The Government of the Republic of Korea has decided to extend the visa term of foreign migrant workers including from Nepal, who applied for extension of their visa term, by 13 months.
The special provision is mainly for those who have got their visa term expired amidst the COVID-19 crisis and are unable to return home at the moment and those who are interested to get the term extended in a different category, according to the Justice Ministry.
The provision will be applied to visa granted under several categories such as F-1 ( tourist and family visa), F-3 (dependent visa), H-2 (visit and work visa), E-9 (employment permit visa) and it will come into effect from coming March 2 and the holders will have temporary visa till March 31, 2022. Those possessing temporary visas will be recognised as seasonal workforce and allowed to work in agriculture and fisheries.
South Korea witnessed no arrival of new foreign migrant workers for around a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and this is likely to cause the shortage of workforce in the country and the provision is also for addressing this issue. The South Korean government last year had planned to extend the visa term of 79,000 workers as seasonal workforce.
Likewise, the tenure of those Nepali in the roster waiting for the labour agreement from South Korea is to be extended by six months.
This is informed by South Korea's Ministry of Employment and Labour.
It may be noted that aspiring foreign migrant workers successfully completing the RoK's Employment Permit System and shortlisted for the further procedures are kept in the roster and they will be automatically out from the selection if it does not happen until the next two years.
