Korean visa rule changes
When the Ministry of Justice updates its visa guidance manuals, the changes land here, each with its citation. The Visa Finder and Path Finder are rebuilt from the same manuals.
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Job seekers: an internship is open to you even after a professional job
The job-seeker visa lets you take a paid internship while you look for work, and until this week two groups were shut out of it: people preparing a technology start-up (D-10-2), and anyone who had moved onto job-seeker status after working here on a professional visa, the E-1 to E-7 range. The second group has been removed. If you were on a professional work visa and are now job seeking, an internship is open to you. Only the technology start-up track still rules it out. Worth knowing how this one arrived: the ministry did not publish a new edition or a changelog line for it. It replaced the 10 November file with a different file under the same name two days later, and our watcher noticed only because it compares the contents rather than the name. Treat the date as the day we saw it. This is the officers' guidance rather than a promise, and your own case is decided at the office.
체류 (2026-11-10 edition as replaced on 2026-11-12, 구직 D-10 인턴 활동)
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F-4: who has to sit the early adaptation programme, said more precisely
Overseas Korean status comes with a short early adaptation programme (조기적응프로그램). The 10 November edition does not change who must do it so much as stop the old wording being read two ways. It now names the two groups plainly: people changing to F-4 inside Korea, and people who were issued an F-4 visa abroad and are reporting their residence after arriving. The one-time grace for someone with no criminal record is spelled out as applying to the status change only, and not to the residence report. The exemption list is unchanged in substance, with one word tightened: three years of prior residence in Korea has to be current long-stay residence. Exempt are people in or graduated from a Korean school, under 6 or over 65, those three-year residents, anyone who has done the programme before, anyone on or through KIIP stage 1 or above, and the severely disabled.
체류 (2026-11-10 edition, 재외동포 F-4 조기적응프로그램)
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Regional skilled worker (E-7-4R): the farming and fishing pay floor moved up
The region-specific version of the skilled worker visa asks for a job contract at a set annual salary. The general figure stays 26,000,000 won. For farming, livestock, fishing and coastal shipping it moved from 25,000,000 to 25,890,000 won on 9 November, which lines it up with the figure the ordinary skilled worker visa already used for those sectors. Two smaller changes in the same chapter: the manual now says outright that five years at your current employer earns extra points on top of the three-year threshold, and someone applying through the population-decline area route has to hold a valid job-seeking registration certificate on the day they file. None of this changes the ordinary skilled worker visa (E-7-4), whose own pay figures are untouched. This is the officers' guidance rather than a promise, and your own case is decided at the office.
체류 (2026-11-09 edition, 지역특화 숙련기능인력 E-7-4R)
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Students: working without permission in three fields now costs you the first time
If you are studying in Korea and you work part time, you need permission, and that has not changed. What changed on 9 November is what happens when someone works without it. The old ladder is still there for most situations: a first offence is a fine and you keep your status, a second is deportation; break the conditions of a permission you did hold and it is a warning, then a ban on part-time work for the rest of your studies, then loss of the student status itself. Above that ladder there is now a separate rule for the fields the manual treats as off limits. Caught working in construction, delivery, or an entertainment venue such as a bar or noraebang, and it is deportation or an exit order as a rule, no matter whether it is your first time. The manual calls it one-strike out. Construction already carried an exit order on a first offence before this edition; delivery and entertainment venues are the new part. The restricted list also covers professional (E-1 to E-7) work, manufacturing and construction done on an E-9, and rider or courier work of the kind done as a self-employed contractor. This is the officers' guidance rather than a promise, and your own case is decided at the office.
체류 (2026-11-09 edition, 유학생 시간제 취업 허가 위반자 처리 기준)
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D-4: Jeju international schools now count for a school-age student visa
This one is for parents. A child already living in Korea on a long-stay status can change to the school student visa (고등학교 이하 외국인유학생, D-4-3) if a school on the manual's list has admitted them. From 6 November that list has a fifth entry: the international schools set up under the Jeju special law. The other four are unchanged: ordinary primary, middle and high schools; foreign schools and accredited alternative schools charging at least 5,000,000 won a year; foreign educational institutions in the free economic zones and Jeju; and the KAIST science-gifted school. Free compulsory-education schools are excluded throughout, and the student has to be paying their own way. Note what the list names: types of school, not named schools. Ask the school itself whether it is on the register before you count on it.
