, exacerbated by Korea’s declining birth rate.

Policies implemented in 2024 or planned for next year include changes in the categorization of visa applications as well as a broadening of employment opportunities for foreign students in non-professional sectors and an extension of the validity of jobseeker visas.

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration pledged on July 3 to more than double the number of foreign professional workers in Korea from 72,000 last year to 150,000 by 2035 as part of the government’s multi-year plan to boost economic growth. The plans include a change to the visa system, allowing foreigners to work in the domestic labor and childcare sectors.

Despite the change in immigration policy, experts and activists have warned that more broad and long-term improvements are needed, particularly in terms of social reception, security measures and comprehensive policies that will retain the foreign workers.

A deadly fire at an Aricell battery manufacturing plant in June that killed 23 people, mostly foreign migrant workers, exposed the risks to demographics. While Korea has begun offering long-term residency for scientists and engineers, students without science, technology, engineering and math backgrounds have had difficulty obtaining permanent residency.

BY KIM JU-YEON ([email protected])