Seasonal Worker Visa Korea 2026 — E-8 (formerly C-4): Agriculture, Fisheries & Standard Contract Rules

E-8 (계절근로 — seasonal employment) is Korea's visa for short-term agricultural and fisheries seasonal workers. Unlike E-9 (EPS), E-8 is managed through local governments (지자체) — you cannot apply individually. Workers are placed through one of the five routes in the visa-issuance manual's E-8 table:

• MOU between local governments (E-8-1 farm work, E-8-3 fishery work): A Korean local government signs a Memorandum of Understanding on seasonal labour with a foreign local government, which selects workers from among its own residents and recommends them • Relatives of a marriage migrant (E-8-2 farm work, E-8-4 fishery work): A marriage migrant staying in Korea (including one who has acquired Korean nationality) can recommend relatives living abroad as seasonal workers through the local government. The visa manual prints the scope as the 4th degree of kinship (4촌 이내) including that relative's spouse, but from 2026 local governments take new recommendations only within the 2nd degree (such as parents, children and siblings, with their spouses); 4th-degree relatives who already came under this route can still be re-invited • Re-entry after seasonal work on G-1-19 status (E-8-5 farm work, E-8-6 fishery work): For a foreigner who took part in seasonal work while holding G-1-19 (기타, miscellaneous) status, the employer recommends re-employment to the local government • Parents of a D-2 student (E-8-7 farm work, E-8-8 fishery work): A D-2 (university-track) student who meets the programme's requirements can ask a local government to invite their parents as seasonal workers. The issuance manual names only D-2 for this route, not D-4 • Support staff (E-8-99): When a foreign local government sends staff for management purposes, such as language-communication helpers, it applies to the Korean local government, which checks points such as whether their entry is needed before inviting them

Permitted sectors: • Agricultural workers (농업): crop farming, fruit harvesting, greenhouse work during peak seasons • Fisheries workers (어업): primary processing of seafood (drying laver and anchovies, sorting and shucking oysters and similar) and harvesting at listed seaweed, shellfish and sea-squirt farms

Stay duration: E-8 is granted for up to 8 months, and total stay cannot exceed 8 months. An extension can be requested through the local government, but only within that 8-month total.

Note: The C-4-1~4 seasonal codes (90 days, single entry) have not been issued since 2025, according to the current visa-issuance manual. The manual still prints their old CCVI procedure, but new seasonal workers come in under E-8. Short-term performances, sports, technical work, and similar non-seasonal activities still use C-4 (단기취업), under the code C-4-5.

Effective January 1, 2026, all E-8 seasonal workers in agriculture and fisheries must be employed under a government-issued standard employment contract (표준근로계약서). This replaces the prior practice of employers using their own contract forms.

Key provisions of the 2026 standard contract:

1. Working hours: Maximum 8 hours/day, 40 hours/week (with overtime provisions clearly stated and capped at 12 hours/week overtime)
2. Wages: Must meet or exceed the current minimum wage. The contract must state the specific wage amount, not just 'minimum wage or above'
3. Accommodation: If employer-provided, accommodation terms must be explicitly stated in the contract, including the amount deducted from wages (capped at 20% of monthly wage for employer-provided accommodation)
4. Rest days: Minimum 1 day off per week (일 단위 휴가규정)
5. Accident insurance: The employer must cover the worker with Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance (산업재해보상보험) or farmer/fisher safety insurance (농·어업인 안전보험); proof of cover is filed when the worker registers
6. Termination provisions: Notice periods and grounds for contract termination must be stated in Korean and in the worker's home language

Employers who fail to use the 2026 standard contract format risk visa denial for future seasonal worker applications and may face administrative penalties.

A new safety verification requirement was introduced alongside the 2026 contract standardization. Before an E-8 seasonal worker can begin work at a site, the employer must complete and file a pre-work safety checklist (사전 안전점검 체크리스트) with the regional labor office.

Safety checklist covers:

• Farm machinery and equipment condition (tractors, harvesters, powered tools — annual inspection certificates required) • Pesticide and chemical storage compliance (MSDS documentation accessible, PPE provided) • Heat illness prevention measures for summer seasons (rest periods, shade structures, water supply) • Sleeping accommodation fire safety (smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, emergency exit signage) • Communication capacity (worker has or is provided a phone; emergency numbers posted in their language)

Inspection timeline: The checklist must be filed at least 5 business days before the first day of work. The labor office may conduct an unannounced inspection during the season based on the checklist. Workers who identify safety violations at their worksite may report them to the Ministry of Employment and Labor hotline (☎ 1350) without immigration consequences — safety reports are treated separately from immigration status.

Workplace changes for E-8 seasonal workers are strictly regulated — unlike some long-term work visas, seasonal workers cannot freely move between employers.

Permitted grounds for workplace change (per the stay manual): • The employment contract was ended early through the employer's fault, with no fault on the worker's side • Before alien registration, the employer and the seasonal worker agree to a change

Adding a second workplace on top of the assigned one is not allowed.

Process for an authorized workplace change (employer reassignment):

1. The local government issues a confirmation of the employer you are being placed with (계절근로자 배치 대상 고용주 확인서); the original employer files an employment-change report with the immigration office and the local government
2. Obtain a new standard contract with the new employer, who must also show industrial accident insurance (or farmer/fisher safety insurance) cover
3. Apply for the workplace change (근무처변경) with the unified application form, passport and alien registration card, a copy of the new contract, the insurance proof, health insurance proof where applicable, the local government's employer confirmation and the accommodation confirmation. The workplace-change fee is waived

Unauthorized workplace changes — leaving an employer and working for another without following this process — are a serious immigration violation and will result in deportation and a future visa ban. Even if the original employer was mistreating the worker, the proper remedy is to report the violation and request an authorized transfer, not to simply leave.

Fishery work is a long-standing part of the E-8 programme, not a 2026 addition: the visa-issuance manual's E-8 table has fishery codes (E-8-3, E-8-4, E-8-6, E-8-8) beside the farm codes, and the status covers primary processing of seafood (수산물 원시가공).

Not E-8 work: Crew work on fishing vessels belongs to other statuses: E-10-2 (선원취업) for crew on fishing vessels of 20 tons or more, and E-9-4 under the Employment Permit System for coastal and near-sea fishing, aquaculture and salt harvesting.

Permitted fishery work on the manual's list:

• Seaweed (해조류): drying laver (김) and other onshore processing, and harvesting at sea plus onshore processing at seaweed farms • Fish and shellfish (어패류): onshore processing such as drying anchovies, flatfish, squid and pollack, sorting and shucking oysters, and abalone seed production; harvesting scallops and oysters at sea is allowed only as a pilot • Sea squirts (피낭류): harvesting and onshore processing at sea-squirt farms

Quota and allocation: On the fishery side, applications are screened by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (해양수산부) and the final decision is made by the MOJ. Eligible employer facilities must be registered with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries as a licensed aquaculture or fishing operation.

Worker nationality: Fishery workers come in through the same local-government routes as farm workers (E-8-3 MOU, E-8-4 marriage-migrant relatives, E-8-6 re-entry, E-8-8 parents of D-2 students); there is no government-to-government channel. Which places workers are recruited from depends on each Korean local government's MOU partners, so check with the local government running the programme.