Moving to South Korea

Minimum foreign direct investment of KRW 100,000,000 (approx. EUR 67,000) into a Korean corporation, registered under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act, with the applicant holding a management or essential-specialist role in that company. The funds must be genuinely remitted from abroad and the business must have real premises and operations — paper companies are routinely refused. Issued for up to 5 years at a time depending on scale, renewable while the investment and business remain live. Spouse and minor children accompany on F-3 dependent status. The D-8 is the usual precursor to either the F-2-7 points route or, at much higher investment levels, direct investor permanent residence. Korean naturalisation generally requires renouncing the existing nationality and passing a Korean-language naturalisation exam, so citizenship should not be assumed as an outcome of this route.

Requires a job offer from a Korean employer for one of the occupations on the Ministry of Justice's designated E-7 list (E-7-1 professional, E-7-2 semi-skilled, E-7-3 skilled trades, E-7-4 skilled-worker conversion). Applicant must generally hold a bachelor's degree plus 1 year of relevant experience, or 5 years of experience in the field without a degree. Employers face quotas limiting foreign staff to a proportion of their Korean workforce, and salary must generally meet or exceed a percentage of Korea's gross national income per capita, with the exact ratio varying by sub-category. Issued for up to 3 years, renewable; changing employer requires permission. Spouse and children accompany on F-3 status but the spouse cannot work without separate authorisation. E-7 is the most common feeder into the F-2-7 points visa and thence to F-5 permanent residence after about 5 years total. Naturalisation requires renunciation of the existing citizenship in most cases plus a Korean-language examination, and is not a realistic assumption.

Piloted from 2024 and officially launched on 30 June 2026 with relaxed eligibility. Applicant must be at least 18, have worked for a foreign company or run their own foreign business for at least one year in the same field, and be able to do the job entirely remotely from Korea. Standard income threshold: more than twice Korea's GNI per capita for the previous year as announced by the Bank of Korea, after tax. The Korean Consulate General in Seattle puts GNI per capita at KRW 52.42 million, so the threshold is about KRW 104,840,000 a year after tax (the consulate says approx. USD 75,400 a year or USD 6,300 a month; about EUR 5,540 a month at the ECB rate of 3 September 2026). The relaxed tier lowers this to one times GNI per capita — about USD 36,963 on 2025 figures, roughly EUR 34,000 — for applicants aged 18 to 34 who reside outside Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, or in designated population-decline regions. Private health insurance covering at least KRW 100,000,000 for medical treatment and repatriation is mandatory. Issued for 1 year, extendable once for a maximum of 2 years. Employment or profit-making activity inside Korea is strictly prohibited. Spouse and children may accompany. F-1 time does not count toward permanent residence, and Korean naturalisation generally requires renunciation of the existing nationality, so this is a stay visa rather than a settlement route.

Requires holding D-8 corporate investment status for at least 3 consecutive years, maintaining a foreign direct investment of at least USD 500,000 (approx. EUR 455,000), and employing at least five Korean nationals full-time throughout, alongside the general F-5 conditions on income, tax compliance, criminal record and basic Korean-language or social-integration attainment. Grants indefinite residence with open work rights and no need to renew status, though the residence card is reissued periodically and long absences from Korea can cause loss of status. F-5 is permanent residence, not citizenship: naturalisation is a separate application requiring, in most cases, renunciation of the existing nationality plus written and oral naturalisation examinations in Korean. Dual citizenship is permitted only in narrow cases, so a realistic plan for this route ends at permanent residence.

Requires a certificate of admission from an accredited Korean institution plus proof of funds — commonly around USD 10,000 to 20,000 in a bank balance depending on the institution's tier and the course. Issued for up to 2 years at a time and renewable for the length of the programme. Part-time work is permitted with permission from the immigration office, with hour caps that scale with the student's Korean-language level. Graduates of Korean universities receive substantial bonus points on the F-2-7 points table and can convert to a D-10 job-seeking visa or straight to E-7 employment, making study one of the more efficient entry points into the Korean system. Permanent residence remains roughly 5 years away via the work-and-points route, or 3 years once F-2-7 is held. Naturalisation generally requires renouncing the existing nationality, so citizenship should not be assumed.

Applicant must already hold a qualifying long-term status in Korea (typically E-1 to E-7, or D-5 to D-9) and score at least 80 of 170 points across age, education, Korean-language ability (TOPIK or KIIP level), annual income, work experience in Korea, and bonus items such as volunteering, regional residence outside the capital area, or holding an advanced degree from a Korean university. Points are heavily weighted toward younger applicants, higher Korean-language attainment and income above the national average. The F-2-7 confers open work rights, freedom to change employer, and family accompaniment. Its main value is that it shortens the road to F-5 permanent residence to about 3 years of holding F-2 status, versus 5 years on ordinary work visas. Korean naturalisation is a separate and much harder step: the Nationality Act generally requires renunciation of the original nationality (with narrow exceptions for exceptional talent, certain marriage cases and overseas Koreans over 65), plus a written and oral naturalisation examination in Korean, so citizenship is not a realistic assumption for most applicants.