Participants at a job fair in Busan search for job opportunities, Sept. 27, 2024 . Korea will use the QS World University Rankings and U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings as criteria to assess potential beneficiaries of its "top-tier visa" system, according to officials. Newsis

Korea will use the QS World University Rankings and the U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings as criteria to assess potential beneficiaries of its Top-tier Visa System, which aims to attract tech experts to the country.

In response to The Korea Times' inquiries about the system, the Ministry of Justice said Thursday that it will use portfolios compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a British analytics firm, and the U.S. media company to determine whether visa applicants graduated from one of the top 100 universities in the world.

The responses followed the ministry announcement earlier this month that it will introduce the program to provide stable stays and speedy visa processes for highly sought-after foreign professionals in high-tech areas such as semiconductors and electric vehicle batteries, amid a global race to lead in the development of future technologies.

Under the program, those who have eight years of experience in certain industrial fields can obtain an F-2 visa, which permits them to work in Korea for three years before becoming eligible to apply for permanent residency. Potential candidates must have advanced degrees from one of the top 100 schools and a minimum of three years of work experience at one of the top 500 companies.

The ministry said it would use the Forbes Global 2000, the Fortune Global 500 and the TIME 100 Most Influential Companies — compiled by the three U.S. news magazines — as its evaluation standard to assess the career credentials of candidates.

Asked whether the family members of the new visa system beneficiaries would also be allowed to work freely, the ministry said they, too, would be granted F-2 visas and permitted to work in any industry sector except for gambling based-businesses, such as casinos, horse racing and lotteries.

"To prevent disruption of the domestic labor market and maintain order in the country, we plan to set some restrictions in some areas of work," a ministry representative said.

As part of its effort to attract younger scientists and engineers, the government also stated in the previous announcement that it would issue D-10 visas to those with advanced degrees from one of the top 100 university science programs.

Getting that visa means that they would be granted two years to freely search and prepare for job opportunities here, the representative said.

Asked whether there was a list of specific fields of study required for the program, the official said there was none, as long as the fields are tech-related.

Meanwhile, to promote exchanges among young people from other countries and ultimately attract more foreign workers to Korea's labor market, the government plans to introduce the Youth Dream visa. Through this visa, "young nationals of friendly countries" can receive job training, access internship opportunities and potentially secure job offers in Korea.

The Korea Times asked the ministry what and how many nations would fall into the category but did not receive a response yet.

The government hopes the new visa programs will help Korean firms stay competitive in the global marketplace and secure a sufficient workforce to achieve this. Korea, a leader in key sectors such as semiconductors, has been working to expand foreign labor inflow in recent years amid its declining population.