Korean Job Discussion Forums

[itaewonguru]

Ive looked through this site and that hikorea.go.kr site has me chasing air. Does anyone have a link for a list of required documents for both the applicant and employer? Korean or English is ok.
Thanks.

[ttompatz]

[deizio]

I referred to this while I was getting my docs ready: http://bit.ly/QYnlk4 (direct link to file)

. The E-7 Special Activity Visa

The E-7 visa, which is often referred to as the employment visa, is reserved for all other special activities that are specially designated by the Ministry of Justice. It is often granted for foreign personnel employed by domestic companies who possess special skills or knowledge unavailable in the domestic market. It should be noted that the E-7 visa is more difficult to obtain than the other visas mentioned above because the Korean Government, like other national governments, has a general policy of protecting Korean workers from being displaced by foreign workers. Accordingly, the E-7 visa is generally only granted for those positions that are difficult to fill with domestic employees.

The documents that must be submitted in order to obtain the E-7 visa are:

a) passport of applicant;
b) completed application form with photograph;
c) letter of invitation from the local company confirming the purpose of the applicant's employment in Korea;
d) copy of diploma or certificate of qualification of applicant;
f) employment reference by the Minister of the relevant Ministry;
g) employment contract;
h) documents relating to the establishment of public or private organizations, including a certified copy of the company registration or business entity certificate, etc. of the local company;
i) affidavit of support from the local company duly notarized by a Notary Public in Korea; and
j) resume or personal history of applicant;.

Please be advised that additional documents may be required to be submitted or the submission of one or more of the above documents may be waived at the discretion of a pertinent director at an Embassy or Consulate or by the Minister of Justice.

Obviously several of the above come from you, and some from your company. If it's a major firm that regularly hires E7s and all your docs are ready then getting the all-important letter from the government shouldn't be too much hassle. Mine used a relocation agency who specialize in this, and I didn't even need to submit original documents or go anywhere / sign anything in person until one visit to immi to apply for my ARC at the very end after the visa run - I just emailed them scans and they took care of the rest.

If it's a smaller company who don't hire a lot of E7s or know the right people, it could be a slightly more arduous process. Worst case scenario (without getting rejected completely) is to get a lot of mixed messages from the various authorities, and to strap in for a longish wait for clearance. It's also important to know which govt. dept. deals with issuing this to firms in your particular field. I don't have the link to hand, but there is a breakdown of this in English somewhere on the web.

In either case, I would say don't worry too much about the company having to prove that they can't find a local to do the job - if they want to hire you, this should be enough for the authorities without launching a full-scale investigation.

My process took about 6 weeks from first contact with relocation agency to visa run, and like I say that seemed to go pretty smooth, but that letter from the govt. can take a while. However, if you have everything ready and your company will hold your hand then things will work out. All the best!

[itaewonguru]

Thanks for the info. Puts on the right track.

We are the company (a restaurant) and we are trying to hire a chef who has a top class resume.

@Deizio

Which ministry do you think we would deal with?

Can you get us the number of the agency your company used to take care of the process for them?

[ttompatz]

주방장 및 조리사[head cook and cook]

ㆍ중식 주방장 및 조리사[head cook and cook for Chinese food]
ㆍ양식 주방장 및 조리사[head cook and cook for Western food]
ㆍ일식 주방장 및 조리사[head cook and cook for Japanese food]
ㆍ기타국가 음식 주방장 및 조리사 [head cook and cook for other country's food]

Requirements:
ㆍ해당국가 자격증 및 경력5년 이상 [license from home country and more than 5 years' career]
ㆍ경력10년 이상 [more than 10 years' career]

고용추천기관 등 [employment recommender, etc.] is NOT needed.


Number 441 on the link I provided earlier (5 listings up from the bottom of the page).
http://www.hikorea.go.kr/pt/en/info/popup/icis/e_7_pop_en.html

.

[deizio]

The agency is Paragon Relocation. I don't know what they charge, but they sure know what they're doing.

Paragon Relocation Korea
2nd Floor, Doowon B/D, 51-1, Hanganro 2-ga
Yongsan-gu
Seoul, 140-872
Korea
[email protected]

Phone: + 82 (2) 795 2177
Fax: + 82 (2) 795 2613

The doc Ttom linked to is indeed the one I referred to before. The field on the list of relevant ministries is blank for head cook. However, it's not obvious (to me, at least) whether that means a government approval is not required - my understanding is that it's required for E7s regardless of industry or function.

I'm not exactly sure which category I fit into, but I'm guessing it has to be "advertisement and public relations expert", and that's blank in that column (as are several others) as well. My permission came from the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism, which seems to be the catch-all for "none of the above", and likely where yours would come from, most probably the Culture division.

In addition to head cook there is also a listing for food service director, but this is also blank in the ministry column.

From what you've said I would think you definitely want to consult with a specialist, even if you don't sign up with them to take you through the whole process. If your prospective hire doesn't hit the "qualifications" or has a hard time proving it then there's also much more chance they can smooth things over for you.

[coralreefer_1]

It should be noted that the hikorea site is undergoing updates to its foreign sojourn pages, with changes to visa issuance related this or that status...etc.


While I am fairly certain Ttompatz's info is accurate, it would be prudent to verify what, if any, changes have been made to procedure/issuance of the visa in which you seek.

The pop up on the site says the updates wont be completed until December, but the same pop-up also gives two files (both in Korean, both in HWP format) that specify the updated content. It might be worth a look to check those files for any changes to E-7 status