South Korea is opening an official route into its labor market for citizens of Kazakhstan, thousands of whom already work in the country without legal status. Seoul has added Kazakhstan to its Employment Permit System (EPS), a government program that allows South Korean employers facing labor shortages to recruit workers from participating countries. Kazakh workers are expected to begin arriving through the system in 2028.
Kazakhstan has become the 18th country designated as a sending country under the EPS, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Labor and Social Protection.
Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan already participate in the program. Kazakhstan had sought admission since 2023, but its large population of undocumented workers in South Korea became the main obstacle to an agreement.
According to figures cited by Kazakh officials in 2025, about 15,000 Kazakhstanis were working in South Korea, roughly 11,000 of them without legal status.
The EPS allows foreign workers to obtain E-9 visas for jobs in sectors facing labor shortages, including manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and fisheries. Workers are generally admitted for three years, with extensions allowing them to remain for up to four years and 10 months.
Recruitment will not begin immediately. Kazakhstan and South Korea must first sign a memorandum of understanding and establish the arrangements for the Korean-language test required under the EPS (EPS-TOPIK), which Kazakh officials have said will be conducted at the National Testing Center in Almaty.
Kazakh citizens can travel to South Korea visa-free for short stays, but this does not give them the right to work. Some visitors have overstayed and found jobs in construction, agriculture, and other sectors.
The scale of undocumented employment complicated Kazakhstan’s attempt to join the EPS. In the fall of 2025, Kazakh officials acknowledged that Seoul wanted concrete measures to reduce illegal migration. Astana prepared a roadmap aimed at reducing the number of undocumented workers and preventing those recruited through a future legal scheme from overstaying.
For prospective workers, the change is straightforward: instead of entering South Korea as a visitor and seeking work without authorization, applicants will be able to apply from Kazakhstan and enter the country with permission to work.
The agreement forms part of a broader effort by Kazakhstan to create legal routes for its citizens working abroad. Astana has also reached labor-migration agreements or cooperation arrangements with countries including Qatar and the United Kingdom, while pursuing similar deals elsewhere.
