Team Member Nationality Requirements

Foreigners should obtain a visa at a diplomatic mission abroad in advance in order to enter South Korea.

A foreigner may stay in Korea within the scope of his/her sojourn status and sojourn period.

Starting a business:

Foreign Branches and Liaison offices don’t have visa requirements to start a business.

A Foreign Owned Local Corporation is recognized as a “foreign investment” under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act in South Korea. An individual seeking to invest in South Korea should have one of the following:

• a D-8 (Corporate Investment) visa, a D-9 (Trade)
• an F-5 (permanent residence) visa
• an F-6 (marriage immigration) visa According to the Foreign Investment Promotion Act, at least KRW 100 million must be invested to get a D-8 visa.

Employees:

There are no government policies requiring the hiring of nationals.

Foreign employees in Korea may apply for:

• D-7 Commercial Residence Visa / Intra-Company Transferee (if they have more than 1 year of working experience at the parent company’s headquarters, branch or other offices)

General procedure: The parties concerned (Employer and Employee) apply for a visa, submit required documents, including employment certificate and contract -> The Minister of Justice issues a visa issuance certificate -> The foreign worker enters Korea.

• E-7 Special Occupation Visa / Foreign National of Special Ability

General procedure: The parties concerned (Employer and Employee) sign an employment contract -> the Applicants submit required documents -> A related minister/institution makes a recommendation -> The Minister of Justice issues a visa issuance certificate -> The foreign worker enters Korea.

Employees applying for E-7 visa may receive special codes:

Managers: 1120 Executive of an enterprise (no requirements), 1202 Management supporting director, 1320 Finance director, 1350 Information and communication director etc.

Requirements: a bachelor’s degree + 1 year of career, master’s degree or higher, or more than 5 years’ career. They also will need a recommendation from a related ministry/institution, e.g. Financial Services Commission, Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Korea Venture Industry Association, Korea Industrial Technology Foundation, Small and Medium Business Administration etc.

Blockchain programmers: 2221 Computer system designer and analyst, 2223 Software developer, 2224 Database developer, 2225 Network system developer, 2226 Computer security professional etc.

Requirements: a bachelor’s degree + 1 year of career, master’s degree or higher, or more than 5 years’ career. They will also need a recommendation from a related ministry/institution, e.g. Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Korea Venture Industry Association, Korea Industrial Technology Foundation, Small and Medium Business Administration etc.)

The Visa Application procedures, such as submission of application, reception and review, payment methods, confirmation and required documents may vary depending on the application methods: via eVisa Portal, Korean Diplomatic Missions, Korean Immigration Offices.

All Employees’ work is regulated by the Labor Standards Act.

IMPORTANT

Financial Services Commission vice chairman Kim Yong-beom announced measures to ban anonymous trading on domestic exchanges, while foreigners and minors would be completely banned from trading through cryptocurrency accounts. Both measures go into effect Jan. 30. 2018. All foreigners, including residents, nonresidents and “kyopo” ethnic Koreans with foreign citizenship, will be banned from trading cryptocurrencies in Korea, the FSC’s foreign media department said by email.

The system aims to tackle money laundering and related crimes, along with speculation-driven overheating in the market, Kang Young-soo, head of the FSC’s cryptocurrency response team, said by phone after the announcement.

“The government is concerned about manipulation of market conditions and injection of illegal funds while market funds are leaked into speculative investments,” he added. “We view that foreigners’ and minors’ investments contribute to our areas of concern.”

Sources:

• Ministry of Justice, Korea Visa Portal
• Labor Standards Act
• InvestKorea

• Special Requirements for obtaining E-7 visa

• News: South Korea is banning all foreigners from trading cryptocurrencies