The E-9 Visa: Which Industries Hire EPS Workers
What is the E-9 visa?
The E-9 (Non-professional Employment) visa is the visa issued to workers who enter Korea through the Employment Permit System after passing EPS-TOPIK, signing a Standard Labor Contract, and completing the visa process. It ties your stay to employment in specific permitted industries. The basic period of stay is 3 years, extendable by 1 year 10 months if the employer requests re-employment — a commonly cited total of 4 years 10 months. Remember the eligibility rule: total past stay on E-9/E-10 must be under 5 years to take EPS-TOPIK again (source: official eligibility conditions, checked 2026-08-24).
Permitted industries
EPS recruitment is organized by industry. Industries that appear in official EPS-TOPIK recruitment rounds (checked 2026-08-24 on epstopik.hrdkorea.or.kr and country notices) include:
- Manufacturing — the largest sector; for example Nepal's 2026 first phase allocated 5,000 of its 7,200 places to manufacturing (source: EPS Korea Section notice, checked 2026-08-24)
- Agriculture and livestock — crop farming, greenhouses, animal farms
- Fishery — coastal fishing and aquaculture (Indonesia's 2026 general round recruited for fishery and manufacturing, source: kp2mi.go.id, checked 2026-08-24)
- Construction — general construction sites
- Services — a limited list of service activities; Nepal's 2026 round included a "Service" category with 100 places, and Korea has been running pilots in areas like restaurants and hotels
- Forestry — appeared as its own category in 2026 rounds (Nepal: 100 places, checked 2026-08-24)
The exact list of permitted industries, and the yearly quota for each, is decided by the Korean government's Foreign Workforce Policy Committee and changes year to year — for example shipbuilding and mining have had special treatment in some years. Do not rely on any fixed list, including this one: check the current official announcement at eps.go.kr and your round's notice.
You choose your industry when you apply
You select one industry when registering for EPS-TOPIK, and your test round, any skills test, and your roster registration all follow that industry. Changing industry usually means taking a new test round. Some industries add health requirements — for example Nepal's 2026 notice excludes applicants with color blindness or color weakness (checked 2026-08-24).
Working conditions
E-9 workers are covered by Korean labor law, including minimum wage, statutory working hours and industrial accident insurance. Workplace changes within Korea are possible only in cases defined by law and approved through the EPS system — another reason to keep every step inside the official channels (source: eps.go.kr, checked 2026-08-24).