Worldwide college students and members of a volunteer group at Yeungnam College put together tteokguk (Korean rice cake soup) meal kits on the college’s scholar heart cafeteria in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, Jan. 5. They produced 660 meal kits for underprivileged residents within the space. Yonhap
Greater than 1 in 9 worldwide college students right here grew to become unauthorized residents by overstaying their visas or working past permitted ranges, a current research discovered, suggesting a shortcoming within the authorities’s give attention to quantitative progress somewhat than sustainable integration.
In keeping with a report by Gangneung-Wonju Nationwide College affiliate professor Kim Gyu-chan, 34,267 individuals who had come to Korea to check at universities or language institutes overstayed their visas or labored past permitted ranges in 2024. That quantity was greater than 5 instances the determine recorded in 2014 (6,782).
Citing information from the Ministry of Justice, Kim mentioned 9,580 of the scholars had beforehand held D-2 scholar visas, whereas 24,687 had D-4 language trainee visas. Amongst these visa holders, the proportion of international college students who had overstayed their visas or labored past permitted ranges rose from 7.8 % in 2014 to fifteen.7 % in 2022, earlier than falling barely to 11.6 % in 2023 and 2024.
“This implies that whereas the general variety of international college students has grown, the steadiness and legality of their stays have declined,” Kim wrote.
The research highlights a basic flaw within the nation’s strategy to international college students — a systemic disconnect between training, employment and long-term residency. Whereas the federal government stays aggressive in recruitment, it lacks a sustainable highway map to assist college students transition into the home workforce.
“The present framework treats worldwide college students as short-term fillers for the labor market somewhat than as potential long-term residents,” Kim famous, including that this hole inevitably results in an increase in undocumented circumstances.
By nationality, Vietnamese college students accounted for the biggest share of scholars overstaying their visas or working with out correct permission. Amongst these on D-2 visas, 69.7 % had been from Vietnam, adopted by Uzbekistan at 13 %, Mongolia at 6.9 % and China at 3.4 %. The pattern was much more pronounced amongst D-4 visa holders, the place 88.9 % had been Vietnamese.
The share of unauthorized Vietnamese college students amongst former D-2 visa holders surged from 1.51 % in 2014 to 69.7 % in 2024, whereas the proportion amongst former D-4 visa holders rose from 13.4 % to 88.9 % throughout the identical interval.
The pattern raises issues that the rising variety of language trainees may exacerbate issues if structural points in recruitment and help stay unaddressed.
The analysis additionally highlights a paradox within the D-10 job-seeking and E-7 skilled employee visas. Though the federal government permits D-10 holders to increase their keep, strict limits on financial exercise through the job-seeking interval usually go away them in monetary misery.
International college students attend job interviews with recruiting corporations on the 2025 Job Truthful for International College students at BEXCO in Busan, Aug. 19, 2025. Newsis
Furthermore, the E-7 visa necessities for expert international professionals, comparable to minimal wage thresholds that always exceed the typical pay at small and medium-sized enterprises, stay a big barrier, notably for liberal arts graduates. The research famous that these structural hurdles steadily push college students to work with out correct visas to make ends meet.
In the meantime, the training ministry’s Examine Korea 300K initiative, introduced in 2023, goals to draw 300,000 worldwide college students by the top of 2027. The justice ministry’s 4th Fundamental Plan for Immigration Coverage (2023-27) additionally designates worldwide college students as potential expert employees to be retained in Korea’s labor market.
Nonetheless, Kim famous that the hole between authorities coverage objectives and the truth on the bottom stays broad.
The federal government’s Worldwide Training High quality Assurance System has additionally come below fireplace for shifting the burden of immigration management onto tutorial establishments. By utilizing unlawful keep charges as a key metric for college accreditation, the system has successfully turned educators into gatekeepers, forcing universities to focus extra on monitoring college students’ potential unlawful employment than on offering high quality training or profession help, the research discovered.
“Worldwide college students mustn’t merely be seen as short-term substitutes for the declining school-age inhabitants or as administrative burdens,” he mentioned. “They have to be acknowledged as future residents and helpful human assets.”
He urged the federal government to comply with examples from international locations comparable to Germany and Japan, which have built-in worldwide scholar coverage into broader nationwide expertise and immigration methods. To this finish, Kim proposed making a unified digital platform that might hyperlink information from the justice and training ministries and universities in real-time, whereas monitoring graduates’ profession paths to enhance coverage effectiveness.
Kim additionally advised creating profession help facilities devoted to worldwide college students and providing incentives to universities that companion efficiently with native companies.
“Such steps would improve college students’ employment prospects and assist stabilize their postgraduation settlement,” he mentioned.
