Foreigners flock to North Chungcheong Province with new work visa

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Sun, December 3, 2023 | 20:02

Society

Foreigners flock to North Chungcheong Province with new work visa

Posted : 2023-06-12 16:57

Updated : 2023-06-12 17:51

North Chungcheong Provincial Government Office in Cheongju / Courtesy of North Chungcheong Provincial Government

By Ko Dong-hwan

Foreign migrants flocked to North Chungcheong Province faster than anticipated this year following the immigration authorities' policies to promote immigration, especially in regions with dwindling populations.

The signs of an increase were found in Jecheon City and Danyang County, regions subject to the central government's pilot project, which started at the beginning of this year.

Under the new policies, the authority introduced a region-special visa to encourage migrants to settle in regions, which meet their needs for study or employment. The Ministry of Justice rolled out the system last October.

"The visa has two categories: F-4 for ethnic Koreans with foreign nationalities and F-2 for those with a different ethnicity," Yeom Mi-sook, head of the new Foreigners Management Division under the North Chungcheong Province Government, told The Korea Times, Monday. The division was set up in January to focus on immigration and other legal support for foreign nationals in the province.

While local populations in the two regions have shrunk much faster than other municipalities in the province, the justice ministry allocated a cap of 170 migrants in the two regions for this year under the system.

The provincial government said 148 migrants have already settled in the regions with the two new special visas, which fills 87 percent of the quota for this year.

The quota for Danyang, 35, has been fully met and the provincial government is looking to attract more applicants for Jecheon during the remainder of this year.

Cho Deok-jin, chief of the Planning and Management Bureau under the provincial government, said that they aim to attract 60,000 foreigners to the province as a long-term goal. The authority plans to attract skilled migrants to settle there and ensure that they are free from discrimination by local Koreans, he said.

The provincial government began running a team of foreign advisors for local administrative policies and surveyed foreign residents to study their needs and current living conditions.

The authority said that they plan to expand the target regions for the new visa to attract more skilled migrants to the province. As of late April, almost 59,000 foreigners were living in the province, according to the authority.

aoshima11@koreatimes.co.kr

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