Hiring and Managing Japanese Chefs in South Korea: Visa, Salary and Retention (2026)

This guide answers the questions restaurant owners in South Korea ask us most often before hiring a Japanese chef from Japan. Salary ranges reflect the positions Washoku Agent has handled; visa facts come from official government pages, checked on 2026-10-29.

How much do Japanese chefs earn in South Korea?

Based on the positions Washoku Agent has handled in South Korea, advertised annual packages for Japanese chefs typically fall between JPY 8 and 10 million when converted, with the highest advertised packages reaching around JPY 12 million. These are offers at the time of advertising; the final package depends on city, concept and seniority.

Which roles and restaurant types hire Japanese chefs in South Korea?

The demand we see in South Korea is concentrated in a few role types and concepts. The most common roles are head chef and sous chef positions, and the most common concepts are teppanyaki, omakase sushi and Japanese cuisine.

Do Japanese chefs need to speak English, and is housing provided?

Nearly all of our listings accepted beginner-level English. Employers in South Korea generally prioritise cooking technique and experience; kitchen English develops on the job. Nearly all of our listings included housing or a housing allowance.

Which visa lets a restaurant in South Korea sponsor a Japanese chef?

A Specific Activity visa (E-7) in the semi-professional chef and cook category (E-7-2), based on a Confirmation of Visa Issuance that the restaurant obtains from its local immigration office. The Ministry of Justice manual names Japanese-cuisine chefs and cooks as an occupation that can be brought in, so a restaurant qualifies if it passes the floor area, VAT and Korean-staff test. Korea also has a working holiday agreement with Japan for chefs aged 18 to 25.

• Salary floor (Ministry of Justice notice 2025-406, for 1 February to 31 December 2026): KRW 25,890,000 a year for the E-7-2 category. The contract must state pay and hours, and both must clear the minimum wage.
• Chef qualification (manual, October 2026): an intermediate or higher cooking certificate; or an entry-level certificate plus 3 years of experience; or 6 months of formal training plus 5 years. Experience alone is not accepted for Japanese cuisine. Documents need an apostille or consular confirmation. No language test.
• Employer test: 60 square metres or more, KRW 3,000,000 or more of annual VAT paid, and 2 or more Korean staff on employment insurance for 3 months. The minimums allow 1 foreign cook; 2 cooks need 70 square metres, KRW 5,000,000 and 3 Korean staff. New restaurants usually wait 3 months after opening.
• No visa fee for Japanese nationals; the chef's visa is single-entry with a 2-year stay limit; extension KRW 60,000; the E-7 status can be granted for up to 3 years at a time.
• After the visa: entry, alien registration within 90 days (KRW 35,000). Embassy processing about one week for a chef holding the Confirmation of Visa Issuance (up to 2 weeks at the consulates), with an interview only if requested.

1. Check that the restaurant passes the floor area, VAT and Korean-staff test and has 3 months of employment insurance records.
2. The employer applies to the local immigration office for a Confirmation of Visa Issuance with the contract, the chef's certificate and experience letters (apostilled), the VAT certificate, the employment insurance list, floor-area proof and an identity guarantee.
3. The immigration office issues the Confirmation of Visa Issuance number; the chef must apply for the visa within 3 months of issue.
4. The chef applies at the Korean embassy or consulate in Japan (no fee for Japanese nationals, about one to two weeks, interview only if requested).
5. Entry, start of work, and alien registration within 90 days (KRW 35,000); calendar the extension before the 2-year stay limit.

Which visa lets a Korean restaurant sponsor a Japanese chef?

The Specific Activity visa (E-7). The Ministry of Justice's visa issuance manual (October 2026 edition, posted on HiKorea on 22 October 2026) lists 'chef and cook' (주방장 및 조리사, occupation code 451, formerly 441) as one of the semi-professional occupations (E-7-2). The manual names 'Japanese-cuisine chef and cook' among the occupations that can be brought in, together with Western, Chinese and other foreign cuisines; Korean-cuisine cooks, snack-bar, coffee and traditional-tea cooks cannot. The restaurant applies to its local immigration office for a Confirmation of Visa Issuance (사증발급인정서); the chef then applies for the visa at a Korean embassy or consulate in Japan. The Employment Permit System (E-9) is for non-professional workers and does not cover chefs or cooks, as the Ministry of Employment and Labor stated in 2018.

What does the chef have to show, and what is the salary rule?

The manual sets the chef's qualifications by certificate, training and experience. A winner of an internationally recognised cooking competition is exempt from the certificate and experience rules. Otherwise, a chef trained outside Korea needs one of the following: an intermediate-level or higher cooking certificate (no experience needed); an entry-level certificate plus 3 or more years of experience after the certificate; or 6 months or more of formal culinary training plus 5 or more years of experience. The route of 10 years of experience without any programme is allowed only for local traditional food and is excluded for Japanese, Chinese and Western cuisine, so a Japanese chef with no certificate and no formal course does not qualify. Certificates, experience letters and course certificates must carry an apostille or a Korean consular confirmation (a 5-star hotel that selected the chef itself is exempt). The salary floor is published by the Ministry of Justice each year: for Confirmations of Visa Issuance from 1 February to 31 December 2026, semi-professional workers (E-7-2) must be paid at least KRW 25,890,000 a year (Ministry of Justice notice 2025-406 of 29 December 2025). Professional occupations (E-7-1) carry a higher floor of KRW 31,120,000 and a benchmark of 80% of the previous year's GNI per capita; those do not apply to the chef category. The employment contract must state monthly pay and working hours, and both the hourly and the monthly figure must clear the legal minimum wage. There is no Korean-language test for this occupation.

