Foreign residents partly eligible for Korea's fuel relief program
Signs at a traditional market in Seoul’s Jongno District inform customers that the store accepts government-issued consumption vouchers, Sunday. Yonhap
Some foreign residents in Korea will be eligible for government cash handouts, ranging from 100,000 won ($67) to 600,000 won, to be distributed later this month under a supplementary budget aimed at offsetting high fuel costs amid the prolonged Middle East conflict, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said Sunday.
The ministry said non-Korean nationals are in principle excluded from the subsidy program, but exceptions will be made for those deemed to have "close ties" to Korean citizens.
Foreign nationals are eligible if they are listed on a resident registration record alongside at least one Korean citizen and are enrolled in the national health insurance system, either as subscribers or dependents.
Entirely foreign households may also qualify if they include permanent residents (F-5 visa holders), marriage migrants (F-6 visa holders) or refugees (F-2-4 visa holders), as long as those members are enrolled in the national health insurance system or are recipients of state medical aid.
Korean nationals residing overseas will be eligible if they returned to the country between March 30 and July 17 and apply for the payments through a separate application process by July 17.
The cash assistance program is part of a broader 26.2 trillion won supplementary budget approved by the National Assembly on Friday to mitigate the economic fallout from the Middle East crisis, with 6.1 trillion won allocated to the program.
About 32.5 million people, or 70 percent of the population in the lower income brackets, are eligible for the cash support.
Payments will begin April 27 for vulnerable groups, including basic livelihood recipients, near-poverty households and single-parent families, before expanding to a broader eligible population on May 18.
Recipients will receive the funds via debit cards, prepaid cards or cash vouchers. Spending will be limited to small businesses with annual sales of 3 billion won or less, such as traditional markets, grocery stores, medical clinics and pharmacies.
The limited inclusion of non-citizens in state relief programs has been a recurring source of controversy, with critics saying eligibility criteria should be expanded given foreign residents' contributions as taxpayers.
In March, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommended that the government expand eligibility for foreign nationals, citing concerns about discrimination.
The recommendation came after migrant worker groups filed a complaint in July last year, which argued that a previous voucher-based assistance program treated foreign residents unequally depending on visa status and household composition.
Regarding the issue, the interior ministry then said the cash relief policy was designed as an emergency support measure backed by public funds and therefore had to be implemented within budget constraints.