When you look for Worknet, it redirects to Work24 — 6 roadblocks foreigners hit on Work24

Type www.work.go.kr into the address bar and the screen redirects you to Work24 (www.work24.go.kr). When we checked on August 26, 2026, it wasn't an HTTP redirect but a JavaScript address swap. That means even if school or company handouts still list the old address, you'll end up on the same screen.

And on that screen, there are six points where only foreigners get stuck. The biggest one first: among the 26 advanced job-search filters, there is not a single option for visa type or residence status. It's a judgment burden that doesn't exist at all for Korean job seekers, so this guide walks through those six points in screen order.

Worknet didn't disappear — it moved here

The Work24 service launched on September 23, 2024. A press release dated September 23, 2025, from the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Employment Information Service, marked that date as the first anniversary of the service launch. The same release reported an average of 1.21 million daily visitors at the one-year mark. The Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Employment Information Service jointly operate the platform.

The old address didn't die completely. The Work24 screen itself still links to the "Cyber Career Education Center" and "Employment Type Disclosure System" using work.go.kr URLs. So even when the old address redirects, you didn't land on the wrong page. That said, we couldn't confirm from primary sources the story that several sites merged at launch, so we haven't included it here.

The interface is in Korean — "foreign language" is not a language-switcher button

The advanced search screen has a filter labeled "foreign language," and many people assume clicking it will switch the site to English. That's not what it does. When you click "select foreign language," checkboxes appear for English, Japanese, Chinese, German, etc. — those are filters for the language skills the hiring company requires. Similarly, "foreign-affiliated company" under "company type" is just a company classification, not a language setting.

Scanning the homepage and sitemap, we found no language-toggle link like "English," and the document language declaration was Korean (confirmed August 2026). We also couldn't find a dedicated foreigner-only section within the main site — that's different from confirming one doesn't exist.

The top-menu item "Overseas Employment" is also easy to misread; it's a World Job linkage service for finding work abroad, not for finding jobs in Korea.

Login is the first wall

The Work24 login screen offers these authentication methods: easy-login (KakaoTalk, KB Kookmin Bank, PAYCO, telecom PASS, Samsung Pass, Naver, Shinhan Bank, Toss, Banksalad, Hana Bank, KakaoBank, Woori Bank), public certificate, financial certificate, i-PIN authentication, biometric authentication, and ID/password. All assume domestic financial or telecom providers. The individual-member registration flow is shown as "select membership type → identity verification → registration complete."

Two notices on the screen are also important to read. "Login via each authentication method is available only after registering for Work24 and completing real-name verification," and "Additional identity verification is required when submitting civil petitions on Work24; ID/password login is available only on mobile for tasks like vocational-training attendance check." In other words, ID/password login does not substitute for real-name verification.

The alien registration number itself is explicitly mentioned on the screen. The login/signup screen's consent clause for unique-identifier collection reads "Unique identifier: resident registration number (alien registration number)" and cites Enforcement Decree of the Employment Security Act, Article 37-4 (enforced March 24, 2026, Presidential Decree No. 36220) as the legal basis. Paragraph 2 of that article covers "affairs related to job-application filing under Article 9 of the Act," so handling alien registration numbers in job-application affairs is anticipated by statute.

There's no "visa" filter in the search criteria

This is the most important section of this guide. The advanced job-search screen has 26 filters, and not a single one addresses visa type, residence status, or whether the position is open to foreigners (confirmed August 2026).

So the fact that a listing appeared in search results does not mean "I'm allowed to apply." The system doesn't filter for you, so you have to make that determination separately after picking a posting. What work each visa allows is summarized in What jobs can I do on my visa?, and if you're on E-7 with occupation codes, also see E-7 visa job-code lookup. For individual determinations, call ☎1345 (Immigration Contact Center, multilingual).

Job postings don't have a standard field for "visa sponsorship available," so you end up having to ask the company directly — and that inquiry itself requires Korean-language phone or email, which creates another roadblock.

The listings don't all come from one place

If you expand the "source provider" filter, you'll see not just Work24 itself but also public channels like Narailteo, ALIO, Women's Corporate Job Hub, Cleani, Military Service Job, Korea Social Security Information Service, Small & Medium Business Corporation, i-ONE JOB, as well as private portals like JobKorea, Saramin, Incruit, Career, Mediajob, Job Notice, Medijob, MidasIn, Pharmrecruit, and R&Djob. Not all of these listings have been received and screened by employment centers.

Article 8 of the Employment Security Act (enforced July 24, 2024, Act No. 20121) provides that the head of an employment security agency may not refuse to accept a job-opening application, except in four cases: when the application violates statute, when wages, working hours, or other working conditions are markedly inappropriate compared to normal standards, when the employer refuses to disclose hiring conditions, or when the employer is a wage-delinquency offender whose name is currently public under Article 43-2 of the Labor Standards Act. But this proviso applies to job-opening applications received by employment security agencies — it is not evidence that listings harvested from private portals have undergone the same screening.

The screen does have a separate search filter called "Work24 direct application." That distinguishes postings you can apply to directly through Work24; whether applying to other postings requires separate registration on those portals is something we couldn't confirm.

Browsing listings and "job application filing" are different things

Under the top menu "Job seeker (résumé) management" you'll find job-application filing, résumé/cover-letter management, and referral/application history. Looking at postings with your eyes and registering your job-seeker information are different actions, and it's useful to know that referrals and applications are kept as records.