What does the restaurant have to show?

The employer must be a tourist hotel, a tourist restaurant, a restaurant for foreign tourists, an airline in-flight catering unit, or a foreign-cuisine restaurant that meets three minimums at once. For a general (non-Chinese) restaurant the manual sets a floor area of 60 square metres or more, annual VAT paid of KRW 3,000,000 or more (the 'tax paid' total on the tax office's VAT certificate), and 2 or more Korean employees who have been on the employment insurance register for 3 months or more and are paid at least the minimum wage (Korean nationals, permanent residents and marriage migrants count; a Chinese restaurant needs 200 square metres, KRW 5,000,000 and 3 employees). A business designated as a tourist convenience facility may use half the floor-area minimum. The number of foreign cooks allowed is the average of three bands (floor area, VAT paid, Korean staff) and may never exceed the Korean-staff band: the minimums give 1 cook; 2 cooks need 70 square metres, KRW 5,000,000 of VAT and 3 Korean staff; 3 cooks need 100 square metres, KRW 6,000,000 and 4 Korean staff. Immigration can refuse an application that meets the figures on paper but shows no foreign-visitor custom and looks like a search for cheap labour, and a business that has had a wage-arrears case or an absconded worker loses that headcount for one year. Because the employment insurance list must cover 3 months, a new restaurant normally applies 3 months or more after opening. The chef category also requires an identity guarantee (신원보증서) from the employer.

How much are the fees, how long does it take, and how long can the chef stay?

Japanese nationals pay no visa fee at Korean missions in Japan: Japan is listed as an exempted country for all visa types under the fee-exemption agreement (Consulate General in Sendai, fee table effective 1 August 2023, notice of 6 August 2024; Consulate General in Nagoya, 9 September 2024). The manual issues the chef a single-entry visa with a stay limit of 2 years; the E-7 status itself can be granted for up to 3 years at a time under Annex 1 of the Immigration Control Act Enforcement Rules, and an extension of stay costs KRW 60,000 (Article 72 of the Enforcement Rules, in force 23 October 2026). After entry the chef must complete alien registration within 90 days (Immigration Control Act, Article 31); the registration card costs KRW 35,000 (raised from KRW 30,000 on 1 January 2025). On timing, the Embassy in Tokyo states that a visa for a holder of a Confirmation of Visa Issuance normally takes about one week and that an interview may be requested; the Osaka consulate states about 2 weeks and the Nagoya consulate 1 to 2 weeks. The immigration office's processing time for the Confirmation of Visa Issuance is not published on the pages we checked. The 'time' estimate on this page adds these official steps to the chef's notice period in Japan.

Is there a working holiday route?

Yes. Japan and Korea have had a working holiday agreement since 1999 with an annual quota of 10,000 visas (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 1 April 2026). Japanese applicants must be 18 to 25 at the time of application; 26 to 30 is accepted only with special circumstances. The Embassy of Korea in Tokyo (page updated 19 June 2026) issues a single-entry visa valid for one year, requires a bank balance of JPY 300,000 or more, medical insurance covering 10 months or more and KRW 40,000,000 or more, a criminal record certificate and a one-year activity plan, and states that work must be at legal workplaces and is limited to 25 hours a week. Processing is about 2 weeks. Since 1 October 2025 a person who has already used the scheme may take part a second time. From 1 July 2026 applications go only through the embassy's designated working holiday consultation desk; travel agencies can no longer apply on the applicant's behalf. A chef on this visa does not need the restaurant's Confirmation of Visa Issuance, but the year is fixed, so a permanent kitchen hire still needs the E-7 route.

Rules change. We confirm the current requirements with the employer before an offer.

Where do restaurants in South Korea find Japanese chefs?

Korea has the third-largest count of Japanese restaurants of any market (about 19,800 in the agriculture ministry's November 2025 count, up 1,590 from the 2023 survey) and a Japanese resident community of 44,471 people (October 2025), but no Japanese-community job board in Korea that carries chef ads at scale. Owners work the Korean job banks, the two job boards built for foreign workers, and word of mouth inside the Japanese restaurant community. The Japan-side career sites carried no Korea chef roles when we checked. No government advert is required before the immigration application.

Washoku Agent sits alongside these channels as the specialist route: we hold a registered pool of Japanese chefs, screen for technique and willingness to relocate, interpret interviews and manage the paperwork. You can run local channels in parallel and use us for the chef you cannot find locally.

Hire from Japan or from the local market in South Korea?

Korea gives you two routes. The Specific Activity visa (E-7) covers Japanese-cuisine chefs at foreign-cuisine restaurants that pass the floor area, VAT and Korean-staff test, with a salary floor of KRW 25,890,000 a year for the E-7-2 category in 2026. The working holiday agreement with Japan lets chefs aged 18 to 25 work up to 25 hours a week for one year without sponsorship. Local hiring draws on 44,471 Japanese residents (October 2025) and on Korea-trained cooks from the job banks.

Common hiring challenges in South Korea, and how to keep the chef

What owners and chefs say in public, in their own words:

Not ready to hire full-time? Start with a project: a Japanese chef can develop a menu or train your team for a few weeks. See how a project works.

How do restaurants in South Korea hire a Japanese chef through Washoku Agent?

Frequently asked questions