BNK Busan Bank and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance have entered into an agreement to establish a dedicated service window for the payment of "departure guarantee insurance" or "severance pay" in the duty-free area of Gimhae International Airport's departure hall. Comprehensive services will be available starting March 4, 2025.
The 'Foreign Worker Departure Maturity Insurance' is designed to ensure retirement benefits for foreign workers. Eligible participants include those entering the country via the foreign employment permit system, such as individuals with H2 (visiting employment visa) and E9 (non-professional employment) visas. Employers are required to save 8.35% of the worker's monthly salary, which is paid upon their departure. For foreign workers with E9 visas, who can work for up to 4 years and 10 months, the departure maturity insurance amounts to roughly 8 to 11 million won.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance exclusively handles and funds the insurance through an agreement with the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Human Resources Development Institute for Industry. This arrangement allows foreign workers preparing to leave the country to submit their personal and departure information to Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance in advance. Consequently, the payment is made on their departure date.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance has been disbursing insurance payouts to foreign workers by either exchanging money into dollars at the duty-free zone in the departure hall of Incheon International Airport or by transferring it to the worker's overseas account within 14 days post-departure. This departure maturity insurance was introduced to discourage illegal stays by encouraging a return to the worker's home country, with payments processed only after completing all departure formalities. However, this procedure required foreign workers from Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam to travel to Incheon Airport instead of using Gimhae Airport, which lacks a payment facility, to claim their insurance money.
The partnership between Busan Bank and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance aims to address this issue efficiently. Busan Bank intends to provide services at Gimhae Airport branches and currency exchange offices, allowing foreign workers to conveniently receive their retirement payments at the airport. By September of last year, there were 60,000 foreign workers holding H2 and E9 visas employed in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam.