Hiring Foreign International Students After Graduation: Which Visa Should You Check?

Hello, business owners! 🙌🏻
This is Vijob, a platform specializing in hiring foreign workers.

When hiring foreign students who graduated from a university in Korea, questions like these may come up.

“If a D-2 student graduates, can we hire them right away?”

“If someone has a D-10 visa, can they work at our company?”

“What is the difference between E-7 and F-2 visas from a company’s perspective?”

After graduation, foreign students can continue working and settling in Korea by using various statuses of stay such as D-10, E-7, F-2-7, and F-2-R, depending on their education, major, job, company, income, and work region.

From an employer’s perspective as well, if you know the features of each visa in advance, you can judge a candidate’s hiring eligibility much faster.

Today, Vijob will easily break down the four visas you often check when hiring foreign graduates! 💙

✅ First, let’s compare them at a glance

✅ 1. Still preparing for employment? D-10 job-seeking visa

If a foreign student has not secured a job right after graduation, they often change to D-10 job-seeking status and prepare for employment in Korea.

Simply put, D-10 is a bridge visa that allows you to prepare for employment in Korea.

They can apply to domestic companies, attend interviews, and, if certain requirements are met, even do internships in specialized fields.

To expand job-preparation opportunities for foreign students who graduated from domestic universities, the Ministry of Justice increased the D-10 job-seeking period from a maximum of 2 years to a maximum of 3 years, and also extended each stay period from 6 months to 1 year.

In addition, the internship period allowed with the same company has also been extended from a maximum of 6 months to a maximum of 1 year.

💡 Employer checklist

If a D-10 applicant comes in for an interview, first check “What kind of hiring are we planning at our company?”

For example

✔ Are you planning to hire them as a professional-role intern?

✔ Are you considering converting them to full-time employment after a certain internship period?

✔ Are you planning to convert them immediately to an employment visa such as E-7 and hire them formally?

The required procedures may differ depending on the answer.

If you are looking for talent you want to work with long-term, it is a good idea to consider from the internship stage whether there is a possibility of switching to E-7 later on.

✅ 2. What if you hire them formally as a professional? E-7 specific activity

One of the most commonly used visa statuses when formally hiring international students into roles that use their major or specialized skills is the E-7 specific activity visa.

E-7 considers not only the foreign national’s education and experience, but also the assigned job, employment contract, company requirements, and wage standards in a comprehensive way.

So the first thing you should check is, “Does the position our company wants to hire for fall under an E-7 permitted occupation?”

Once the occupation is confirmed, you can then look at the applicant’s major and experience, followed by the company requirements.

In particular, for foreign nationals who graduated from universities in Korea, there are special provisions that may be available depending on their education and major, so it is advisable to review the position to be hired and the applicant’s major together.

💰 Also check the 2026 E-7 wage standards

The basic wage requirements applied from February 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026 are as follows.

Because separate wage standards may apply depending on the occupation, once the hiring role is decided, you should also check the standard for that occupation.

In other words, E-7 hiring is easy to understand if you think of it as a process of matching the applicant’s abilities with the company’s hiring conditions.

✅ 3. If they are talent who will settle in Korea long term? F-2-7

There are also cases where foreign applicants already have, or are preparing to change to, the F-2-7 points-based resident status.

F-2-7 is a residence status that comprehensively evaluates age, education, Korean language ability, income, and bonus points, and it is a system designed so that outstanding foreign talent who meet certain criteria can live more stably and continue economic activities in Korea.

Under the current standards, a total of at least 80 points is generally required. In particular, regarding international students, there is also a talent-for-study type that can be reviewed when a foreign national who earned a master’s degree or higher in a regular program at a domestic university obtains employment in a specialized field within a certain period after graduation.

The F-2-7 points include

✔ Age
✔ Education
✔ Korean language ability
✔ Income
✔ Domestic residence history and bonus points

and more.

Income is also included as one of the scoring items, so it is important to comprehensively review the applicant’s overall qualifications.

💡 Advantages from the employer’s perspective

F-2-7 has a broader range of activities than a typical work visa tied to a specific employer,

so it is a status worth noting for companies looking for global talent that will work with them long term.

If the applicant already holds F-2-7, you can review the current status and actual duties before considering hiring.

✅ 4. F-2-R you should know about if you operate a business in a local area

If your business site is in a depopulated area, also take a look at F-2-R, the Jiyeok Hwallyeok Sosanggongin Goyong Teungnye (지역활력 소상공인 고용특례).

F-2-R is a residence status that helps foreign talent live in a depopulated area, work or start a business there, and settle in the region for the long term.

Basically

✔ Local government recommendation
✔ Education or income
✔ Korean language ability
✔ Place of residence
✔ Place of employment

and other requirements are checked together.

For companies that have difficulty finding workers locally, this can be a good option for expanding foreign talent hiring.

🔥 Since 2026, hiring opportunities for small businesses have also expanded

The Ministry of Justice has been implementing the Jiyeok Hwallyeok Sosanggongin Goyong Teungnye since May 2026.

Business sites in depopulated areas that meet certain requirements can hire F-2-R foreign talent under more relaxed conditions than before.

Among the eligible business sites, small business owners can use this measure if they

✔ Manufacturing
✔ Wholesale and retail
✔ Restaurant business

fall under the designated industries and meet certain business operation periods and revenue requirements.

In addition, business sites that meet certain conditions may be allowed to employ one F-2-R foreign worker even if there are no Korean workers.

For business owners who have found it difficult to hire staff locally, this is a system worth checking at least once.

Hiring generally proceeds in the order of employment contract → local government recommendation → immigration residence permit → start of work.

📌 Then which visa is right for our company?

You do not need to make it complicated.

You can check step by step based on the foreigner’s current situation.

Graduate still preparing for employment → Check job-seeking and internship possibilities using D-10

Talent to be formally hired for a professional or technical role → Check the E-7 occupation and company requirements

Outstanding talent who will work and settle in Korea long term → Check F-2-7

Talent to work in a depopulated area → Check the possible use of F-2-R and local specialization programs

In foreign hiring, rather than the visa name itself

It is easiest to understand this in the order of current status → job to be assigned → work region → company conditions → suitable status.

At first it may seem complicated, but once the talent you want to hire and the job are decided, the visa you need to check becomes much clearer.

💙 Looking for great global talent?

At Vijob, global talent with a variety of visas and experience are waiting for you, boss.

Even if hiring foreign workers is your first time, you do not have to worry alone.

Vijob will be with you from the hiring process to connecting with foreign talent.

📞 Hiring foreign workers, start with Vijob from the beginning!

At Vijob, we support you all at once.
Just tell us the talent you need.

Find global talent suited to your workplace faster at Vijob! 😊💙

✔ Register and promote foreign job postings
✔ Guidance on hiring eligibility by visa
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