E-7-4 in 2026: how E-9 and E-10 workers earn a long-term visa in Korea

9 min read

Most work visas in Korea have a ceiling built in on purpose. E-9 (non-professional employment), E-10 (seafarers) and H-2 (working visit, for ethnic Korean nationals of certain countries) let you work, but not bring your spouse or kids, and they were never designed to lead anywhere on their own. For years the plan for someone on one of those visas was simple and blunt: work the years you're allowed, then leave.

E-7-4 is the door out of that dead end. It's a points-based conversion — nicknamed K-Point E74 by the Ministry of Justice — that turns years of legal work experience into a long-term skilled-worker visa, with family invitation rights E-9 never carried. It just went through its biggest rule change in years, and one of those changes has a clock attached that runs out at the end of this year.

  • 33,000National E-7-4 slots for 2026, set by the Ministry of Justice
  • 200 / 300Minimum points needed, including bonus points
  • Dec 31, 2026Deadline to apply under the temporary Korean-score exemption

Where E-7-4 sits in the E-7 family

E-7 isn't one visa — it's a set of four tiers, and which one you hold changes what kind of work Korea considers you qualified to do. E-7-4 is the only tier built to promote people already working here, rather than to bring someone in from outside.

The four E-7 tiers: E-7-1 for managers and professionals such as software developers, E-7-2 for office and service roles such as caregivers, E-7-3 for skilled trades such as shipyard welders, and E-7-4 for skilled workers promoted from E-9, E-10 or H-2 through a points system rather than hired in from abroad E-7-1 Managers & professionals E-7-2 Office & service roles E-7-3 Skilled tradespeople E-7-4 Promoted from E-9 / E-10 / H-2 E-7-1 through E-7-3 are usually hired in from outside Korea. E-7-4 is earned by a points score while already working here.
E-7-4 covers manufacturing, root industries, construction, farming and livestock, shipbuilding, and coastal fishing — the "숙련도가 축적된 비전문 근로자," workers whose skill built up on the job rather than in a classroom.

The four boxes you have to tick

The Ministry of Justice's K-Point E74 plan sets four baseline requirements. Miss any one and the points score underneath doesn't matter.

  • 4 of the last 10 yearsOn E-9, E-10 or H-2, currently employed and in good standing (3 years accepted outside the Seoul capital area with a provincial government's recommendation)
  • ₩26,000,000/yearMinimum salary with 2+ more years on the E-7-4 contract (₩24,000,000–25,000,000 for farming, livestock and coastal-vessel work)
  • 1+ yearWith your current employer, and their recommendation
  • 200 of 300 pointsIncluding bonus points, with income and Korean each clearing a 50-point floor on their own

Fail on paper — a fine over ₩1,000,000, four or more immigration-law violations, an unpaid tax bill, or more than 3 months of undocumented stay at any point — and you're excluded regardless of your score.

How the 300 points break down

Income and Korean ability carry more weight than anything else — each is worth up to 120 points, more than double what age is worth at its best.

Ⓐ Average income — up to 120 pts

Your average annual income over the last 2 years. ₩25–30M scores 50; it climbs in 65/80/95/110 steps through the ₩3.5–4.5M brackets, topping out at 120 for ₩50M and above.

Ⓑ Korean ability — up to 120 pts

TOPIK level, or the Social Integration Program (KIIP) equivalent. Level 2 / KIIP stage 2 scores 50. Level 3 / stage 3 scores 80. Level 4 or higher / stage 4+ scores the full 120.

Age adds up to 60 more — and it isn't a straight line. 19–26 scores 40, 34–40 scores 30, and 41 and up scores only 10, but the 27–33 band scores the full 60, the single highest score on the entire table for anything other than a top income or language bracket.

On top of the 300-point base sit bonus points that don't count toward the 300 ceiling but do count toward the 200 you need: your employer's recommendation is worth 50 on its own — more than an entire age bracket — a central-ministry or provincial-government recommendation adds 30 (the two don't stack, only the higher counts), three-plus years with your current employer or in a population-decline township adds 20 each, and a relevant certificate, a Korean degree, or a Korean driver's license each add a further 20 or 10.

The exemption ends December 31, 2026 If you clear 150 points without your Korean score, the Ministry will issue E-7-4 now on the condition you bring your Korean level up to the full requirement before your first renewal, two years out. That exemption is only open to applications filed by December 31, 2026 — after that, the 50-point Korean floor applies to everyone from the first application, no exception.

