South Korea grants short-term work permits to parents of international students

The Korean government will launch a pilot program that allows foreign students to invite their parents to Korea to work in agricultural production areas or fishing villages located near their schools.

On February 25, the South Korean Ministry of Justice said that parents of foreign students studying at universities outside the Seoul area for more than a year, except for students enrolled in language courses, can work as seasonal workers for up to eight months in the area where their children are studying.

To be eligible for the pilot program, which runs until the end of this year, foreign students' parents must be 55 or younger and have no criminal record or health problems.

Their children also have no record of violating Korean law and must have more than two semesters left before applying for a permit.

South Korea is rolling out a seasonal worker program that allows legal foreign workers to be hired for short periods to address chronic labor shortages during busy farming and fishing seasons.

So far, the program has been applied to relatives of marriage migrants, residents of foreign local governments that have signed relevant memoranda of understanding with Korean partners, or those with visas that allow seasonal work, such as D-1, D-2, or D-4.

The government's decision to expand the program to include parents of foreign students is based on positive evaluation results for previous participants, such as relatives of marriage migrants.

A Justice Ministry official said the ministry will thoroughly analyze any difficulties in operating the pilot projects and improve the system, to support the 131 local governments of South Korea participating in the pilot project to operate the system smoothly.