Korea Visa Guide: Everything You Need to Know

Korea's immigration system was built by bureaucrats who really like subcategories. The digital nomad visa, for instance, is technically classified as an F-1 family visa. Because the most natural home for remote workers is obviously "visiting and joining family." That decision presumably made sense at the time.

When you receive a visa grant notice from the embassy, it serves as confirmation that your visa application has been approved. After arriving in South Korea, you need to apply for an Alien Registration Card (ARC) at your local immigration office. Once issued, the ARC will have your visa details printed on the back, indicating your visa type, duration of stay, and other relevant information. This card serves as your official ID while in Korea, and the visa printed on the backside replaces the traditional visa stamp in your passport.

Before you spend an hour reading about visa categories you'll never use, start here.

You're just visiting Korea: You probably don't need a visa at all. Citizens of most Western countries get 90 days visa-free. Check the Korean embassy website for your nationality, but if you're from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, or most of Europe, you can book the flight and sort the rest at the border.

You're an English teacher on an E-2: This is the most common foreigner visa in Korea. Your school or hagwon handles most of the process. You need a clean criminal record, a bachelor's degree, and to be a native speaker from one of the qualifying countries.

You're a digital nomad or remote worker: The F-1-D is what you want. It's a one-year visa (extendable to two) for remote workers employed by or running a business registered outside Korea. The income threshold is real, roughly $62-73K USD annually as of 2026.

You're studying Korean: D-4-1 language trainee visa. Your language school handles enrollment; you handle the visa application.

You're at a Korean university: D-2 student visa. Your university will walk you through it.

You're looking for work in Korea: D-10 job seeker visa. You get up to six months to find employment, with one possible extension.

You're moving to Korea for or with a Korean partner: F-6 marriage migrant visa if you're married to a Korean national. If you're not married yet but the relationship is established, this is the path to start researching.

You've been in Korea for years and want more freedom: The F-2-7 points-based long-term residence visa is the one that lets you work anywhere, change jobs freely, and run a business without employer sponsorship. It requires three consecutive years on the same visa type and 80 points across six scoring categories. Read the full F-2-7 guide.

You have Korean heritage: F-4 overseas Korean visa. Up to five years, renewable, and it covers a broad range of activities. One of the more generous visa types Korea offers.

You're under 30 and want to work and travel: H-1 working holiday visa. One year, available to citizens of countries with a working holiday agreement with Korea.

C visas are for trips up to 90 days. Most visitors from Western countries don't need one because they enter visa-free, but the formal C visa categories exist for situations where a visa is required or useful.

C-1 is for foreign journalists and media covering events in Korea. C-2 covers short-term business activities: meetings, conferences, contract negotiations. C-3 is the catch-all short-term general visa for tourism, family visits, and other non-professional purposes. C-4 covers short-term work assignments.

Most people reading this will never use a C visa. If you're entering Korea for 90 days or less and your nationality gets visa-free entry, the border officer is your only paperwork.

D visas are long-term visas for people here to study, conduct research, run a business, or look for work.

D-2: Student Visa For international students enrolled in degree programs at Korean universities. Covers undergraduate, graduate, and research students. Your university handles enrollment; you apply for the visa with their acceptance letter. Subtypes go from D-2-1 (associate degree) through D-2-8 (short-term study programs).

D-4: General Trainee Visa This is the language study visa most foreigners start with. The D-4-1 subtype is specifically for Korean language trainees enrolled at an accredited language institute (most universities have one). If you want to spend six months or a year learning Korean properly before committing to longer-term residency, this is how you do it.

D-8: Corporate Investment Visa For people investing in Korean businesses or establishing a company here. Minimum investment of $100,000. Subtypes cover incorporated enterprises, business ventures, and technology startups.

D-10: Job Seeking Visa Six months to find work, with one possible extension for another six months. You need proof of professional qualifications. Useful for people who want to be in Korea while applying for jobs rather than trying to sort everything out from abroad. Note: if you were on an E-2 and switched to D-10, those months on D-10 do not count toward the three consecutive years required for the F-2-7.

Other D visas cover cultural arts (D-1), industrial trainees (D-3), journalists (D-5), religious workers (D-6), intra-company transfers (D-7), and international trade (D-9).

E visas are tied to your employer and your specific job. If you change jobs or your employer situation changes, your visa status changes too. This is the main limitation of E visas versus the F visas below.

E-2: Foreign Language Instructor The English teacher visa. You need a bachelor's degree, to be a native speaker from a qualifying country (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland), a health check, and a clean criminal background check. Your employer (school or hagwon) sponsors the visa. The process is fairly well-established and your employer will typically guide you through it.

