Immigration Office Opens in Ansan Today
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The Korean Immigration Service will open an office in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province today.
Ansan is home to Korea's largest concentration of foreign workers.
Justice Minister Kim Kyung-han unveiled the plan during his visit to the city Monday, where 8.3 percent of the population or 330,000 are foreign nationals.
Currently, officials from Incheon Immigration Office visit the town once a week to deal with immigration affairs.
``It's to meet soaring demand for renewing or extending working visas,'' said a spokesman for the Korea Immigration Service.
Ansan and its surrounding areas are packed with small and mid-sized factories hiring foreign workers mainly from undeveloped Asian countries.
The office will open in the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building in Ansan, but will later move to another more spacious location, the spokesman said.
The office also plans to open two more immigration offices in Gimpo and Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.