Is Our Restaurant Eligible to Hire an E7-2 Chef?

Hello, owners! 🙌🏻

I found an experienced foreign chef—can’t we just hire them right away?”

When hiring a foreign chef on an E-7-2 visa, you do not only look at the chef’s experience.

No matter how skilled the chef is, if your restaurant’s business type, size, VAT, or number of Korean employees do not meet the requirements, hiring may be difficult.

Especially if you run a Chinese, Japanese, Western, or other foreign-cuisine specialty restaurant and are looking for a foreign chef who can truly recreate authentic local flavors,

before you look for a person, you should first ask, “Is our restaurant eligible to hire an E-7-2 chef?”

You need to check that first.

Today, before hiring a foreign chef, Vijob will walk you through

① whether your restaurant is eligible
② whether the restaurant conditions are met
③ whether the chef’s qualifications are sufficient
④ what the minimum salary should be
⑤ what documents you need to prepare

all at once! 🍳

✅ Check 1. Can we hire an E-7-2 chef in our restaurant?

The first thing to check is, “What kind of food does the restaurant sell?”

The E-7-2 head chef and cook occupation is operated for the purpose of bringing in professional culinary workers in the foreign-cuisine field.

Typical examples include

✔ Chinese head chef/cook

✔ Japanese head chef/cook

✔ Western head chef/cook

✔ Head chef/cook for other national cuisines

may be eligible. In the 2026 E-7-2 occupation guide, head chef and cook (441) is also listed as a semi-skilled occupation.

On the other hand, general Korean cuisine cooking / snack food cooking / coffee, traditional tea, and beverage preparation are not generally considered roles for introducing a foreign chef under the same E-7-2 standard.

So first, you should check whether the business type and item listed on the business registration certificate match the actual menu you sell.

(If you want detailed documents for E-series visa codes, please leave a comment)

✅ Check 2. Check the restaurant conditions before the chef!

This part is really important. ⭐

No matter how experienced the foreign chef is, if the restaurant itself does not meet the employer standards, the application may be difficult.

The minimum standards for a general foreign-cuisine specialty restaurant are as follows.

The currently provided practical E-7 standards for head chefs and cooks also state that general foreign-cuisine specialty restaurants are reviewed based on business site area, VAT paid, and Korean national hiring standards.

In simple terms, “sales are enough, but the store is too small”

or “the area is enough, but there are not enough Korean employees”

means that even if one condition is lacking, it can still be a problem.

In particular, the number of Korean employees is not checked simply by “how many staff are working right now,” but by employment insurance registration records and a certain period of employment, so adding staff right before applying may not be immediately recognized.

✅ Check 3. Not just any foreign chef can get E-7-2!

If the restaurant conditions are met, the next step is the chef’s qualifications.

When hiring a chef directly from overseas, the main qualification paths checked are as follows.

🏆 Winner of an international cooking competition

If the candidate has awards from internationally recognized domestic or overseas cooking competitions, some certificate or experience requirements may be applied differently.

📜 Intermediate or higher foreign cooking certificate

If the candidate has a recognized culinary-related certificate, experience requirements may be relaxed or waived under certain paths.

📜 Beginner-level cooking certificate

In addition to the certificate, a certain amount of cooking experience after obtaining the qualification is also checked. A typical case requires 3 or more years of related experience.

🎓 If the person has received culinary training

There are also application paths for those who have completed
a certain period of related education and have additional cooking experience.

👨‍🍳 What if they have neither a certificate nor training?

In some local traditional cuisines that do not have formal education programs, long-term hands-on cooking experience may be used to prove expertise.

As such, the head chef/cook E-7-2 category is not a system that looks only at one certificate, but rather checks certificates, education, experience, and awards according to the occupation and food field.

✅ Check 4. Foreign chefs who studied in Korea may be subject to different standards!

Many owners also want to hire foreigners who studied at Korean universities or educational institutions.

Foreigners educated in Korea are reviewed through separate paths depending on their academic background and course of study.

For example, there are methods such as the following.

• Bachelor’s degree or higher → degree + culinary-related certificate + review of related experience

• Associate degree in a related field → related degree + culinary-related certificate + review of experience

• Training in a related field under D-4-6 → course completion + culinary certificate + review of related experience

If the person has studied in a related field in Korea for a certain period, some experience requirements may differ,

so depending on whether the person is “a chef brought directly from overseas” or “an international student already studying in Korea,” the documents you need to prepare may also differ.

At Vijob, global talent with various visa types is waiting for you, owners.

Don’t worry alone. Vijob will help you solve your hiring challenges together.

If hiring foreign workers feels difficult because it’s your first time, start with Vijob now!

📞 Foreign hiring, start with Vijob from the beginning!

Vijob supports you all at once.

✔ Register and promote foreign job postings

✔ Guidance on whether hiring is possible by visa type

✔ Networking with foreign talent by country

(🇻🇳 🇲🇳 🇲🇲 🇮🇳 🇵🇭 🇳🇵 🇰🇭 🇮🇩 …)

Phone inquiries: 070-7124-3581 (Weekdays 9:00~18:00)

Email inquiries: service@vijob.net

Instagram inquiries: https://www.instagram.com/vijob_korea/ 

Just tell us what talent you need. Find global talent that fits your restaurant faster with Vijob! 😊💙