Korean investment visa types
Do you want a new life in Korea? Do you want a comfortable life after retirement, long-term travel, or a new business? Do you want to gift your children the experience of studying abroad in Korea?
An investment visa is the fastest and easiest way to start living in Korea.
The investment visa does not consider Korean proficiency, academic background, work experience, or income in Korea required for issuance of a general visa. If you can invest, you can get your Korean visa within a week.
Investment visas in Korea are largely classified into three types.
- Public Business investment visa for depositing investment in Korean public fund
- Real estate investment visa to purchase designated real estate in Korea
- D8 visa to start a business in Korea
IISPB: Immigrant Investor Scheme for Public Business
Immigrant Investor Scheme for Public Business (IISPB) is a system that allows you to receive a resident visa (F2 visa) immediately by investing KRW 500 million in a public business fund guaranteed by the Korean government. If you maintain the investment status for 5 years after that, you can change to permanent residency (F5 visa).
- 1. The public business fund is guaranteed by the Korean government, and there is no loss of principal. (However, no interest)
- 2. Resident visa (F2 visa) allows residence, free entry and exit, business, and education.
- 3. The same resident visa (F-2 visa) is issued not only to investors but also to spouses and unmarried children.
- 4. If you leave a record of your entry into Korea only once a year, your resident visa status will continue to be maintained even if you do not live in Korea.
- 5. If you receive a green card (F5 visa) after 5 years, you can withdraw the principal of 500 million won.
- 6. If the investment is recovered within 5 years, the visa will immediately expire.
If you are over 55, you only need to invest 300 million won.
- 1. The benefits of all residence visas (F-2 visas) are the same.
- 2. However, when applying for the first time, you must submit documents proving that you have assets of more than 300 million won in Korea or overseas in addition to the investment of 300 million won.
- 3. When changing to a permanent residence (F5 visa) after 5 years, you must submit documents proving that you have assets of 300 million won or more in Korea.
If you invest 1.5 billion won, you can get permanent residency right away
- 1. You must write a pledge to remain invested for 5 years.
- 2. Not only the investor himself, but also his spouse, minor children, and unmarried adult children are immediately eligible for permanent residency (F-5 visa).
- 3. If you leave a record of your entry into Korea only once every two years, your resident visa status will continue to be maintained even if you do not live in Korea.
- 4. The investment principal is safely guaranteed and there is no interest.
The investment amount of IISPB has been distributed in a press release in early 2022 that the Ministry of Justice will increase it in the future, but so far it has been maintained at the same amount.
IISRE: Immigrant Investor Scheme for Real Estate
IISRE visa is a system that allows you to receive a residence visa (F2 visa) immediately if you invest more than 500 million won in real estate designated by the Ministry of Justice of Korea. If you maintain the investment status for 5 years after that, you can change to permanent residency (F5 visa).
- Foreign investors, executives of corporations, shareholders and their spouses, and unmarried adult children are immediately issued a residence visa (F-2 visa). After 5 years, you can change to permanent residence (F-5 visa).
- Real estate that can be invested is limited to designated buildings in areas designated by the Minister of Justice.
- If it is not a designated real estate, you cannot get a visa even if you purchase it.
- If you receive a resident visa (F-2 visa), you can live, do business, study, and freely enter and leave the country.
- You can apply for a combination of IISPB and IISRE. In other words, real estate investment of 300 million won + public fund investment of 200 million won is also possible.
D8 Visa: Establishment or investment in a Korean incorporated company
The D8 visa is a system that allows foreigners to invest capital to establish a corporate company in Korea and conduct business.
- You can establish a foreign-invested corporation yourself, or you can invest capital in a company run by a Korean and operate it jointly.
- The D8 visa has the advantage of being able to use the capital for business, unlike public investment visas or real estate investment visas in which the investment is tied up for 5 years.
- It takes a lot of time and money to get visa approval. The Immigration Office’s examination of the difficulty of overseas remittance, investigation of the source of funds, and sincerity of the business is rather difficult.
- Since you apply for a visa after setting up your company and office, you will lose a lot of time and money if permission is rejected.
- In most cases, you need to extend your visa every year, and you need to prepare well because you need to have business records at the time of extension screening.
- The minimum investment amount is KRW 100 million, and visa approval becomes easier for investments of KRW 300 million or more.
D8 Visa Big investors can apply for a residence visa (F2 visa) or permanent residency (F5 visa).
- Investors who have invested more than 500,000 USD and employed 5 or more Koreans as full-time workers for 6 months or more can apply for permanent residency (F5 visa).
- Investors who have invested more than USD 500,000 and executives and employees of foreign corporations can apply for a residence visa (F-2 visa) after 3 years. (if conditions are met)
- If you invest more than 300,000 USD and hire 2 or more Koreans, you can apply for a residence visa (F-2 visa). (if conditions are met)
Korea Investment Visa Inquiry
