E-9: deadline to apply for a workplace change after a contract ends
The shortest fuse in Korean foreign employment. On E-9 the loss of a job becomes an immigration problem within weeks rather than months, and there are two separate clocks — one to file the application, another to actually secure a new workplace — either of which ends in a requirement to leave the country. It is the sharpest structural contrast with the professional statuses, where the same event allows a change of status and a job search.
- Applies to
- E-9 workers who have left a workplace and intend to move to another
- Review cadence
- Checked once a year
What we have recorded
- 2026-09-231 month to apply
As a rule the worker must apply for a workplace change through the employment centre within one month of the contract ending, and must obtain permission for the new workplace within three months of applying, failing which departure is required. Statutory exceptions including occupational injury, illness and pregnancy or childbirth can change how the periods are counted.
Act on the Employment of Foreign Workers and its Enforcement Decree
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
- Changing Employers on a Korean Work Visa
- E-9 vs E-7: What Actually Separates Them
- Reporting Your Employer as a Foreign Worker
When this figure moves, every guide above needs the same edit. That is why it is tracked here rather than copied into each one.