Visa hurdles keep foreign researchers under 1% of Korea's R&D workforce
Foreign experts make up only 0.7% of research staff at Korean firms, with visa and paperwork issues cited as the main hiring barrier.
According to a study by the Korea Industrial Technology Association, foreign researchers accounted for only 0.7% of the total R&D workforce in Korean corporations in 2025. While the number of firms hiring foreign talent grew by 57.9% and the headcount of foreign researchers rose 21.4% over ten years, their share of the overall workforce stayed roughly the same. A survey of 1,225 companies revealed that 73.1% were satisfied with the expertise and results delivered by foreign staff.
However, 51.4% identified visa and related administrative steps as the primary difficulty, with recruitment matching and communication also noted. The report highlighted that smaller firms lack dedicated resources to manage these procedures, urging better support systems to retain foreign talent.
