微旺爱海
Aihire
Internet, games and head-office roles in Seoul and Pangyo; manufacturing and logistics in Gyeonggi and Incheon. Foreign professionals in Korea mostly enter on E-7 and similar categories, where the link between the job and the candidate's background is scrutinised — and for local roles, Korean language ability carries real weight.
For foreign professionals in Korea, the critical point is how well the visa category matches the occupation. E-7 (designated activities) covers most professional roles; the employer generally obtains a visa issuance confirmation first, and the job duties must line up with the candidate's degree and experience. D-8 covers investing in and running a business, D-10 is a job-seeking visa and E-2 is for language teaching. A weak link between the role and the candidate's background is the main reason for refusal. On the local side, Korean workplaces place a high premium on language, so customer-facing, collaborative and management roles usually require strong Korean, and interviews should be run in Korean.
Korean talent concentrates in the capital region. Seoul holds head-office functions, finance, internet and content businesses. Pangyo in Seongnam is the cluster for IT and games companies. Incheon and the rest of Gyeonggi are dominated by manufacturing, logistics and distribution. When Chinese companies build teams in Korea, the common roles are Korea-market operations, commercial, technical and localised management positions.
Korean is the primary working language. Commercial communication inside multinationals and Chinese companies can run in Chinese or English, but roles involving local customers, channel partners or team collaboration generally require Korean or benefit strongly from it. Korean workplaces are relatively hierarchical in organisation and reporting, and support during the first months affects how well a hire settles in.
Game operations, localisation, community management, content planning and marketing.
Engineering, data, product management and technical support roles.
Sales, channel development, customer success and commercial roles for Korean clients.
Korea store operations, category and campaign management, live commerce and content.
Production management, process and equipment engineering, quality and supply chain.
Korean support, after-sales handling, service operations and QA.
| Category | Who it is for | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| E-7 (designated activities) | Employees in professional fields | The role must be relevant to the candidate's degree and experience; the employer generally obtains a visa issuance confirmation first, and documentation follows the latest immigration rules |
| E-2 | Language teaching staff | A specific field, different from ordinary corporate roles |
| D-8 | People investing in and operating a business | For investment and business operation, not employed work |
| D-10 | Job seekers | A job-seeking visa, not a route to long-term employment; changing status has its own conditions |
| F-series | Those with residence or permanent residence status | Different statuses carry different work restrictions, confirmed case by case |
Eligibility, documentation and processing times for each visa category change with policy. This page explains the framework and the usual pitfalls. Confirm against the latest rules from Korea's immigration authorities before starting.
Assess the link between the role and the candidate's background before documents are prepared, so eligibility problems surface early.
A Korean-speaking consultant runs the interview, assessing speaking, listening and workplace writing.
Insurance and severance are built into the budget so the salary offer is both workable and sustainable.
Coordinate onboarding and early communication support to reduce cross-cultural friction.
Professional roles usually go through E-7, but the category depends on the nature of the role and the candidate's background — D-8, E-2 and F-series cover different situations. The relevance between role and background is the focal point of review, and requirements follow the latest immigration rules.
In some technical, product or commercial roles at multinationals and Chinese companies, English or Chinese is enough. Roles involving local customers, channels or team collaboration normally require Korean.
Beyond salary, the national pension, health insurance, employment insurance and industrial accident compensation normally apply, along with severance pay for eligible employees. Coverage and rates follow current rules.
Local job boards and company career pages are the baseline, but mid-to-senior candidates usually require targeted search and industry networks. We run local channels and our own candidate pool in parallel.
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