EPS: Working in Korea

This page covers life on the E-9 once you are in Korea. The application from Nepal - the language test, the roster, job matching - is at EPS: applying from Nepal.

Two things here are worth more than anything else on the page. There is a payout waiting for you when you leave, and a great many workers never claim it. And a workplace transfer caused by your employer's fault generally does not count against your limited number of transfers - but only if you documented it at the time.

Your stay, and the way it extends

The E-9 permits a defined period of just under five years, with a further term available to workers who meet the conditions. Beyond that there is a re-entry route for workers who complete their contract in good standing and return to Nepal, allowing a shorter wait before coming back for another term.

That re-entry provision rewards the thing that is hardest in the moment: finishing the contract rather than walking out. It is worth treating as money, because that is what it is.

Term lengths and conditions are revised, so confirm the current position with the support centre or the employment office rather than with a colleague who went through it four years ago.

The four EPS insurances

Specific to this visa, often never explained, and one of them is effectively your severance:

Insurance	What it does
Departure guarantee	Your payout on leaving Korea. Funded by the employer against your service
Return cost	Covers your flight home. You pay into this one
Guarantee insurance	Employer-funded, covers unpaid wages if the business fails
Casualty insurance	Covers accident or illness outside work. You pay into this one

The departure guarantee payout is the one to act on. It is normally paid after you leave the country, it has to be claimed, and there is a time limit. Workers who go home without starting the claim, or who assume somebody will send it automatically, lose real money.

Before you fly: confirm with the insurer and your employer what you are owed, make sure they hold your Nepali bank details, and keep the policy paperwork. You can pursue it from Nepal, but it is far easier to set up while you are still here. Nepal-Korea services covers the transfer side.

Note that this is separate from the national pension, which may be refundable depending on the arrangement between Nepal and Korea. Ask about both. Wages, overtime and severance covers the pension question.

Changing workplace

Permitted, but limited in number across your stay, and that limit is the single biggest source of pressure on an EPS worker.

The distinction that decides everything: where the reason for moving is the employer's fault - wages unpaid, the business closing, conditions that breach the contract, abuse - that generally does not count against your allowance. Where you simply want a different job, it does.

Which means the practical rule is: document the reason while it is happening. Keep payslips showing what did not arrive, keep your own daily record of hours, photograph unsafe or unfit accommodation, and keep messages. A transfer application supported by records is a different proposition from one supported by your account alone.

Applications go through the employment office. Do not leave the workplace first and explain afterwards; leaving without authorisation can cost you both the transfer and your status. Your rights as a worker covers the entitlements, and making a complaint in Korea covers filing.

The route upward most workers never hear about

If you stay in Korea on an E-9 for several years, there is a points-based route to a skilled worker status that is not tied to the EPS system - longer term, more freedom, and a step toward residence rather than a dead end at four years and ten months.

Points typically come from your income, your Korean ability, your skills and qualifications, how long you have worked in Korea, and your record. The things you can build deliberately are the language and the qualifications.

So sit TOPIK while you are here. It costs little, it is offered in Korea, and it is the component most within your control. The TOPIK test covers it, and KIIP covers the integration programme, which also earns points and is free.

This is the difference between four years of earning and a longer life in Korea if you want one. Long-term residence covers where it leads.

Help that exists in Nepali

You are not expected to navigate this in Korean. The support centres for foreign workers provide counselling, interpretation and help with transfer and wage problems, several with Nepali-speaking staff or volunteers. The immigration contact centre on 1345 works in multiple languages free of charge. The labour counselling line handles wage complaints.

Use them early rather than after a situation has deteriorated. Free legal help for foreigners lists the services, and the Nepali community covers the networks that will point you to them.

Where this goes wrong

• Going home without claiming the departure payout. It is yours, and it expires.
• No records when wages stop or conditions are unfit.
• Leaving a workplace without authorisation, forfeiting a transfer you were entitled to.
• Using up transfers on moves that an employer-fault claim would have covered.
• Never sitting TOPIK, and closing off the skilled-worker route.
• Paying anyone a fee. The official process has official costs and nothing else.

Where to go next

Daily life as a Nepali worker covers the living side, and EPS: applying from Nepal covers the process before you arrive.