This file photo, taken March 6, 2020, shows illegal immigrants queuing up at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, to voluntarily leave the country amid the spread of the new coronavirus. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 27 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of foreigners staying illegally in South Korea has been on the rise and has surpassed the 400,000 mark for the first time, data showed Wednesday.
According to the Korea Immigration Service, the number of undocumented foreigners, including those who have overstayed their visas, reached 414,045 in March, an increase of 9,015 people from the previous month.
The number of foreigners staying illegally peaked at 412,659 people in November of last year, then dropped slightly before reaching a new high in March.
As of late last month, there were a total of 2,335,595 foreigners residing in South Korea, which indicates that 1 in 5 foreigners is undocumented.
Among the undocumented foreigners who came to the radar last month, 2,909 had first entered the country on an E-9 non-professional employment visa.
They were followed by 1,165 people with either a D-2 study abroad visa or a D-4 language study visa.
There are 400,000 foreigners with non-professional employment visas and 200,000 foreigners with study abroad and language study visas, which indicates that an excessive proportion of undocumented foreigners are study abroad students.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