체류 and 사증 (2026-11-06 edition, 고등학교 이하 외국인유학생 D-4-3 교육기관)
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G-1: a parentage claim now says which documents to bring
Two weeks ago the manual said that a foreigner taking a named Korean father or mother to court to have their child recognised could be given permission to work. This edition finishes the job. That group is now written into the list of people the G-1 status is for in the first place, naming both the child born outside marriage and whoever is raising them, and the paperwork is spelled out: on top of the usual litigation documents you bring a DNA test result and photographs taken with that parent. Worth starting early, because a DNA result is not something you obtain in an afternoon. Nothing else changed in this edition. This is the officers' guidance rather than a promise, and your own case is decided at the office.
체류 (2026-11-05 edition, G-1-3 각종 소송 진행 중인 사람)
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Skilled worker E-7-4: one more year if your Korean is not ready
Skilled worker visas can be granted with the Korean requirement deferred, and the first two-year extension is when it comes due. From 2 November the manual gives an extra year to anyone who has not met it but can show they are working on it. What counts as working on it is spelled out, and it is measured on the day you apply to extend: you have applied for, registered on, or are attending the social integration programme (KIIP), or your pre-assessment placed you at KIIP level 2, or you hold TOPIK level 1. Any one of the three is enough, and it is judged on the day you file rather than on what you intend to do. Without one of them the old rule stands, six months, with six more if you start inside those six months, and no further extension after that. The bar being missed is TOPIK level 2, or KIIP level 2 completed, or a pre-assessment score of 41 and above. The new text also repeats a consequence that was already in the rules rather than introducing it: while the Korean requirement is unmet, you cannot invite family. The same wording was added for the region-specific version of the visa. This is the officers' guidance rather than a promise, and your own case is decided at the office.
체류 (2026-11-02 edition, 숙련기능인력 E-7-4 및 지역특화형)
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G-1: a parent fighting a parentage case can be allowed to work
Some people on a G-1 "other" status can be given permission to work, and the manual lists who. On 30 October one more group was added: a foreigner who is in court to have a named Korean father or mother recognised as their child's parent, together with whoever is raising the child. It is not automatic. The case goes to the Foreigners' Human Rights Council first, and the permission is only given where that review finds humanitarian grounds. What it allows is simple work, outside the fields the manual bars, and a professional job still needs whatever qualification that job requires. Nothing changed for the groups already on the list: the family of someone who died in an accident, victims of sexual violence and others needing humanitarian consideration, and the remaining G-1 cases.
체류 (2026-10-30 edition, G-1 체류자격외 활동)
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Skilled worker E-7-4: the points income floor is now 25 million won
For the E-7-4 skilled worker points route, the average income over the last two years had to be at least 25,890,000 won in one part of the manual and 25,000,000 in another. Both now read 25,000,000 won, with 24,000,000 for farming, fishing and coastal shipping. The separate requirement that the employment contract pay at least 26,000,000 won, relaxed to 25,890,000 for those same industries, has not changed.
체류 (2026-10-19 edition, 숙련기능인력 점수제 항목 ④)
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Trade business D-9-1: a stated reason to be turned down
The points route into trade business now carries a written disqualification. A change of status to D-9-1 is refused to anyone covered by the combined standard that restricts stay permits, which includes people who have been given a penalty fine. Passing the points test is not enough on its own.
체류 p.131 (2026-10-19 edition)
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Digital nomad: losing the job does not mean leaving
If a digital nomad (F-1-D) loses the remote job part way through the stay, there is no duty to report it and no duty to leave before the permission runs out. The stay cannot be extended, so it ends on the date already granted.
체류 p.350 (2026-10-19 edition)
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Digital nomad: the proof of where you live must be in your own name
Digital nomads (F-1-D) who take the lower income threshold for staying outside the capital region prove that with a lease, a workation facility or a booking confirmation. Filing inside Korea, whether changing status, extending or registering, that document now has to be in the applicant's own name.
