Food industry welcomes eased employment restrictions for foreigners

A cafeteria in a middle school in Busan [NEWS1]

Many visa restrictions for foreigners who want to work in the food service industry have been eased in the past year as the industry faces a labor shortage.

Since January, H-2 visa holders have been allowed to work in all food service establishments, including cafeterias, catering businesses and coffee shops. Before, they were only allowed to work at Korean restaurants, restaurants serving foreign cuisine and snack food restaurants.

The H-2 visa is an employment visa that is given to ethnic Koreans from China and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In May, the Ministry of Justice also allowed those with F-4 overseas Korean visas to work as kitchen assistants, servers and fast food workers.

Cafeteria operators received the change positively, and many expected it would bring more workers to those establishments.

"The change in visa restrictions was something that we welcomed greatly," cafeteria operator Ourhome's spokesperson said. "Our HR team has been actively reaching out to those visa holders and are going through procedures to hire them."

Although the company said it couldn't provide specific employment statistics due to the privacy of its employees, it said the number of its foreign employees has risen since.

Pulmuone Food & Culture, a fully-owned subsidiary of Pulmuone that operates cafeterias, said it also has plans to hire more foreigners with legal visas.

Changes in visa restrictions also allowed international students to work more hours.

Starting July 3, the Justice Ministry allowed international students staying in Korea with a D-2 visa to work 25 hours a week, compared to the previous 20-hour ceiling.

The change also allowed international students who meet the Korean language certification requirement, such as TOPIK, to work 30 hours a week.

Business associations say they will continue to find ways to solve the labor shortage.

As the industry welcomes the changes, business associations say they will continue to find ways to solve labor problems.

"We will continue to find problems that businesses in the food service industry face and come up with ways to solve those problems," said a spokesperson for the Korea Foodservice Industry Association. "We are going to suggest more policies to the government and find ways that we can grow with other industries as well."

The association has been requesting the government ease visa restrictions for foreigners who want to work in the food service industry through meetings with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]