What changed on June 1, 2026

The Ministry of Justice rewrote two rules this year specifically because they were working against the people they were meant to help.

Before

Leave a job — even because it closed, or because you weren't paid, or because you were mistreated — and your "1+ year with this employer" clock reset to zero. A worker nine months into a job that then went bankrupt had to start over at a new one.

After June 2026

If the job change wasn't your fault (closure, unpaid wages, abuse), your time at the old job now adds to your time at the new one. Nine months at the old employer plus four at the new one now reads as thirteen months — past the one-year line.

The other change is about supply, not you directly, but it explains where slots are actually opening: the cap on how many E-7-4 workers one employer can hold — normally 30% of their Korean headcount — rises to 50% for farming, livestock and coastal fishing employers (joining population-decline regions and root industries, which already had it), and a small farm or fishing operation with 4 or fewer Korean employees can now hold 2 E-7-4 workers regardless of that ratio.

Applying — and what you actually get

How an E-7-4 application moves: a sector recommendation from K-Work for manufacturing or Agriwork for farming and fishing, or apply directly if no sector program applies, then the recommendation is forwarded to the Ministry of Justice, then apply for the visa itself through Hi Korea, where a recommendation improves your score but never guarantees approval Sector recommendation K-Work (manufacturing) Agriwork (farm/fishing) optional, adds points Forwarded to the Ministry of Justice Recommendation only — not a visa decision Visa application Hi Korea e-civil affairs hikorea.go.kr rolling, year-round Approved: E-7-4, up to 2 years, renewable Spouse and children can now be invited to join you
A sector recommendation is not a visa — even a fully approved one still goes through the Ministry of Justice's own review before anything is issued.

A recommendation from a sector program isn't required, but it's usually the fastest route to the strongest score: manufacturing workers apply through K-Work (k-work.or.kr) for a recommendation backed by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and farming, livestock or fishing workers apply through Agriwork (agriwork.kr) for one backed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Either way, the actual visa application goes through Hi Korea's electronic civil affairs system (hikorea.go.kr) — 2026 applications are being accepted on a rolling basis, not a single fixed window.

Get approved, and the visa is granted for up to two years at a time, renewable — and unlike E-9, E-10 or H-2, you can invite your spouse and children to join you. That single line is usually what actually changes someone's decision to go through the points process at all.

What we see at Soo House

Soo House is the community platform we run for expats and foreign residents across Korea — event listings, paid creator and brand campaigns, and free skill workshops, including a Business Korean Class we ran in Seocho-gu built around real workplace communication, not textbook drills. It exists for office-track members, but the underlying lesson applies just as directly here: Korean ability is worth up to 120 of the 300 K-Point E74 points — tied with income for the single biggest lever on the whole scorecard, and worth twice as much as being in the best possible age bracket.

Soo, what? If you're preparing an E-7-4 application and your income and tenure are already locked in, the fastest remaining points on the table usually aren't a new certificate or a driver's license worth 10–20 points each — they're a Korean level. Going from TOPIK 2 to TOPIK 3, or completing the next KIIP stage, is worth 30 points on its own — three driver's licenses' worth, from one exam. We cover how the KIIP levels actually work, stage by stage, in our guide to Korea's Social Integration Program.

Your next hop: if you're on E-9, E-10 or H-2 and the four baseline boxes above already fit your situation, don't wait on a better score to start the paperwork — the December 31, 2026 exemption means a 150-point application filed today can lock in the visa now, with two years to close the language gap.

Checked in September 2026 against the Ministry of Justice's own press release on immigration.go.kr ("농어촌 외국인 숙련인력 고용 한도 50%로 확대…외국인 노동자 '부당 이직' 시 이전 경력도 인정," June 1, 2026 — the 2026 national quota of 33,000, the full K-Point E74 score table, the June 2026 employer-cap and job-change-tenure rule changes, and the family-invitation feature), the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' 공고 제2026-163호 (March 5, 2026, for the farming/livestock/fishing salary threshold and the 900-slot sector quota), and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' E-7-4 conversion-recommendation notice board (for the manufacturing-sector recommendation process via K-Work). Individual scoring and quota details can shift during the year at the Ministry's discretion — confirm your own case through Hi Korea (hikorea.go.kr) or the 1345 immigration contact centre before applying. For unpaid wages or an employer who won't cooperate with your paperwork, see unpaid wages in Korea; for the language-score paths themselves, see Korea's Social Integration Program (KIIP).

Keep reading