SEJONG - South Korea will accept fourth-round 2026 E-9 employer applications from Sept. 14 through Sept. 29 for an allocation of 12,357 foreign workers.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Sept. 3 notice allocates 9,020 workers to manufacturing, 1,906 to agriculture and livestock, 897 to fisheries, 394 to construction and 140 to services.

MOEL said it plans to use the 10,000-person flexible allocation where demand in individual sectors exceeds their planned quotas.

Under the 2026 E-9 intake plan, South Korea’s annual quota is 80,000, comprising 70,000 sector-specific places and the 10,000 flexible allocation. That is 50,000 below the 130,000-worker quota set for 2025.

The fourth-round allocation is 273 below the 12,630 workers announced for the third round. Manufacturing, agriculture and livestock, and construction allocations are unchanged, while fisheries falls from 1,196 to 897 and services rises from 114 to 140.

Employers seeking E-9 workers must complete seven days of domestic recruitment efforts before applying through a local employment and labor office or the Work24 portal.

The September application period will also mark the start of a change to the Employment Permit System for construction. Until now, movement of E-9 workers between construction sites has generally been limited to circumstances such as completion or suspension of work.

From the fourth-round application period, workers can move between sites operated by the same employer if the destination site meets employment-permit requirements.

A related change expanding employment restrictions from individual construction sites to the employer level is scheduled to take effect in March 2027 after a six-month preparation period.

Foreign Workforce Policy Committee Chair Lim Ki-geun called for the policy change to be publicized so “the effects of easing movement among multiple sites run by the same construction company can be felt on the ground.”

Results from the fourth-round applications are scheduled for Oct. 16. Employment permits for manufacturing and mining are due to be issued from Oct. 19 to 23, followed by agriculture and livestock, fisheries, forestry, construction and services from Oct. 26 to 30.

South Korea has scheduled five E-9 application rounds for 2026. The fifth and final round is scheduled for Nov. 23 to 27.