Working in Korea: which visa needs a resume and how to write it

Under the EPS programme (E-9) and the seasonal E-8 visa nobody asks for a resume: the EPS-TOPIK exam, the roster and the Migration Agency decide. Below: all three channels, the 이력서 rules, photo and personal-data requirements, typical mistakes made by applicants from Uzbekistan, and a Korean-language sample for a welder.

Korea resume format: the sections of 이력서

이력서 differs fundamentally from a European resume: it is not free text but a form with predefined rows. You fill it in from top to bottom; an empty cell is acceptable, the layout is not changed. A Korean company hiring a welder or CNC operator under E-7 looks at the 인적사항 block first - age, visa, TOPIK - and only then moves to the experience table.

Length: one page. A Korean employer will not read two pages of free text, but reads a fully filled table at a glance. Dates are written as YYYY.MM, periods with «~»; the current job ends with 현재. Duties under each job take two or three lines at most: method, equipment, volume.

Photo, age and personal details: mandatory in Korea

Unlike the UK or Poland, the Korean 이력서 treats the photo, date of birth with age, nationality, marital status and visa status as ordinary rows of the form. Age is counted the 만 way - full years - and written next to the date of birth; the builder calculates it. Give the name in two forms: the Latin spelling from the passport and, in brackets, the Hangul transcription - without it a Korean HR department cannot read the name or enter it into its system.

• Photo 3×4: white or light background, business dress, facing the camera, recent, no filters.
• Visa status - honest: «E-7 신청 예정» (planning to apply for E-7) or «D-4 → E-7 변경 희망» (switching from a student visa).
• Address: if you are in Uzbekistan - city and district; if already in Korea - the Korean address.
• TOPIK: level and date; if you have no certificate, write «TOPIK 없음, 한국어 초급» rather than leaving the cell empty.
• Marital status - 기혼 (married) or 미혼 (single); a normal row in a Korean form.

Typical mistakes made by applicants from Uzbekistan

• Translating a free-form European resume into Korean - the employer expects a table and gets text.
• Preparing a resume for EPS and paying an intermediary for it - EPS has no resume, only the roster and the exam.
• Name in Latin script only, no Hangul - HR cannot read it.
• Age and visa status missing - these are the first two things checked for E-7.
• Vague duties: instead of «worked at a factory» write the method (CO2, TIG), equipment (CNC, Fanuc), material and volume.
• «I speak Korean» instead of TOPIK - level and date are needed.
• Squeezing the 자기소개서 into the resume or not sending it at all - it is a separate four-part document.
• Korean text from machine translation - unnatural endings are spotted immediately. Show even an AI translation to someone who knows Korean.

How hiring for Korea works: the E-9, E-8 and E-7 channels

E-9 (EPS): no resume, an exam and a roster

EPS is the Korean government's programme for hiring workers; in Uzbekistan only the Migration Agency runs it. Registration in 2026 takes place in March through xorijdaish.uz: age 18-39, no criminal record, a 28-dollar fee, a passport scan and a 3.5×4.5 photo. Then comes the EPS-TOPIK exam; those who pass enter the roster, and the Korean employer picks the candidate from the roster. The candidate sends a resume to no one. The 2026 quota is 80,000 (130,000 in 2025): competition has grown, but the exam score decides it, not a resume.

E-8: seasonal work through the khokimiyat

The seasonal E-8 visa is issued for 5 months with a 3-month extension, for agriculture and fisheries. Candidates are selected by the Migration Agency and regional khokimiyats; no resume is used here either.

E-7 / E-7-4: the employer chooses

E-7 is the visa for skilled specialists: welders, shipbuilding, IT, engineers. E-7-4 is for skilled workers, with a quota of 35,000 in 2025. There is no state roster here: the Korean company finds the candidate itself, reads the 이력서 and 자기소개서, holds a video interview, then files the invitation and visa documents with the immigration office. This is the channel where the resume decides, and it must look the way a Korean employer expects. For comparison, see the Lebenslauf page - there too the employer chooses, but the format is different.

Language and certificates: which TOPIK level is needed

For EPS you sit the separate EPS-TOPIK exam - not the regular TOPIK - and its score is used for the roster. For E-7 you need the regular TOPIK certificate: its level and date go into the 어학 row of the form. The employer states the required level in the advert; do not hide a low level - your ability to say a few sentences in Korean will be tested at the interview.

The 이력서 is written in Korean or English: if your Korean is weak, send the English version with the same table structure - in the builder the kr1 template works in both languages. The 자기소개서, however, is expected in Korean and has four parts: 성장과정 (background), 지원동기 (why this company), 성격의 장단점 (strengths and weaknesses), 입사 후 포부 (plans after joining). The «Chet elga» package translates the 이력서 into Korean with AI; «Chet elga+» adds a draft 자기소개서 and the English version. This is an AI translation, not a notarised one, meant for the resume text only.

What to do with your diploma and trade certificate

For E-7 you need a university or college diploma with a translation; an apostille may be required - the employer or the immigration office will say. Have trade documents - the welder grade, the CNC operator certificate - officially translated into Korean or English: an AI translation works for the resume text, not for official documents. Get an experience certificate from your previous employer - its dates must match the 이력서.

Ready-made texts for trade professions are in the resume examples section: enter that experience and those skills into the builder, then choose Korea as the country. Comparison with other destinations is in the Abroad section.

Build a resume in the Korean format