As COVID-19 becomes a part of our daily lives, the travel industry, which had completely collapsed, is gradually showing signs of revival. The nearly 3-year hiatus is slowly easing, and there's a renewed effort in the travel sector to hire new employees and restart businesses.
Not long ago, a travel agency representative reached out to me. They asked if there was a way to bring back an employee who had been with them and is currently in Bhutan after the outbreak of COVID-19.
Fortunately, the company had recently hired 5 new domestic employees, excluding the representative. Among them, one was originally an overseas Korean but had recently acquired Korean nationality.
The applicant had graduated from a tourism department in Korea and had work experience at a travel agency in Korea. It seemed like a perfect match in terms of qualifications. However, the specific requirements for a travel product developer turned out to be quite stringent. Let's delve into the eligibility and documentation requirements for a travel product developer.
E7 Visa for Travel Product Developer
❍ (Job Description) Liaises between domestic and international travel agencies, plans and develops travel products that meet customer needs, organizes group tours, acquires information about various available transportation methods, costs, and conveniences, and provides travel advice.
❍ (Possible Job Titles) Travel Planner, Travel Product Developer
- Exclusion: Tourist Interpreter Guide (43213)
❍ (Recommendation for Employment) Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (Tourism Industry Division) ※ Mandatory
❍ (Required Documents) Copy of the travel business registration certificate (general travel business), additional proof of foreign tourist attraction performance
❍ (Qualifications) General requirements apply. However, if qualifications are met through experience without a degree, there are restrictions (those with over 5 years of experience in the relevant field are restricted)
❍ (National Employment Protection Review Criteria) General criteria apply, and separate standards for company qualifications and allowable employment numbers apply (up to 3 people)
◆ (Company Qualification Requirements) Companies registered for tourism business with the local government according to the Tourism Promotion Act and have an average annual foreign tourist attraction performance of over 2,000 people in the last two years (Submission of a certificate of foreign tourist attraction performance issued by the Korea Travel Business Association) or equivalent performance.
* Performance in attracting chartered flights from overseas, awards from local governments related to attracting foreign tourists, excellent travel agencies designated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, or travel agencies with excellent travel products designated by the Korea Travel Business Association, etc.
** Only general travel agencies targeting domestic residents and foreigners traveling within or outside Korea are applicable. Travel agencies targeting only domestic residents for domestic and international travel are excluded.
◆ (Allowable Employment Number) Up to 2 people per company. However, if the average annual foreign tourist attraction performance in the last two years is over 5,000 or if they employ a foreigner who graduated from a domestic university, they can employ one additional person per reason (up to 3 people).
◆ (Other Matters) If there are no specific national employment protection measures regarding company size, employment ratio, minimum wage, etc., general standards apply in full.
❍ (Visa Issuance and Stay Management, etc.) General standards apply.
As you can see, while general standards fully apply (employing more than 5 domestic employees), there are additional specific requirements, making it challenging for general travel agencies to employ even one foreign employee.
※ The number of domestic employees is determined based on Korean citizens registered for employment insurance. It's important to note that they are considered current employees only after being registered for employment insurance for more than three months and receiving a salary above the minimum wage (as of 2022, 1.92 million won).
Most domestic inbound travel agencies are small. Therefore, small travel agencies that find it challenging to employ five domestic employees usually hire foreigners with F2, F5, or F6 visas, which generally have no employment restrictions.
From the perspective of domestic inbound travel agencies, efficient communication with local travel agencies recruiting tourists from overseas is crucial. Therefore, unless they are attracting tourists from English-speaking countries, it's often more efficient to hire native speakers from the target country, making the travel sector one of the industries that desperately need foreign employees.
And as for the requirement that states, "an average annual foreign tourist attraction performance of over 2,000 in the last two years," it would have been impossible for any travel agency to meet this during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, as a special case, the performance criteria for the last two years are based on the years 2018 to 2019, before the pandemic.
For the required documents to invite a foreign employee with an E7 visa (visa issuance recognition application), you can check the linked blog below.