The South Korean Government has decided to keep exempting the mandatory seven-day quarantine and extend labor contracts for eligible Vietnamese workers from April 1, if they have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
In addition to the vaccination certificates, Vietnamese workers entering South Korea need to show a certificate of negative Covid-19 test results prior to their departure and have their QR code upon entry.
The South Korean Government recently removed Vietnam, Myanmar and Ukraine from the list of countries subject to tightened Covid-19 control measures.
Moreover, workers whose labor contracts expire from April 13 will have their contracts automatically extended.
A group of Vietnamese workers on the way to South Korea. Photo: Giang Nam |
This is the third consecutive extension since April 13, 2021, which is considered one of the solutions to the labor shortage in South Korea amid the serious impacts of the pandemic.
In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency, Pham Minh Duc, head of the management office for Vietnamese workers under South Korea’s Employment Permit System (EPS) program, said that South Korea on March 17 received nearly 100 Vietnamese workers under the EPS program who arrived at Incheon International Airport in Seoul, but they are subject to concentrated quarantine.
This was the flight with the highest number of EPS workers since South Korea officially allowed the entry of Vietnamese laborers on May 21, 2021, after more than one year of disruption due to the expiration of the two countries' agreement on this issue and the Covid-19 pandemic, Duc added.
He noted that after the South Korean Government decided to relax anti-pandemic rules for foreigners on April 1, the number of Vietnamese workers entering this country under the EPS program is likely to surge in the coming time.
The Overseas Labor Center said it has formulated procedures to support Vietnamese workers in South Korea according to which they can report their situation on the center’s website if they need help to return to Vietnam.
South Korea is currently one of the key labor export markets for Vietnam and continues to be so after the government re-launched the EPS program in 2016, which allows 15 countries including Vietnam to send workers to South Korea. The EPS is valid for two years and renewable on expiration.
