Seasonal Worker
계절근로 — Non-professional employment (short-term, season-based) visa for foreign nationals doing intensive agricultural or fishery work during peak seasons. Run through local governments (city/county) under MOU or public-type recommendation programs.
At a glance
Foreign nationals recruited under Korea’s Foreign Seasonal Worker Program, which local governments (mayors of cities/counties) operate.
8
Employment is limited to the specific agricultural or fishery work and the specific approved employer/region assigned through the local-government program.
No formal Korean-language test requirement for the seasonal worker program (unverified as to any local-government-specific preferences).
Who can apply
- ✓Foreign nationals recruited under Korea’s Foreign Seasonal Worker Program, which local governments (mayors of cities/counties) operate.
- ✓Main routes: (1) residents of a foreign region that has signed an MOU with a Korean local government; (2) relatives of marriage immigrants living in Korea (invitation route); (3) certain foreigners already in Korea holding D-1 (culture/arts), D-2 (student), D-4 (language training), D-10 (job seeker), F-1 (visitor), or F-3 (dependent) status.
- ✓Employers must be farms or fishery operations approved by the local government, with a per-employer worker cap based on farm/operation size.
Documents you'll need
- Visa issuance certificate/confirmation number issued after local-government selection and immigration pre-screening
- passport
- visa application form with photo
- local government recommendation / selection confirmation
- standard labor (employment) contract between the approved employer and worker
- documents proving eligibility category (MOU list, or proof of relationship to a marriage immigrant for the invitation route)
- health/other documents as required by the receiving mission or local program. (Exact document set is set each cycle by the local government and the Ministry of Justice program guidelines — verify the current cycle notice.)
How to apply
- Not individually applied.
- Runs through a local government (city/county mayor) under the Foreign Seasonal Worker Program: MOU type (Korean local gov signs an agreement with a foreign local gov) or public/consignment type (공공형/위탁형).
- Local gov selects and recommends the worker within an allocated quota, immigration pre-screens, then a visa issuance confirmation is issued and the worker applies at a Korean overseas mission (or changes status if already in Korea on D-1/D-2/D-4/D-10/F-1/F-3).
- This is a local-government-driven program, not an individually applied work visa.
- Flow: local government (city/county mayor) applies within a quota set by the inter-ministry Allocation Review Committee (Justice, Employment/Labor, Agriculture, Oceans/Fisheries, Interior; convenes about twice a year) -> immigration pre-screening -> allocation confirmed -> visa issuance confirmation document issued -> worker applies for the visa at a Korean overseas mission (or, for those already in Korea, changes status) -> entry.
- Two operating types: MOU type (local gov signs an agreement with a foreign local government) and public/consignment type (공공형 / 위탁형).
Stay & extension
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Under the current program the E-8 stay ceiling is 8 months (raised from the previous 5 months). Workers are intended to complete the season within a single grant without a separate lengthy extension; where extension is granted the total E-8 stay may not exceed 8 months.
Re-entry / re-selection in a later season is done through the local-government program again rather than by long-term renewal. E-8 is a temporary seasonal status and does not itself lead to indefinite renewal.
Working on this visa
Employment is limited to the specific agricultural or fishery work and the specific approved employer/region assigned through the local-government program. Working outside the assigned employer or scope is not permitted.
Transfers between employers are only allowed through the program’s official reassignment process.
Requirements in detail
No formal Korean-language test requirement for the seasonal worker program (unverified as to any local-government-specific preferences).
Korean statutory minimum wage must be guaranteed under the standard labor contract. Guarantee basis proposed to change from a day-count basis (work on at least 75% of stay days) to an hours basis (at least 35 hours/week) – announced 2024-11-26, effective status unverified.
No single fixed national number. Half-yearly allocation set by the inter-ministry Allocation Review Committee (Justice, Employment/Labor, Agriculture/MAFRA, Oceans-Fisheries/MOF, Interior), which convenes about twice a year and assigns worker counts to each requesting local government.
Per-employer cap up to ~9 workers by farm/operation size (up to ~14 for incentive-qualified local governments). Large annual allocations continued into 2025-2026 (specific totals reported in news, not confirmed against official figures) (unverified).
Yes – local government (시·군) selection/recommendation is required, with allocation decided by the inter-ministry Allocation Review Committee (Ministry of Justice, MOEL, MAFRA for agriculture, MOF for fishery, Ministry of the Interior). Program administered by the Ministry of Justice / Korea Immigration Service.
None in force. E-8 is short-term and not a standard pathway to long-term/skilled status.
In early 2026 the Ministry of Justice announced a plan for a new agriculture/fishery skilled visa that could let qualifying seasonal (E-8) workers move toward E-7-4 – announced, not yet in force (unverified).
Sub-types
E-8-1agriculture (농업 계절근로)E-8-2fishery (어업 계절근로). Same local-government programsub-code reflects sector of work.
Generally not allowed. E-8 is a short-term seasonal status (max 8 months) with no accompanying-family (F-3) provision.
Mobile Alien Registration Card (외국인등록증) rolled out in 2025 for registered foreign residents; an E-8 worker who completes alien registration (stays 90+ days) can in principle use it. E-8-specific availability not separately confirmed (unverified).
2025–2026 policy updates
- (1) Maximum stay raised from 5 months to 8 months — reflected as the current ceiling on the official Ministry of Justice / Immigration program pages, so treated as in force (announced 2024-11-26; verify exact enforcement-rule effective date).
- (2) Consolidation of short-term seasonal work into a single E-8 status: the government announced (2024-11-26) it would run only one E-8 seasonal status instead of the previous two-track system (C-4 short-term under 90 days vs E-8 for 5+ months).
- News reports place the practical shift around late 2025, but as of this research the Immigration Act enforcement decree still lists C-4 (short-term employment, 단기취업) as a valid work status, so the full C-4->E-8 merger is best treated as announced / in progress — effective status unverified in official law text.
- (3) Minimum-wage guarantee basis proposed to change from a day-count basis (work on at least 75% of stay days) to an hours basis (at least 35 hours/week) — announced 2024-11-26 (announced, effective status unverified).
- (4) 2024-2025 pilot for consignment-type (위탁형) seasonal work (Immigration press release 2025-10-22).
- (5) Online employment-information reporting for E-8 employers expanded via HiKorea, taking effect from early 2026 (Immigration press releases 2025-12-16).
- (6) Quota expansion: large annual E-8 allocations continued into 2025-2026 (specific totals reported in news — verify against official announcements).
Common mistakes
- Assuming an individual can apply for E-8 directly at an embassy — it must go through a local-government program selection first.
- Confusing E-8 (seasonal) with E-9 (non-professional employment / EPS long-term).
- Assuming the old C-4 short-term seasonal route still applies — seasonal work is being centralized under E-8.
- Working for a different farm/employer than the assigned one.
- Assuming the 8-month stay can be extended into long-term residence.
Where this leads
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