A South Korean lawmaker drafted a bill Wednesday aimed at attracting more young immigrants to South Korea and placing South Korea's youth immigration-related functions under the jurisdiction of the Justice Ministry.
The bill proposed by Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Lee Sung-yoon, or a revision to the Framework Act on Treatment of Foreigners Residing in the Republic of Korea, is designed to provide legal grounds for the Justice Ministry's move to introduce more visas for young talents from foreign countries to address South Korea's population aging.
Among them are the so-called "top-tier visa" to allow highly-skilled foreigners specializing in science and technology to grant their long-term stay and assist them with their settlement to Asia's fourth-largest country.
Also, fast-tracking foreigners' permanent residency or naturalization here through the so-called Korea-Science and Technology Advanced Human Resources (K-Star) will be applied to a wider range of foreign students studying at 32 universities.
The fast-track has been only applied to five universities, namely Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology and University of Science and Technology. They were granted F-2 visas for residency upon graduation, and the period required to obtain permanent residency is as short as three years.
Lee's proposal marks the first after the Justice Ministry laid out a plan in March dubbed "2030 Immigration Policy Future Strategy." Lee's office said the latest revision proposal reflects the ministry's announcement.
Moreover, the overlapping duties between ministries related to skilled foreigner immigration will be streamlined under the jurisdiction of the Justice Ministry, the proposal entails. Addressing this issue would address administrative inefficiency, Lee said.
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