Working in Korea

What you need to work in Korea under the Employment Permit System — visa, pay, severance, insurance

Illustration of a passport, a work permit card and a calendar seen from above

Working in Korea

The E-9 Visa: What It Permits, How Long You Can Stay, and When You May Change Employer

Non-professional employment (비전문취업) E-9 is defined by exclusion — item 21 of attached Table 1-2 to the Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Act (출입국관리법 시행령 [별표 1의2]) covers anyone meeting the domestic employment requirements under the Act on the Employment of Foreign Workers (외국인근로자의 고용 등에 관한 법률), except those going into professional occupations. Employment activity runs 3 years from entry, extendable only once by less than 2 years — administered as 1 year 10 months, making 4 years 10 months — and one re-entry under the committed-worker re-entry special provision (성실근로자 재입국 취업 특례) takes the ceiling to 9 years 8 months. Changing workplace needs immigration's permission on statutory grounds, with an application required within 1 month of the contract ending and permission required within 3 months of filing. There is no dependent visa.

Illustration of an empty examination hall desk with an answer sheet

Working in Korea

EPS-TOPIK: How the Exam Works, and Why Clearing the Sector Floor Is Not Passing

EPS-TOPIK is the Korean-language proficiency test HRD Korea (한국산업인력공단) has administered since August 2005 to rank candidates for inclusion in the foreign jobseeker roster (외국인구직자 명부). It is a different exam from the TOPIK administered by the National Institute for International Education (국립국제교육원), and it awards no proficiency level, only a score. The paper is 40 questions, 100 points, 50 minutes, delivered by CBT or UBT. The sector minimums are 60 for manufacturing, 45 for the other sectors and 30 Pass/Fail for the special fisheries track (어업특례) — and clearing one does not make you a passer, because the assessment is norm-referenced and a second exam, the skills test and job-capacity assessment (기능시험 및 직무능력평가), is compulsory.

Diagram showing how 209 monthly hours are built from 40 contracted hours plus 8 paid weekly-holiday hours

Working in Korea

Korea's 2026 Minimum Wage: ₩10,320 an Hour, ₩2,156,880 a Month

The minimum wage in Korea is ₩10,320 an hour from 1 January to 31 December 2026. The government's own monthly equivalent is ₩2,156,880 — gross, before deductions, built on 209 hours. It applies to every workplace with no exemption for industry or size, and to an E-9 worker on the same terms as anyone else. Below: where 209 comes from, what legally comes off your pay, and what your payslip has to show you.

Diagram comparing departure guarantee insurance at 8.3% of the monthly ordinary wage on the Employment Permit with statutory severance of 30 days' average wage per year, and the employer's duty to pay the difference

Working in Korea

Insurance for E-9 Workers: Who Pays What, and Why Departure Guarantee Insurance Is Not Your Severance

Industrial-accident insurance is funded entirely by the employer, so a line for it in your deductions is unlawful. Employment insurance has been mandatory for E-9 workers since the phase-in completed, and still deducts nothing unless you have opted into unemployment benefit at 0.9%. The National Pension is deducted for workers from the Philippines, China, Vietnam and Indonesia among others, and not at all for workers from Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Timor-Leste — but the E-9 visa is itself a qualifying route for the lump-sum refund, so nationality decides enrolment, not the refund. And departure guarantee insurance, at 8.3% of the ordinary wage on your Employment Permit, is a floor under your severance rather than the whole of it: where the lump sum falls short, the employer owes the difference.

Diagram of the official MOEL severance formula: daily average wage x 30 days x (days employed / 365)

Working in Korea

Severance Pay in Korea (퇴직금): How Much You Get and When It Must Be Paid

Work one year or more at the same workplace in Korea, with scheduled hours averaging 15 or more a week, and you are owed statutory severance pay: at least 30 days' average wage for every year of continuous service. The worked example below puts the 2026 monthly minimum wage of ₩2,156,880 through the Ministry of Employment and Labor formula and returns a figure near ₩2.1 million for one year. Nationality is not one of the conditions. The money is due within 14 days of your retirement date, and you have three years to claim it.