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By Lee Hyo-jin
The government is being urged by operators of nursing facilities to ease visa rules and attract more foreign nationals to work as caregivers here as the country grapples with an increasing shortage of paid caretakers amid a rapidly aging population.
Caregivers are hired to assist the elderly and sick people either in their homes or at nursing facilities. Their responsibilities range from helping them dress, eat, wash and change their diapers.
As the physically and emotionally challenging job is being shunned by young Koreans, the country is already largely dependent on foreign workers, with ethnic Koreans of Chinese nationality (called Joseon-jok in Korean) currently accounting for one-third of the caregivers at nursing homes.
Operators of nursing hospitals believe that the government should open the door to foreign workers from Southeast Asian countries for instance to address the labor shortage which often leads to increased costs of care.
"It has long become impossible for nursing homes to secure enough caregivers by relying solely on Korean nationals. The problem has worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic as many Chinese caregivers are not returning to Korea after heading back to their home country," Ki Pyung-suk, head of the association of nursing hospitals, told The Korea Times.
Ki, also the head of Gaeun Hospital in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, viewed that the government should ease visa regulations and allow more foreign workers to enter the sector.
"We are requesting the immigration and health authorities to allow E-7 or E-9 visa holders to work as caregivers," he said.
The E-9 non-professional work visa is offered to foreign nationals from 16 countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Nepal and Cambodia, who seek to work in the agricultural, manufacturing or fisheries industries.
Currently, only foreign nationals with H-2 or F-4 visas can work as caregivers. The H-2 visa is a temporary work visa issued mainly to ethnic Koreans of Chinese nationality or ethnic Koreans from post-Soviet Union countries, or Koryoin, while the F-4 visa is issued to overseas Koreans.
As of 2021, among some 40,000 caregivers employed at nursing homes across the nation, 35 percent were ethnic Koreans of Chinese nationality, while 64 percent were Korean nationals, according to a study by the Korean Convalescent Hospital Association. By age group, 48 percent of these care workers were in their 50s and 38 percent were in their 60s.
The study also found that one caregiver assists an average of eight patients due to the shortage of care workers.
Ki said that other countries facing similar issues are already moving fast to secure foreign caregivers from Southeast Asia. Japan accepts thousands of foreign caregivers through bilateral partnerships with Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam. They are hired at nursing homes after undergoing training programs funded by the Japanese government.
The Korean government is moving to adopt similar measures.
Last month, the presidential committee on Aging Society and Population Policy said that the government will review allowing foreign workers to gain employment as caregivers by expanding the scope of visas or creating a new visa category. But the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Employment and Labor have yet to announce detailed plans.
