Recently, a small and medium-sized manufacturing company inquired about issuing an E7 visa.
The applicant they wish to hire is a Mongolian woman who graduated from a 4-year university in her home country and has a master's degree in business administration from a domestic graduate school (with a master's degree certificate) but has no work experience.
※ Even if there is work experience in the home country, only work experience related to the field of study after graduation is recognized. (Related work experience means it matches the introduction area)
The company wanted to know if it was possible to hire her as a manager related to product production.
Of course, domestic master's graduates can apply for an E7 visa even if their major does not match and they have no experience, as long as the basic requirements are met.
The job description, qualification requirements, etc., for a product production-related manager can be checked in the link below.
Typically, if a manufacturing business hires a foreign worker as a product production-related manager, the worker's duties would involve managing the production site, such as being a factory manager or production line supervisor.
However, they want to hire a young foreign woman, who hardly speaks Korean and has no experience, as a manager to oversee workers on the production floor.
It appears as if they are hiring a foreign worker for simple labor tasks, but from the company's perspective, since there's no other visa available that fits their needs, they are attempting to use the E7 visa, even though it's for a different purpose. The immigration office obviously knows this too.
(E9 workers are allocated by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, so I will not discuss them here.)
I advised the company representative that it doesn't seem appropriate to apply as a product production-related manager, suggesting that if there's another introduction area that matches the applicant's major or is logically acceptable even if it doesn't match the major, it would be more appropriate to proceed in that direction.
※ For example, even if it's a manufacturing business, if the business registration includes other categories like retail, and
1. The company has trade relations with the applicant's country (confirmed by export/import performance or contracts), or
2. Needs marketing towards nationals or companies that speak the applicant's language, or
In cases where English is the native language, marketing activities are involved,
It might be possible to apply as an overseas salesperson or in a marketing-related occupation.
※ Note, for the 15 manager occupations for foreign workers, the annual salary is also considered during the review.
The salary standard should logically reflect the company's position but should be higher than the general wage requirement for E-7-1, which is 80% of GNI (about 2.85 million KRW per month), especially since it's a managerial (executive, manager level) position. From my practical experience, for a product production-related manager, I recommend an annual salary above 1 times GNI (currently over 42.49 million KRW), and for other managerial positions, an annual salary over 50 million KRW is advisable.
Next, I will post about the currently ongoing case of a business support manager. This case is about hiring a foreigner from abroad by a domestic company (confirmation of visa issuance ), not a change of domestic status by domestic students to E7 visa.
The inviting company was also in manufacturing, importing raw materials for product production from Japan. They planned to hire a Japanese national as the head of the product purchasing team, i.e., the product purchase manager, and asked me if it was okay to select the occupation as a manager related to sales and marketing.
After thoroughly reviewing the applicant's history, I found that business support manager was more appropriate and applied under that category.
The invitee majored in chemistry at a Japanese university, and although the major didn't exactly match the introduction area, she had over 10 years of related experience in the purchasing department (matching the career and introduction area exactly), and the plan was to hire her as a manager (head level), making the salary level reasonably understandable.
This is a very favorable case, and unless unforeseen circumstances arise, the E7 visa will likely be issued smoothly. From my experience, I am quite comfortable with such cases once the visa application is submitted.
Comparing this with the case of the product production-related manager, the difference is clear even though both are in manufacturing and hiring foreign workers as managers.
Just by looking at the company brochure and the applicant's resume, the purpose of hiring and the complexity of the job, as well as the likelihood of visa issuance, can be predicted.
As a reference, when I receive an inquiry for an E7 visa issuance, I briefly grasp the requirements over the phone, and if it seems feasible, I request the company brochure, business registration certificate, and the invitee's resume for further review. The resume should detail the applicant's personal information, education, major, experience, Korean language score, etc., The information provided is considered factual and is reviewed as such. It is advised to only write factual information because later, during the visa application process, documentation to prove the contents of the resume will be requested as official documents.
For job descriptions, qualification requirements, etc., related to sales and marketing managers, please refer to the link below.
Next is the business support manager.
E7 Business Support Manager
(Job Description) - A person who plans, directs, and coordinates activities related to business support functions like management, human resources, under the comprehensive direction of an executive, in consultation with other department managers to support production activities. (Possible Job Examples) General affairs and human resources managers, planning․public relations and advertising managers, finance managers, materials and purchasing managers, and other management department managers. (Qualification Requirements, Visa Issuance, and Residence Management) General standards apply.