13/01/2026
Update News today‼️
Korea considers allowing E-9 workers to change workplaces after 1 or 2 years.
Korea is weighing significant changes to its employment system for foreign workers, including a proposal that would allow E-9 visa holders to change jobs after one or two years. If implemented, the move would mark a departure from the long-standing Employment Permit System (EPS), under which workers are effectively tied to a single employer.
According to activists participating in the government task force launched last month by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to reform policies involving foreign workers, representatives of the government are currently weighing two proposals — including one that would allow EPS workers to change employers after one or two years with their current employer.
Under the EPS, workers — mostly employed in agriculture, fisheries, construction and certain service-sector jobs — can change workplaces only under restricted conditions, such as business closure or due to serious labor law violations by the employer. They typically work in small and medium-sized firms that struggle to attract local labor, often under demanding conditions and for relatively low wages. There are more than 300,000 E-9 visa holders in Korea.
Lifting the restrictions has long been a key demand of E-9 visa holders and their advocates, who say the rules create excessive dependence on a single employer and weaken workers’ bargaining power over conditions.
The policy now under discussion would introduce a time-based right to change workplaces, allowing workers to seek a new job after a minimum service period without having to prove employer fault or extraordinary circumstances.
Despite the government’s proposal being more progressive than previous ones, advocates for foreign workers remain steadfast, insisting that all restrictions be lifted unconditionally.
“Option 1 restricts the freedom to change workplaces for one year, and Option 2 restricts it for two years. Which should we choose? We cannot accept either of the options,” said Kwen Su-jung, vice president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, during a press conference in Seoul. “We propose a third option: All migrant workers should be allowed the freedom to change workplaces from the first day of their employment here.”
The task force was launched on Dec. 12, 2025, to establish an integrated foreign workforce policy and support system that covers all foreign workers. So far, there have been four meetings, with six more planned. Members of the task force aim to complete a new roadmap by the end of March, according to advocates who have been attending the meetings.
The advocates said the government remains reluctant to lift all restrictions because doing so would worsen the labor supply in nonmetropolitan regions, as many E-9 workers, like other foreign workers and citizens, prefer working in the greater Seoul area.
“If that’s their real concern, they can allow workplace changes but prohibit foreign workers from leaving the designated region,” said Choi Jung-kyu, an activist lawyer.
The lawyer also said overhauling the EPS is necessary as it has failed to improve working conditions for workers, as the system helps create complacency among employers.
“The very fact that migrant workers can leave at any time serves as a powerful incentive for small and medium-sized enterprises to voluntarily improve their working conditions. In the long term, this can help improve the poor labor conditions prevalent in small firms in Korea. Therefore, I think allowing workers to escape exploitative employers and move to other workplaces that need labor is in the overall interests of not just firms but also the country,” he said.
Source: Korea Times
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/globalcommunity/20260112/korea-considers-allowing-e-9-workers-to-change-workplaces-after-1-or-2-years