체류 pp.350, 361 (2026-10-19 edition)
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Student money proof: thirty days, and whose account
The manual used to say a year of tuition and living costs, with a recent balance certificate. It now says what recent means and whose money counts. The certificate must be issued within 30 days of the day you apply, from a Korean or a foreign bank. The account may be yours, your mother's or father's, or a brother's or sister's only where both your parents have died. The balance has to stay there for the whole of the stay you are granted, and a balance built up by quick deposits can be checked again later. Changing to a student visa inside Korea, the money should come from abroad, but money you earned legally here, for example under a part-time work permit, is accepted.
사증 pp.63-66 (2026-10-19 edition)
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F-5-10: three years of work means three years since your degree
For the degree or certificate route, the manual now states that the three years of work are counted from the day the degree or certificate was awarded. Work before that does not count. You also have to be in a regular full-time job at a Korean company on the day you apply, and to have held it for a year or more.
체류 p.460 (2026-09-18 edition)
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F-5: how your years in Korea are counted
The rule has not changed, but the manual now says what it means. A year, for the continuous-stay test, is 365 days counted backwards from the day you apply, not a calendar year. Leaving for good, or switching to a status that does not count towards your category, breaks the run. The manual adds a worked example in which one bad year cuts a five-year claim down to three.
체류 p.446 (2026-09-18 edition)
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Checked against the September 2026 Ministry of Justice manuals
The Ministry of Justice republished the 사증민원 and 체류민원 자격별 안내 매뉴얼 on 2026-09-01. Every page the Visa Finder cites was compared against the new edition. Two new permanent-residence categories were added, one document gained written rules, and the skilled-worker figures changed; all three are listed here. Everything else the finder relies on is unchanged in substance. Page numbers on the cards now follow the September edition, which inserted one page in the visa manual and up to four in the stay manual.
법무부 매뉴얼 2026. 9. 1. 편
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Skilled-worker points visa (E-7-4): income floor and hiring quota changed
The yearly income floor for the skilled-worker points visa rose from 25,000,000 won to 25,890,000 won. The number of E-7-4 workers an employer may hold is now set against the Korean regular workforce, at 30 percent (50 percent in designated sectors), instead of 20 percent of all regular workers, with a floor for the smallest employers and a separate formula for construction. Customs duties were added to the list of tax arrears that count against an applicant. The Visa Finder's E-7-4 card is a signpost that states no figures, so the card itself did not change; anyone checking a quota or income figure should use the September manual.
체류 pp.298, 301
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Digital nomads: written rules for the criminal-record certificate
The manual gained an attachment setting out the criminal-record certificate for the digital-nomad (F-1-D) visa and for a change of status to it. It must cover your country of nationality and any country where you lived for a continuous year or more in the last five years; it must be issued within six months of the application; it needs an apostille, or consular confirmation by the Korean mission where the country has no apostille; and it is submitted as an original with a notarised translation. People under 14, people born in Korea or who arrived before 14 without six continuous months abroad since, and people who gave a certificate for the visa and apply for the change within three months are exempt. Where a country cannot issue one for your age or residence, or because of war or disaster, you explain that in writing. The document row in the F-1 list now carries these rules.
사증 p.307 / 체류 pp.352-353
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Permanent residence opens to special contributors and their families (F-5-28, F-5-29)
Two new permanent-residence categories were added to the manual. A person who has held special-contributor residence (F-2-16) for two years or more can apply for F-5-28, with a livelihood standard of one times the previous year's per-person GNI, or the average household net assets, counting the income or assets of family living with them; good conduct and the basic competency requirement (KIIP level 5 or 60 points on the comprehensive test) also apply. Their spouse or minor child who has held F-2-16 for two years or more can apply for F-5-29 once the contributor has held F-5-28 for two years, with the same livelihood standard and no competency requirement. Both are now in the Visa Finder. The manual's competency tables do not yet mention the new categories, so the F-5-28 card says to confirm that point at the office.
