Korea EPS 2026: Real Quota, Real Steps for Pakistanis

Korea Cut the EPS Quota to 80,000 — and Half the Numbers Circulating in Pakistan Are Wrong

Somewhere in Pakistan today, a WhatsApp forward is telling somebody that Korea has opened registration, that 6,500 jobs are reserved for Pakistanis, and that a certain number should be contacted quickly. A photo of an official-looking notice is attached.

Here is what is actually verified: South Korea cut its E-9 work visa quota to 80,000 for 2026 — down from 130,000 the previous year and 165,000 the year before that. That decision was taken in Seoul in December 2025, and it is public. Almost nothing else in that forward is.

This is the honest version: the numbers that are confirmed, the process that actually runs, and a test you can apply in sixty seconds to any EPS announcement before you pay anyone a rupee.

Quick answer: Korea’s 2026 E-9 quota under the Employment Permit System is 80,000 workers, cut from 130,000 in 2025. Pakistan is a partner country and applies through the Overseas Employment Corporation, which runs pre-registration and a computerised balloting draw before the EPS-TOPIK Korean language test.

What Korea actually decided

On 22 December 2025, Korea’s Foreign Workforce Policy Committee set the following year’s intake. The Korea Herald and the government’s own Korea.net service both reported the outcome:

• E-9 (Employment Permit System, non-professional): 80,000
• E-8 (seasonal workers): 109,000
• Combined ceiling: roughly 191,000

The E-9 figure is the one that matters for Pakistani applicants, and its direction is the story. The quota has fallen two years running: 165,000 in 2024, 130,000 in 2025, 80,000 in 2026. That is a drop of roughly 38% in a single year.

Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labour attributed the cut to post-pandemic demand easing back toward normal levels, alongside a decline in job vacancies in manufacturing and construction. Industry observers quoted at the time argued the practical effect would be modest, since the number of E-9 visas actually issued in recent years had already hovered near 80,000 — the ceiling was being cut toward reality rather than below it.

Where the 80,000 goes

The quota is not a single pool. It was divided by sector:

Sector	2026 allocation
Manufacturing	50,000
Agriculture and livestock	10,000
Fisheries	7,000
Construction	2,000
Services	1,000
Flexible reserve	10,000

Two details inside that table are worth understanding.

Manufacturing dominates. Roughly six in ten slots. If you are aiming at EPS, factory work is statistically the realistic target, not construction — construction is the smallest sector allocation on the list at 2,000.

The separate shipbuilding quota is gone. It ran from 2023 through the end of 2025 and has been folded back into the manufacturing allocation. Shipyards still hire, but through the manufacturing pool.

There was also a change favouring employers outside the capital region. Firms located outside Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province had their foreign-hiring allowance raised from 20% to 30%, intended to steer workers toward regions with sharper shortages.

The number nobody can show you a source for

Here is where honesty matters more than traffic.

You will see confident claims that a specific number of the 80,000 — 6,500 is the figure most often quoted — is reserved for Pakistan. We could not verify that figure against any official Korean or Pakistani government publication. The Korean quota announcement allocates by sector, not by country.

That does not mean the number is invented. It may originate in a genuine OEC communication. But an unsourced number repeated across a dozen job-alert websites is not a source, and you should treat it as unconfirmed until the Overseas Employment Corporation publishes it.

The same caution applies to circulating registration dates. During research for this article we saw claims that the next EPS-TOPIK registration window would run in mid-to-late July 2026, presented as fact on sites that offered no official notice to back it. If OEC has not published it on oec.gov.pk or jobs.oec.gov.pk, nobody knows it.

We also attempted to load the OEC website directly while preparing this piece and it returned no readable content to our tools — a reminder that the portal can behave inconsistently, and that “the site isn’t loading” is not evidence that a window has opened or closed.

How the real process runs, in order

EPS is a government-to-government programme. On Pakistan’s side it runs through the Overseas Employment Corporation, under the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development. On Korea’s side it runs through HRD Korea, the Human Resources Development Service. There is no private agent anywhere in this chain.

The sequence, as reported through the 2026 cycle:

Step 1 — Pre-registration with OEC. You register on the OEC portal during an announced window. A challan form is downloaded from the official site and the fee — reported at around PKR 1,000 — is deposited at a designated bank. Proof of payment is uploaded.

Step 2 — The balloting draw. Far more Pakistanis pre-register than there are test seats, so OEC runs a computerised lottery, widely called the lucky draw or qurandazi. The 2026 balloting result was announced on 27 March 2026. Only those selected proceed.

Step 3 — EPS-TOPIK. Selected candidates register and sit the Test of Proficiency in Korean for Employment Permit System. It is a short paper: 20 listening questions and 20 reading questions, 40 in total, across 50 minutes, worth 200 points. The registration fee is reported at roughly USD 24. It tests whether you can follow workplace instructions and safety notices — not literary Korean.

Step 4 — The HRD Korea roster. Passing puts your name on the jobseeker roster. It does not give you a job.

