E-9: permitted workplace changes during the base employment period
Usually compressed to 'five moves in a lifetime', which gets both halves wrong. The allowance is split between the base period and the extension, and changes forced by circumstances outside the worker's control — closure, breach of working conditions, unfair treatment — need not be counted at all. The reason for the move is therefore examined before the tally is, and a worker who believes they are out of moves may not be.
- Applies to
- Employment Permit System workers on E-9, and their employers
- Review cadence
- Checked once a year
What we have recorded
- 2026-09-233, plus 2 in the extension
Three changes as a rule during the base employment activity period and a further two during the extended period. Changes for statutory reasons not attributable to the worker — the employer terminating or refusing to renew, suspension or closure of business, breach of working conditions, unpaid wages or unfair treatment — may fall outside the count.
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
- E-9 vs E-7: What Actually Separates Them
- Reporting Your Employer as a Foreign Worker
- When Your Old Employer Will Not Release You
When this figure moves, every guide above needs the same edit. That is why it is tracked here rather than copied into each one.