- South Korea expanded its Top-Tier Visa to include science and technology professors and research professionals.
- The government targets 350 high-skilled visa holders by 2030 to address demographic and labor shortages.
- A new K-CORE Visa (E-7-M) will facilitate residency for foreign graduates in manufacturing sectors.
(SOUTH KOREA) — South Korea’s Ministry of Justice expanded its Top-Tier Visa on March 3, 2026, to include science and technology professors and researchers, widening a program that had focused on corporate talent in priority industries.
The ministry framed the change as a way to draw high-skilled workers more broadly into the country, bringing universities and research institutes into a policy lane that had largely centered on companies.
Until Tuesday’s announcement, eligibility for the Top-Tier Visa applied to employees tied to eight advanced industries: semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, secondary batteries, future mobility, biotechnology, displays, and defense. The expanded scope now adds science and technology professors and researchers alongside corporate workers in those fields.
Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho delivered the plan at a press briefing as part of the government’s “2030 Immigration Policy Future Strategy,” the ministry said. The minister’s name is also spelled Sung-ho Jung.
The ministry described the Top-Tier Visa as a pathway designed to attract high-skill talent, and it acknowledged the program had remained limited in uptake so far. Officials now want it to grow substantially through 2030, with the expansion meant to open a clearer route for academia and research.
As of February 2026, the ministry said the Top-Tier Visa had 20 holders. It set a target of increasing that total to 350 by 2030, with 250 in advanced industries and 100 in science and technology.
In presenting the broader strategy, the ministry linked the visa expansion to pressures from low birthrates, an aging population, and skilled talent shortages in key sectors. The package positioned foreign talent attraction as an economic and labor-market response, alongside steps aimed at longer-term settlement.
Jung said the government wanted faster movement on the measures. “We will push forward with these initiatives swiftly so that immigration policy can contribute to both the national economy and people’s livelihoods, creating changes that citizens can feel,” he said.
Alongside the Top-Tier change, the ministry announced a new K-CORE Visa (E-7-M) aimed at foreign graduates of domestic community colleges who studied manufacturing fields. The ministry cast the program as a way to train mid-level technical workers for regional companies, including in automobile manufacturing and precision machinery.
Cha Yong-ho, head of the Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters, said family members could accompany workers under the K-CORE Visa. The ministry said the program covers 16 designated technical areas.
Another move broadened the K-STAR Visa track, which the ministry described as a fast-track route toward F-2 residency and a shortened path to permanent residency (F-5). The expansion increased coverage to 32 universities, up from five: KAIST, DGIST, UNIST, GIST, and UST.
Under the K-STAR track, the ministry said university presidents recommend top STEM graduates — including Master’s, Ph.D., and postdoctoral graduates — for immediate F-2 status upon graduation. The ministry set an aim of recruiting over 500 annually, up from 100.
The ministry also said it would simplify work visas by restructuring E-series categories into three tiers: high-skilled, mid-skilled, and low-skilled. It described the change as a shift from 10 categories and 39 subcategories to a streamlined tiered system, giving examples that included researchers in high-skilled classifications such as E-3, mid-skilled such as E-2, and low-skilled such as E-9-1.
A separate two-year pilot, called the Regional Vitality Small Business Special Exception, will allow small businesses in depopulating areas to hire foreign workers, the ministry said. The ministry presented the pilot as part of a wider effort to address uneven demographic and economic pressures between the capital region and areas facing population decline.
The ministry’s strategy also described a shift in emphasis from short-term low-skilled labor toward longer-term skilled settlement. Officials tied that approach to expectations around Korean language and social integration requirements as part of the settlement direction, without detailing specific thresholds in the announcement.
On governance, the ministry said the head of the Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters would be elevated to vice-minister level, while avoiding separation into an independent agency. The change signaled an internal reorganization rather than the creation of a new standalone body.
The Top-Tier Visa expansion immediately broadens the pool of eligible talent for South Korea’s universities, labs, and research institutes, placing them more directly alongside major industries in the government’s immigration planning. The ministry’s parallel tracks — Top-Tier, K-CORE, and K-STAR — plus the restructuring of work visas, align with its stated push to widen skilled pipelines while anchoring policy to the “2030 Immigration Policy Future Strategy.”
Jung said the government intended the package to be felt beyond immigration administration, linking it to daily economic concerns as well as longer-term demographic change. “We will push forward with these initiatives swiftly so that immigration policy can contribute to both the national economy and people’s livelihoods, creating changes that citizens can feel,” he said.