The statute says this: The head of an employment security agency may not refuse to accept a job application, except when the application content violates statute (Employment Security Act Article 9, paragraph 1, enforced July 24, 2024, Act No. 20121). We haven't secured an administrative interpretation of how this proviso applies to individual visa categories, so know the statute text as it stands and defer judgment of your own case to ☎1345 and your local employment center. The validity period and renewal cycle of job applications also appear on a logged-in screen, so we couldn't confirm them.

E-9 and H-2 go to EPS, not Work24

The system for foreign workers is a separate site called EPS (www.eps.go.kr), not the Work24 main platform. The document title reads "Foreign Employment Management System – Work24," so the name carries through, but the domain, screen, and login are all separate, and the top of the page has distinct "foreigner member registration" and "foreigner login" links. The Work24 side also links to this address under the label "Foreign employment (for foreigners only)."

EPS offers 17 native-language country sites to choose from, but the scope is limited. The site itself describes the scope as "Employment Permit System guidance, Korean-language test results, skills-test registration and results, introduction process status, career-certificate printing services, etc.," and there is no indication that domestic job-posting search is provided in native languages.

More importantly, the structure itself is different. An employer who wants to hire a foreign worker must first file a domestic job-opening application with an employment security agency (Act on the Employment, etc. of Foreign Workers, Article 6, paragraph 1, enforced October 1, 2025, Act No. 21065), and re-employment of E-9 workers is also routed through an employment security agency because Article 25, paragraph 2, of the same Act applies Articles 6, 8, and 9 by reference. The procedure including the three-month and one-month deadlines in paragraph 3 and the change-frequency cap in paragraph 4 is outlined in E-9 workplace-change procedure, and the pre-entry stage is in Employment Permit System (EPS) procedure overview.

When the online path is blocked, head to the counter — where to ask what

Article 2-2, item 1, of the Employment Security Act defines an employment security agency as "a local employment and labor administrative agency that performs employment security tasks such as job placement and vocational guidance" (enforced July 24, 2024, Act No. 20121). In practice, many centers have "Employment Welfare Plus Center" on their signs, so searching a map app for "employment center" alone may not turn them up. It's faster to start with the "Find your local employment center" tool on the EPS homepage for a regional list.

The first two numbers operate weekdays 09:00–18:00, so if you work six days or shifts, your available calling window is tight. If you plan to visit in person, ask ahead whether interpretation support is available — we couldn't confirm whether it's offered.

The fact that the service windows are split this way is not the reader's fault. In a May 12, 2026, press release, the Ministry of Employment and Labor wrote that foreign-labor policy until now had "different ministries in charge depending on the type of employment visa," and a conference presenter pointed to a fragmented structure in which visa/residence management and labor-market policy were not linked. The government announced on April 30, 2026, a "Foreign Workforce Integrated Support Roadmap Direction" and stated that a roadmap is in preparation, so the service-window structure may change.

To sum up, there are four points where you must ask rather than judge for yourself — whether your visa status permits that occupation (☎1345), whether real-name verification will pass with your alien registration number (☎1577-7114), whether you're eligible for unemployment benefits or the National Employment Support System (☎1350 and your local employment center), and whether as an E-9 holder you can apply directly to this posting (local employment center).

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1. Did Worknet disappear? When you access the old address www.work.go.kr, it redirects to Work24 (www.work24.go.kr). As of our August 26, 2026, check, the method was a JavaScript redirect rather than an HTTP redirect, and the domain wasn't shut down. The Work24 screen itself still links to the Cyber Career Education Center and Employment Type Disclosure System using work.go.kr URLs. So neither "it was shut down" nor "it operates separately" is an accurate description.

Q2. Can I view Work24 in English? The "foreign language" filter in the advanced search is not a language-switcher; it filters for the language skills (English, Japanese, Chinese, German, etc.) that the hiring company requires. When we checked the homepage and sitemap, there was no language-toggle link, and the document language declaration was Korean (confirmed August 2026). We didn't find a multilingual page within the main platform, but that means we didn't locate it, not that we confirmed it doesn't exist — call ☎1577-7114 to ask.

Q3. Can I register with an alien registration number? Two things are confirmed: the consent clause for unique-identifier collection on the login/signup screen explicitly reads "resident registration number (alien registration number)" and cites Enforcement Decree of the Employment Security Act, Article 37-4, as the legal basis, and all authentication methods are based on domestic financial or telecom providers. Whether real-name verification actually passes couldn't be confirmed without logging in, so don't assume "yes" or "no" in advance — check with ☎1577-7114.

Q4. Can I filter to see only postings open to my visa? No. We reviewed all 26 advanced search filters, and none address visa type, residence status, or whether the posting is open to foreigners (confirmed August 2026). The fact that a listing appeared in search results doesn't mean you're allowed to apply, so after picking a posting you must separately determine whether your visa permits that work. Start the determination at ☎1345 and What jobs can I do on my visa?.

Q5. I'm on E-9 — can I just pick a posting on Work24 and apply? E-9 re-employment is not a free-apply structure. Article 6, paragraph 1, of the Act on the Employment, etc. of Foreign Workers requires employers to file a domestic job-opening application first, and Article 25, paragraph 2, applies Articles 6, 8, and 9 by reference, routing the re-employment procedure through an employment security agency. The workplace-change application also goes to the head of the employment security agency. The procedure including deadlines and frequency caps is in E-9 workplace-change procedure; confirm individual steps with your local employment center.