VietNamNet Bridge – The 11th Korean language test will be held this October for those wishing to work in South Korea, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’s Overseas Labour Management Department said.

Vietnamese labourers complete procedures to work in South Korea. The 11th Korean language test will be held this October for those who wish to work in South Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS) programme. – VNA/VNS Photo

The test is part of the Employment Permit System (EPS) programme.

South Korea had suspended the test over the past three years due to the large number of illegal Vietnamese workers going to the East Asian country.

Clearing the language test, conducted by South Korea’s Human Resources Development Centre, is a requirement for Vietnamese workers who want to work in South Korea under the EPS programme.

The candidates must be between 18 and 39 years old, not have any criminal record, and should not have been deported from South Korea or banned from exit from Viet Nam.

The exam fee is US$24 and the registration period is from August 16 to 19.

Detailed exam schedules will be published at the registration venues or on the website of Viet Nam’s Centre of Overseas Labour at http://www.colab.gov.vn.

Those who worked illegally in South Korea, but volunteered to return home between April 1 and September 30 this year, will be considered for re-entry into South Korea for work.

According to the law, those who fail to meet health requirements as per South Korean regulations or those who lived illegally in South Korea will be denied entry into that country for work.

Viet Nam and South Korea re-inked the regular memorandum of understanding (MoU) in May to resume granting of permission to Vietnamese labourers to work in South Korea under EPS in 2017.

Under the framework of the programme, more than 75,000 Vietnamese workers have been sent to work in South Korea since 2004.

According to the MoU, there will be limitations on workers in some localities in Viet Nam from taking the test in October to curb the increasing numbers of illegal Vietnamese workers in South Korea.

The details will be announced by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and SocialAffairs later.

Thanks to joint efforts by the two sides, the rate of illegal Vietnamese workers in South Korea declined to about 35 per cent in 2015 from 47 per cent in 2013.

VNS