To be fair, the E-2 is a reasonable starting point for people who want to try living in Korea without committing long-term. But the employer dependency is real. If the job goes sideways, you have 14 days to sort out your visa situation or leave the country.

Other E visas cover professors (E-1), researchers (E-3), technology consultants (E-4), licensed professionals like lawyers and doctors (E-5), arts and entertainment (E-6), and specialized designated activities (E-7, which covers a wide range of professional fields). E-8 is for seasonal agricultural workers; E-9 for unskilled labor in manufacturing and construction; E-10 for vessel crew.

F visas are where things get interesting, and where most long-term residents eventually end up. F visas are not tied to an employer, which changes your daily life considerably.

F-1: Visiting and Joining Family Covers family visitors, dependents of diplomats, and a handful of specific circumstances. The F-1-D subtype is Korea's digital nomad visa. In terms of day-to-day life, the F-1-D functions more like a long-term residency visa than a family visa, the classification notwithstanding.

F-1-D: Digital Nomad Visa One year, extendable to two. For remote workers employed by or running a business registered outside Korea. The income requirement is the main barrier: roughly 85-100 million KRW annually ($62-73K USD) as of 2025/2026, set at twice Korea's GNI per capita. You also need qualifying international health insurance (minimum 70,000 EUR coverage) and at least one year in your current field.

You apply at the Korean embassy or consulate in your home country before arriving. You cannot convert a tourist entry into an F-1-D once you're in Korea.

F-2: Resident Visa Multiple subtypes covering long-term residents in various situations: underage children of Korean nationals, spouses and children of permanent residents, recognized refugees, and investors. The F-2-7 is the one most long-term expats work toward.

F-2-7: Points-Based Long-Term Residence 80 points out of a possible 120, scored across age, education, income, Korean language ability, and other categories. Requires three consecutive years on the same visa type as a baseline. Once you have it, you're no longer tied to an employer. You can work anywhere, change jobs, run a business, or freelance without touching your visa status.

This is the significant upgrade most people on E-2 or F-1-D visas are working toward if they plan to stay in Korea long-term.

Read the full F-2-7 guide, including how to score in each category

F-3: Accompanying Spouse or Child For spouses and dependent children of long-term visa holders. Lets them live in Korea for the duration of your visa. Doesn't grant independent work rights, but covers the legal residency side of bringing a partner or family.

F-4: Overseas Korean For people of Korean descent who are citizens of other countries. Up to five years, renewable. One of the more generous visa categories Korea offers, covering work, business, and general residency. If you have Korean heritage, this is worth looking at before you apply for anything else.

F-5: Permanent Residency The end state for most long-term residents. Multiple pathways: five or more years on specific work or investment visas, marriage to a Korean national for two-plus years, long-term residency as an overseas Korean, PhD in a high-tech field, and several others. The F-5-16 subtype is score-based, similar in concept to the F-2-7 but with a higher bar. Permanent residency in Korea means indefinite right of residency, though it requires periodic renewal of the physical card.

F-6: Marriage Migrant For foreign spouses of Korean citizens. Two years, renewable. The F-6-1 subtype is for current spouses; F-6-2 covers child-raising situations; F-6-3 covers divorced or widowed spouses of Korean nationals who have children together.

H-1: Working Holiday One year, for people aged 18 to 30 from countries with a working holiday agreement with Korea. The list includes Australia, Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Japan, and others. You can work while you're here, travel, and generally use it as a structured way to try Korea out before committing to a longer visa path. You need proof of sufficient funds, a return ticket, and health insurance.

If you're under 30 and Korea is more of an experiment than a plan, the working holiday visa is a low-friction starting point.

Regardless of which visa you're on, if you're staying in Korea for more than 90 days, you need an Alien Registration Card (ARC).

The ARC is issued by immigration after you arrive. You register your address within 90 days of arrival at your local immigration office, present your passport, lease agreement or address proof, and a form you can pick up at the office.

The ARC is your ID card in Korea. It unlocks a Korean bank account, a proper phone plan, KakaoBank, and a range of services that don't fully work on tourist-level access. Get it as early as you have a fixed address. Don't wait out the 90-day window.

When applying at a Korean embassy or consulate, photos must meet these specs:

Size: 35×45 mm, with a face size of 25×35 mm. Plain, evenly lit, light background. Taken within the last 6 months. Looking directly at camera. No sunglasses or hats (except for medical reasons). Head coverings for religious purposes are permitted.

Most photo booths at Korean pharmacies and convenience stores produce compliant photos if you're applying from within Korea. For embassy applications abroad, any professional photo service that does passport or visa photos will know the standard specs.

Requirements change. Always verify current details with the Korean embassy or consulate where you're applying, or the official Korean immigration website (immigration.go.kr).