South Korea Lists 4 Categories and 90 Occupations Eligible for E-7 Skilled Worker Visa

• South Korea published a detailed breakdown of occupations qualifying for its E-7 Specified Activities visa for foreign skilled workers
• The E-7 visa is split into four sub-categories covering professionals, semi-professionals, general skilled labourers, and skilled tradespersons
• Applicants must work in roles designated by South Korea's Minister of Justice, with a maximum stay of three years per grant

South Korea has released a comprehensive guide to the occupations and categories that make foreign workers eligible for its E-7 Specified Activities visa, giving prospective applicants a clearer picture of how to qualify for legal employment in the country.

The E-7 visa targets foreign nationals who plan to work in South Korea under a formal contract with a public or private organisation.

The government created the scheme to attract workers with specialised knowledge, skills, or abilities in areas where the Minister of Justice has determined there is a domestic shortage, with the stated aim of strengthening national competitiveness.

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South Korea's E-7 visa sub-categories

The programme is structured around four distinct classifications, each serving a different tier of the workforce.

The broadest of the four is the E-7-1, which covers Professionals, specifically Managers and Specialists, across 67 occupations.

The E-7-2 targets semi-professional workers in office and service roles, listing 10 qualifying occupations.

General Skilled Labourers, particularly Craft and Related Skilled Workers, fall under the E-7-3 category, which also covers 10 occupations.

The fourth classification, E-7-4, is reserved for Skilled Tradespersons and differs from the others in that it operates on a point-based system, covering three occupations.

Across all four sub-categories, the maximum duration of stay that can be issued at any one time is three years.

South Korea: What applicants need to know

A key condition running through the entire scheme is that both the employer and the job role must appear on approved occupational lists drawn up by the Minister of Justice.

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Applicants cannot self-nominate their positions or argue that their role is equivalent to a listed one; the designation must be official.

South Korea's full list of qualifying occupations across all four E-7 categories is publicly available on the country's official visa information portal, giving employers and prospective workers a transparent reference point before they begin the application process.

Source: YEN.com.gh