On April 30, 2008, at the 2nd Conference of the Special Presidential Committee for National Competitiveness under the supervision of new president LEE, Myung-Bak (whose administration was inaugurated last February), the Korean National Competitive Council made resolutions to substantially open the door to globally talented people. President Lee and the Council believed that the open-door policy in easing legal hurdles to highly talented people on a global level would help Korea’s small- or medium-size enterprises secure global talent who is in short supply today in Korea and eventually lead to the development of the country.

Specifically, the Council believed that the existing Immigration Control Law is too stringent that Korean enterprises have not been successful to attract global talent to Korea. And, the Council also noted that the Korean Nationality Act prohibits dual citizenship so that Korean nationals who have obtained a foreign citizenship by naturalization automatically lose their Korean citizenship, and foreigners obtaining Korean citizenship must give up their original nationality within six months. So, due to such an overly strict law under the Korean Nationality Act, talented foreigners as well as overseas Korean Nationals, who have obtained a foreign citizenship, are reluctant to work in Korea due to legal hurdles not being a Korean citizen, which has contributed to the shortage of high quality human resources in Korea.

In sum, the President and the Council recognized the problems regarding the lack of global talent in Korea that have been caused by insufficient information as to global talent, inefficient visa systems that fall behind increasing demand for global talent, unsatisfactory living environments for foreigners, and brain drain due to the prohibition of dual citizenship.

Hence, President Lee and the Council resolved to make drastic modifications of the existing Korean Immigration Control Law and revise the Korean Nationality Act.

Accordingly, the new government is reviewing specific measures as follows to attract global brains whom it regards as an important element for the country’s development. First, for enabling the Korean enterprises to find necessary talent, the government will establish “Contract Korea” overseas (to be located at overseas offices of KOTRA, the trade promotion agency in Korea), through which overall services about the employment opportunities in Korea will be provided to global talent, and “HuNet Korea” where online visa applications and inspection will be provided to qualified foreign applicants (as recommended by designated people who would make visa recommendations). Also, under the planned measures, certain globally talented foreigners could be issued with an employment-seeking visa, under which the relevant foreign people enters Korea (for a period of 6 months) and changes his/her status into an employment visa once the desired employment is obtained.

Secondly, for easier ways to receive visas and more convenient entry into and departure from Korea, the government considers, among others, (i) issuing permanent visas to certain qualified global talent (as selected by overseas consular offices) before he/she enters into Korea, (ii) issuing permanent visas to those whose academic backgrounds, income, and career reach above certain quantified standards, (iii) establishing new visas for foreigners with technical expertise or innovative ideas who wish start their own businesses within Korea and (iv) establishing investment immigration visas for foreigners investing certain amounts (e.g., USD 5 Million in public infrastructure project) in Korea. Thirdly, for providing the freedom in seeking employment, the government will extend the employment opportunities in public offices to qualified foreigners and the legal length of global professionals’ stay (presently 1 to 2 years at the time of visa issuance) in Korea to five years, and alleviate the employment conditions for native English speaking teachers. Fourthly, for providing more comfortable living environments to foreigners, the government will acknowledge curriculums of foreign schools in Korea, simplify the employment processes for global talent’s accompanying spouse and strengthen the language support system in which better interpretation services and Korean language education programs will be provided to foreigners in Korea.

It is expected that the government will revise the relevant laws and regulations to implement the measures noted above by end of 2008, and once those measures take effect, the government is hoping that it will help Korea attract more globally talented people into Korea, helping Korean companies and eventually Korean economy grow to a higher level.

It should be noted, however, that as for the possibility to allow dual citizenship for qualified foreigners and Korean people with foreign citizenships, because dual citizenship is an extremely sensitive issue in Korean society, the Council acknowledged that such an attempt should be very carefully made after considering opinions from all levels of society.