The government will ease the requirements for long-term stay applications from highly skilled foreign laborers and raise the upper threshold for the employment of skilled foreign workers in the construction sector.

As part of a policy initiative to tackle labor shortages outside the capital region and in certain industries, the justice ministry is pushing to revise the criteria for the E-7-4 visa for skilled laborers.

According to the ministry on Wednesday, foreign workers, who currently have to attain a certain level of Korean language proficiency to apply for the E-7-4 visa, will be able to obtain it as long as they reach that level within two years.

The special considerations will be in place through the end of 2026, and applicants who fail to meet the language requirement within two years will only be allowed to extend their visas by six months.

The ministry is also seeking to increase the number of skilled foreign workers a construction company can hire to zero-point-four person for every 100 million won, or 72-thousand U.S. dollars, in the value of the firm’s construction ability.

The upper threshold currently stands at zero-point-one person per annual average construction cost of 100 million won.