This file photo provided by STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. on June 30, 2021, shows the shipbuilder’s shipyard in Jinhae, 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
SEOUL, April 21 (Korea Bizwire) — As shipbuilding industry is suffering from a manpower shortage amid a deluge of orders, the Ministry of Justice has taken steps to help address the issue, including the simplification of E-7 visa requirements for foreign workers.
The E-7 visa was designed to allow foreign workers to be employed in areas designated by the justice minister as requiring the introduction and employment of foreign workers with professional knowledge, technique or skills.
For the shipbuilding industry, there are four designated areas – welding, painting, electrical engineering and plant engineering.
Among them, the ministry decided to abolish the quota system for welders and painters, who are most in demand among foreign workers.
To protect domestic workers’ jobs, however, the ministry will only allow shipbuilders to hire foreign workers up to 20 percent of their workforce in such areas.
In addition, the ministry expanded the application area of the special employment permit system for foreign students with majors in science and engineering from painting to electrical engineering and welding.
Even the scope of majors eligible for the special employment permit system has also been extended from ship painting towards all areas of science and engineering.
Considering that it’s difficult to prove the careers of foreign employees in the areas of painting and electrical engineering, the ministry decided to have their vocational skills verified by the institutions designated by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
For those who pass the verification, the ministry will alleviate the career requirements required for visa issuance.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