Step 5 — An employer selects you. Korean employers choose from the roster. You do not choose the workplace; the workplace chooses you. This is the single most misunderstood feature of EPS.

Step 6 — Contract, visa, departure. Contract signing, E-9 visa issuance, then — on the Pakistani side — Protector of Emigrants registration before you fly. That step is legally required and it is your proof of legal emigration.

Reported timelines from test to departure run anywhere from three months to a year. Treat any promise faster than that with suspicion.

Point system or lottery — which is it?

Both, at different stages, and the distinction has caused genuine confusion.

The balloting draw is random. Nothing you do improves your odds of being drawn.

The point system — OEC announced the 9th Point System round around March 2026 — is merit-based, scoring candidates on factors such as experience, education and age. This is where preparation actually pays.

If somebody is offering to improve your balloting odds, they are describing something that does not exist.

Basic eligibility

As reported for the 2026 cycle, and worth confirming against OEC’s own notice before you rely on it:

• Age: 18 to 39
• Education: no formal qualification required, but you must be able to read and write
• Health: physically fit, with colour blindness and colour weakness specifically excluded
• Record: no history that would bar you from a Korean visa

The colour vision requirement surprises people every cycle. If you have never been tested, get tested before you spend money on the process.

Sixty seconds to spot a fake EPS announcement

Apply these seven tests to anything you are sent. If it fails even one, stop.

1. Where is it published? Real windows appear on oec.gov.pk and jobs.oec.gov.pk. A screenshot circulating on WhatsApp is not a publication. Type the address yourself; do not follow a link from the message.

2. Is anybody asking for an agent fee? EPS is government-to-government. The official costs are an OEC challan paid into a bank and an EPS-TOPIK registration fee. Any “processing fee”, “quota fee”, “seat booking” or agent commission on top of that is not part of this programme.

3. Is payment going to a personal account? Official fees go through a bank challan, not a personal bank account, not Easypaisa, not JazzCash to somebody’s number.

4. Does it promise you a job? Nobody in this system can promise you a job. Passing EPS-TOPIK puts you on a roster. Korean employers select from that roster. Anyone guaranteeing selection is describing a power they do not have.

5. Does it quote a Pakistan-specific quota with no source? See above. Ask which OEC notice the figure comes from.

6. Where is it asking you to upload your CNIC and passport? Only on the official OEC domain. Identity documents uploaded to a lookalike site are the raw material for fraud against you later.

7. Does it create urgency? “Only today”, “last 50 seats”, “closing tonight.” Government windows have published dates. Panic is the oldest tool in this trade.

If a licensed Overseas Employment Promoter is involved in any other job offer you are considering, verify the licence number against the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment’s records. That verification is free and takes minutes.

What the E-9 actually gives you

If you make it through, here is the shape of the thing you have earned.

The E-9 permits non-professional work in shortage sectors — manufacturing, agriculture and livestock, fisheries, construction and a small number of service roles. The standard maximum stay is four years and ten months, extendable in certain circumstances at the employer’s request.

Changing employers is possible but restricted. Transfers are permitted in defined situations — unpaid wages, unsafe conditions, harassment among them — and generally require filing through Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labour rather than simply walking out. Knowing that transfer rights exist, and that they run through the ministry, is worth more than any pre-departure rumour.

There is also a route upward. The E-7-4 skilled worker visa allows qualifying E-9 workers to convert to a longer-term status with wider rights, assessed on a points framework. It is neither automatic nor generous in volume, but it is documented, and it is the reason Korean language ability keeps paying long after the EPS-TOPIK is behind you.

Pakistani workers in Korea have been reported by Pakistani officials to remit around USD 1,800 a month on average — a figure that explains why competition for these seats is what it is.

If the window is closed right now, do this

Waiting is not the same as doing nothing:

• Learn Korean properly. The EPS-TOPIK is the only stage where your own effort directly changes the outcome, and language ability also feeds the later E-7-4 route.
• Get the colour vision test done. Find out now, not after paying fees.
• Assemble documents. CNIC, passport with adequate validity, education and experience evidence, medical fitness.
• Follow only official channels. Check oec.gov.pk directly rather than relying on forwards.
• Have a second plan. With the quota down 38%, EPS is a narrower door this year than last. Gulf and Malaysian routes remain larger in volume for Pakistani workers.

Key Takeaways

• Korea’s 2026 E-9 quota is 80,000, cut from 130,000 in 2025 and 165,000 in 2024 — a decision taken on 22 December 2025.
• Manufacturing holds 50,000 of those slots; construction holds only 2,000.
• Pakistan applies through OEC, not through agents. The chain is pre-registration → balloting draw → EPS-TOPIK → HRD Korea roster → employer selection.
• The 2026 balloting result was announced on 27 March 2026; the 9th Point System round opened around March.
• Claims of a Pakistan-specific quota and of specific upcoming registration dates are circulating without any official source — treat them as unconfirmed.
• Official costs are a bank challan and an EPS-TOPIK fee. Nothing else. No agent commission exists in this programme.
• The E-9 runs up to four years and ten months, with a documented conversion route to the E-7-4 skilled worker visa.

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