Vietnam to send 15,400 workers to South Korea

The workers will go to South Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS), Dang Huy Hong, director of the Center of Overseas Labor under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said Wednesday.

Candidates will need to pass two rounds of tests, one for proficiency in the Korean language and the other for work skills.

"The number of recruited candidates in future waves will depend on demands from the South Korean side," Hong said.

For this recruitment wave, over 11,200 people will be hired for manufacturing, 200 for construction, 900 for agriculture and 3,000 for fisheries.

This year, South Korea also wants workers for reinforced concrete and wood, which falls under construction.

Candidates must be aged 18-39 and have never been expelled from South Korea. Those who illegally stayed in the past, but willingly returned to Vietnam, must be able to present documents as proof.

Those working for the agriculture and fishery sectors have extra requirements: being of an ethnic minority and living in one among 128 poor districts and communes on the coasts and islands for the 2021-2025 period.

Registration for the tests will begin later this month, while the Korean proficiency tests will be carried out from March 5 to June 14.

Workers who pass this round of tests will have their work skills put to the test from April 16 to July 6. After the two rounds, eligible candidates will have enough requirements to apply for jobs in South Korea. The fee for the entire process is $28.

The EPS program has been available since 2004. Vietnam has brought around 127,000 people to South Korea for work so far. By October 2023, over 36,000 EPS workers, including 10,000 who illegally stayed, had been living in South Korea.

By November 2023, around 1,700 insurance packages worth over ₩1.8 billion ($1.38 million) have not been received by workers returning from South Korea to Vietnam.

Per existing regulations, those who have completed their contracts under EPS and return to Vietnam on time will receive two insurance packages from South Korea.

Vietnam sent around 155,000 people to work abroad last year, an 8.5% increase from 2022. Around 650,000 Vietnamese workers are currently working in 40 countries and territories.

Japan hosted the most Vietnamese workers (80,000), followed by Taiwan (58,600) and South Korea (11,600), according to the labor ministry.