E-9: window to obtain permission for a new workplace
The second of two consecutive deadlines, and the one whose consequence is departure rather than a refused application. It is measured from the application rather than from the day the job ended, so a worker who applies late has not bought extra searching time — they have shortened the total. Both clocks together are why a lost job on E-9 becomes an immigration problem in weeks, where a professional status gives months.
- Applies to
- E-9 workers who have applied for a workplace change through the employment centre
- Review cadence
- Checked once a year
What we have recorded
- 2026-09-243 months
Permission for the new workplace must be obtained within three months of applying for the change, failing which the worker must leave Korea. It follows a separate one-month deadline to make the application after the contract ends. Statutory exceptions including occupational injury, illness and pregnancy or childbirth can change how the periods are counted.
Act on the Employment of Foreign Workers, art. 25
One reading so far. This becomes a history the first time the figure moves while we are watching — which is the part that cannot be reconstructed later.
Guides that depend on this figure
When this figure moves, every guide above needs the same edit. That is why it is tracked here rather than copied into each one.