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Information on Employment Permit System (EPS) > Employment Procedure > General Foreigners
Employment Procedure
General foreign workers
Conduct
S-TOPIK testWrite and send foreigner job seeker list
Sign Standard Labor Contract
Employment Training in advance
Enter into the country and receive employment training
Place foreign workers into workplace
1 . Conduct S-TOPIK test
To improve fairness and transparency when selecting foreign workers, and to promote early adaption to Korea by foreign workers starting from August 2005, the foreigner Employment Permit System (EPS) S-TOPIK test is being conducted by Human Resources Development Service of Korea.
- Eligibility
- Between 18 to 39 years old/of age
- Must have no criminal record of at least imprisonment
- Must have never been ordered a compulsory deportation or departure from Korea
- There should be no restrictions (reasons for disqualification) for departing the country
- Grading Criteria
- Basic communication skills necessary to live in Korea
- Basic knowledge in industrial safety and understanding of Korean culture, etc.
- Standards for Passing
- Of perfect score of 200, from those who have received at least 80, the ones from the highest score will be selected in descending order.
- The period of validity for the passing grade is 2 years from the date of the announcement of those who have passed.
2 . Write and send foreigner job seeker list
Of those who have passed the S-TOPIK test, job applications are received from those who have passed the medical checkup. This is used to write up a job seekers list, which is sent the Human Resources Development Service of Korea The Human Resources Development Service of Korea will translate the list into Korean, check whether it fulfills basic requirements, and certify it to manage the job seekers list.
3 . Sign Standard Labor Contract
For the employers who have selected foreign workers with the assistance from the employment center, if they select the agency for signing the labor contract, then the agency sends Standard Labor Contract to the dispatching organization.Dispatching organization should check whether the job seeker concerned has agreed with the Standard Labor Contract, and send the contract electronically. ※ The users, when they take over foreign workers, receive Standard Labor Contract from the employment training institution, and it is printed at the dispatching organization and provided for the foreign workers.
- Utilize probation period
- Probation Period: Maximum of 3 months (From the Standard Labor Contract, probation period is calculated from the actual date the worker started to work)
- Probation period is included in the continuous service period, and working conditions under the Labor Standards Act are applied the same as formal workers However, regarding the probation workers less than 3 months, the amount subtracted 10/100 from the minimum hourly wage would be the minimum hourly wage for the worker concerned.
- Diminishing the working conditions (wages, etc.), which are agreed when signing the labor contract, after the probation period, is prohibited for violating the Labor Standards Act
4 . Employment Training in advance
In order to cultivate the employment ability of foreign workers and promote their early adaption to Korea, education will be conducted in advance for workers who have signed labor contracts with Korean employers. The education period may differ depending on the S-TOPIK test and whether a probation period is applied, and generally lasts between 1 to 2.5 weeks.
5 . Enter into the country and receive employment training
Foreign workers who have been issued Non-professional Employment Visas (E-9) from the Korean diplomatic and consular offices of their origin country and are ready to enter Korean should arrive under the guidance of relevant officials from the origin organization. Once they have passed through immigration, the foreign workers should go through a departure and arrival agency to be finally transferred to a relevant personnel at the foreign worker employment training institute, where they will receive at least 16 hours (3 days and 2 nights) of education.
6 . Place foreign workers into workplace
The users should visit employment training institution (or separately designated transfer area), and place the foreign workers, which they have taken over, into the workplace and have the worker start to work.
- ※ Change of workplace
- It is a principle for the foreign worker to continuously work at the workplace where they first started to work.
- However, only when it is recognized that normal working relations cannot be sustained due to factors such as the temporary closure or permanent shutdown of the workplace or delayed payment of wages, foreign workers will be allowed to move workplaces a maximum of 3 timesas exception in order to guarantee their basic human rights.
- ※ The reason for moving (changing) workplace
- When the user terminates labor contract, or refuse to renew the labor contract for a legitimate reason, or when the foreign workers cannot work continuously at the workplace concerned for reasons our of their responsibility such as temporary closure or permanent shutdown, or when foreign worker employment permit is cancelled or actions restricting the employment have been taken due to delayed payment of wage, diminished working conditions, violation of human rights such as violence, etc., or when it is difficult to continue to work at the workplace concerned due to injury, but possible to work at another workplace, those who have interfered with the foreign workers changing the business or workplace will be imprisoned up to 1 year in prison or imposed with a fine of up to 10 million won.
When the labor contract is finished, the foreign workers should submit Application for Change of Workplace to the employment center, and then receive aid to start seeking for jobs. The period of validity for Application for Change of Workplace is 1 month after the resignation, and the period of validity for job seeking is 3 months.As an inability to find a workplace within 3 months will result in departure from the country, foreign workers should actively seek jobs during that period.
※ Those who are not working at the employment center must not be involved in selecting, helping and other matters related to employment of foreign workers, and violation of this rule will result in imprisonment of up to 1 year or a fine of up to 10 million won. (Article 29 of the Act on Foreign Workers’ Employment, etc.)