Listing countries hiring foreign workers would mean listing every rich country, which helps nobody. The useful question is narrower: which countries have built machinery that recruits from Asia specifically, either by treaty or by putting their examination centres in Asian cities?
Two have. Everywhere else, you are competing globally against every other applicant, and that is a completely different proposition.
Korea recruits by treaty
The Employment Permit System is the clearest example of deliberate recruitment anywhere in the world. It runs government to government: Korea signs agreements with a defined list of sending countries, and candidates enter through their own country’s designated agency rather than by applying to a Korean employer.
The scale for 2026 is 80,000 E-9 workers, and it is a route with somewhere to go rather than a dead end:
- After four or more years on an E-9, you can apply for the E-7-4 skilled worker visa.
- The 2026 E-7-4 quota is at an all-time high of 33,000, with a threshold typically around 60 points.
- It requires an average annual income of at least KRW 25 million over the previous two years.
- Employer recommendation is worth 50 points, which is most of the threshold and is worth understanding before you accept a job rather than after.
Two consequences of the treaty structure. First, your nationality decides whether the route exists for you: no agreement, no E-9. Second, no private agent can sell you a place, because selection runs through the official channel. That makes any placement fee for an E-9 a straightforward fraud, and it is one of the most common frauds aimed at workers in this region. See Korea’s F visa options and how Korea is easing its visa rules.
Japan recruits by putting the exam where you are
Japan does it differently and, for most people, better. It does not allocate places. It publishes a standard, holds the examination across Asia, and hires whoever passes.
Where those tests are held is the most direct statement of intent available. Specified Skilled Worker skills tests run in:
Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Pakistan, with further countries for particular sectors.
If your country is on that list, Japan has made a decision about you: it has paid to run examinations there. The Japanese language test, JFT-Basic, runs six times a year and Specified Skilled Worker applicants need A2 or higher. There are 16 operational fields, several available at SSW (ii), which renews indefinitely and permits family.
One field to check before you commit study time: SSW (i) food service is suspended, since 13 April 2026, because the number of residents in that field is expected to exceed a ceiling of 50,000 set for FY2024 to FY2028. Food and beverage manufacturing and accommodation are open. Detail in our Specified Skilled Worker guide and a direct comparison in the wider Japanese work visas.
The Gulf recruits at volume, on different terms
The Gulf states hire from Asia continuously and at a scale neither Korea nor Japan approaches. The visa is genuinely simple, because it is employer-sponsored with no points system and no skill classification to fail.
What differs is what you are buying. These are permits tied tightly to one employer, with no route to residence for most workers, so judge them on wage protection and exit rights rather than on salary. Qatar is the only one of the three with a universal minimum wage covering migrant workers, and it enforces payment through licensed banks, which is a meaningful protection. Full comparison in the Qatar work visa.
Everywhere else: you compete globally
The UK, Canada, Australia and the EU all have real shortages and none of them recruits from Asia as such. They publish rules and assess whoever applies, which means your competition is every other applicant on earth and your nationality is largely irrelevant.
That is not a reason to avoid them. It is a reason to compete on the things those systems actually reward, which are specific and checkable:
- An occupation on a shortage list, which often waives the labour market test.
- A recognised qualification, because recognition is usually the slowest part and having it done makes you cheap to hire.
- A language certificate at the level named in the rules. In Canada, French is worth more than any other single thing: a draw in August 2026 invited at CRS 382 against general rounds clearing 500 to 530.
Where to start: 15 European routes compared and how to find companies that sponsor.
What to do
- Check whether your country has an EPS agreement with Korea. It is the single largest route on this page and it is nationality-gated.
- Check whether Japan holds its tests in your country. If it does, that route is open to you on merit.
- Start the language. Korean feeds the roster; Japanese at A2 is the gate. Neither is optional.
- If you go to the Gulf, ask how wages are paid and what happens if you resign, before you sign.
- Never pay for a job offer. On every route here the employer carries the sponsorship cost. See what really exists with no experience.
Browse shortage jobs with visa sponsorship on our board, where listings are tied to employers who sponsor rather than to agents who charge.
Last checked September 2026. Korean quotas and sending-country agreements are set annually, and Japanese test locations change between sittings. Confirm both on the official sites before planning.