체류 pp.473-476
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Top-Tier now includes science and technology professors and researchers
The Top-Tier scheme for world-class talent was expanded on 2026-07-09 from advanced-industry company personnel to science and technology professors and research personnel. It runs on its own guideline: promising talent can receive E-7-T with income of twice the previous year's per-person GNI and a ministry recommendation, Top-Tier residence is F-2-T, a pre-Top-Tier job-seeker status (D-10-T) exists before employment is fixed, and permanent residence (F-5-T) opens after three years on F-2-T with three times GNI and Social Integration Programme stage 3. The E-7, D-10, F-2 and F-5 checks now carry these notes.
체류 톱티어 지침 (2026. 6.)
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K-STAR: residence before a job for science and technology graduates
The K-STAR visa track covers science and technology master's and doctoral graduates of ministry-selected universities, with the university president's recommendation. Residence (F-2-7S) is granted before finding a job, for up to five years, and after three years its own permanent-residence points test (F-5-S1, 90 of 200) opens; an outstanding research record can qualify for special naturalization at any time. The F-2, F-5 and D-10 checks now explain the track and its criteria.
사증 pp.472-483
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Checked against the August 2026 Ministry of Justice manuals
The Ministry of Justice republished the 사증민원 and 체류민원 자격별 안내 매뉴얼 on 2026-08-07. Every page the Visa Finder cites was compared against the new edition. One rule change affected what we show, the E-7 salary floor listed below, and it has been added. The remaining differences were wording, a ministry rename and re-pagination, none of which change what an applicant has to do. Cards continue to cite the pages they came from.
법무부 매뉴얼 2026. 8. 7. 편
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Models no longer need a portfolio in the E-6 document list
The line asking for other documents evidencing a model's expertise, such as a portfolio, has been removed from the E-6 visa document list. The employment recommendation from the competent ministry, or evidence that the hire is necessary, is unchanged.
사증 p.169
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Adoption paperwork can now come from the child's country of origin
For the international-adoption route (F-1-51), the document evidencing that the adoption is under way or completed may now be issued by the child's country of origin as well as by Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare. Previously the ministry was named alone.
사증 p.307
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A lower salary floor for smaller and regional employers
E-7 occupations that require at least 80% of the previous year's per-capita GNI can now be assessed at 70% instead, for up to three years, where the employer is a small or medium enterprise, a certified venture business, or a mid-sized company outside the capital region, and the applicant has either never worked in Korea on E-7 or has three years or less of it. After three full years the 80% level applies again. Where the relaxed figure and the figure announced for that year differ, the more favourable one is used. The salary floor itself is not a fixed amount: the Ministry of Justice announces it each year, and the amount announced on the application date is the one used.
체류 p.229
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Startup Korea Special Visa noted in the D-8 stay ceilings
The D-8 stay-period table now names Startup Korea Special Visa holders: a technology-startup founder who has not yet incorporated receives a 6-month stay ceiling, against 2 years once the corporation exists.
사증 p.104
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Overseas criminal records: explicit F-4 bar periods
The manual annex spells out overseas-sentence bars for F-4: specified violent crimes bar issuance and change outright; drugs, voice phishing or habitual drunk driving bar them for 7 years from the sentencing date; other imprisonment-level sentences for 5 years. The bars end when their periods pass.
동포 별첨1 pp.29-30
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Military-service timing bar for men who renounced nationality after May 2018
Under the revised Overseas Koreans Act, a man whose first renunciation or loss of Korean nationality was on or after 1 May 2018, and who has neither completed military service nor received an exemption disposition, cannot be granted F-4 until December 31 of the year he turns 40. It is a timing bar, not a permanent one.
체류 p.528
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Waegook now follows the July 2026 Ministry of Justice manuals
The visa registry behind the Visa Finder and Path Finder is built from the 2026-07-09 editions of the Ministry of Justice guidance manuals (사증민원 and 체류민원 자격별 안내 매뉴얼). Every card cites the exact pages it comes from.
법무부 매뉴얼 2026. 7. 9. 편
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Cuba removed from the D-2 certificate-of-admission restriction
The April 2025 revision removed Cuba from the group of nationalities restricted to certificate-of-admission-only D-2 issuance: the manual strikes Cuba through on the issuance table. Cuban students follow the standard issuance rules.
사증 p.67 · 개정이력 25.4.1
Summaries of official manual changes, not legal advice. Immigration offices, embassies and consulates decide all applications.