Kathmandu, March 22,

A total of 3,500 foreign job aspirants under the Employment Permit System (EPS) of Korean government today submitted online application form for the Korean Language Test (KLT) slated for June 10 and 11 this year.

The EPS Korea Section under the Department of Foreign Employment has started online application system since this year for the KLT and aspirants can submit their applications till March 31, according to Baburam Khatiwada, director of EPS Korea Section.

“Last year a total of 61,000 people registered for the KLT and we expect between 80,000 and 100,000 aspirants to submit applications this year due to the simplified procedure for submitting applications.”

Due to the online application system, foreign job aspirants had queued in front of branches of Global IME Bank from early morning today to deposit the exam fees. A total of 94 branches of Global IME Bank are authorised to collect fees and the bank today collected fees from 17,000 applicants, according to Khatiwada. The number of forms submitted is low as compared to those who deposited fees due to the slowdown in the system today. The EPS Section has been putting all its effort to make the system fast from tomorrow, as per officials. Those who have deposited the fees at the bank can submit their application by midnight of March 31.

Khatiwada informed that labour demand from South Korea in 2018 has gone up three folds to 10,200 as compared to 3,100 in 2017.

Last year, the KLT was conducted in Kathmandu and Pokhara but this year the Koreans are reluctant to establish exam centres in Pokhara. “We are trying to convince them to hold KLT from Kathmandu and Pokhara but they are reluctant to establish more KLT centres due to the cost factor,” Khatiwada said.

This is the eighth series of KLT. Candidates selected from the KLT meet the basic requirement to apply for jobs in Korea. Only those candidates in good health and who have not been involved in any criminal offences are eligible to apply for jobs. The Human Resource Development Service (HRDS) of Korea develops a roster of those who clear KLT and provides them with an opportunity to apply for jobs in Korea. The validity of KLT is only for two years.

Normally fresh workers in Korea get job opportunity in manufacturing, agriculture and livestock sectors. However, those who have worked in Korea legally for three years can apply for computer-based test (CBT), and those who clear the CBT are eligible to work in service and construction sectors as well.

The basic monthly salary of Nepali workers in Korea is 1,236,000 won (around $1,075).