Lankan migrant workers to be allowed for jobs in Korea soon: Envoy

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea today announced that they are to allow new Sri Lankan migrant workers to enter Korea very soon.

Korean Ambassador Santhush Woonjin JEONG said Korea has decided to allow entry to new Sri Lankan workers and workers from other foreign countries to Korea in the near future. 

"Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, only the re-entering migrant workers would be allowed to enter Korea and entry of fresh workers has been restricted," he said. 

However, the vaccination rate is getting high enough to accommodate the foreign workers and the worldwide COVID-19 situation has become more stable, he said.

Therefore, the Korean Government had decided to restart allowing new foreign workers including Sri Lankans on condition of fulfilment of Korean government’s public health guideline. 

Initially, Korea will accommodate a limited number of new foreign employees as the first batch and this number will gradually increase. 

"Resolving the migrant worker issue has been one of the top priorities to me as Korean Ambassador to Sri Lanka. The Korean Embassy and EPS Centre in Sri Lanka have worked hard to resume the entry procedure. The Embassy has also maintained the close coordination with the Sri Lankan government to solve this issue," Ambassador Woonjin JEONG said.

The Korean government and its Embassy highly value the significant role of Sri Lankan migrant workers and their precious contribution. 

The migrant workers bridge both countries in many ways, as they continue to contribute to the economic development of Korea and Sri Lanka. More than 20,000 Sri Lankan employees are presently in Korea and around 520 million US dollars were transmitted by them from Korea to Sri Lanka in 2019. 

"I am glad to share this positive news with Sri Lanka. The Korean Embassy will continue to work closely with Sri Lankan government to strengthen our bilateral labour cooperation," the Ambassador added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)