Korea turns its F-1-D nomad visa pilot into a regular programme

South Korea’s digital nomad visa, F-1-D, has been a regular programme since 30 June 2026, after two and a half years as a pilot. The Ministry of Justice announced the change on 7 July and replaced the single income threshold with tiers by age and region. The maximum stay rose from two years to three.

From pilot to programme

The ministry began piloting the “workation” visa on 1 January 2024, and issued it to 743 people between then and May 2026, according to its July release. The release states that the visa operates formally from 30 June 2026. None of the official texts read gives an end date for the regular programme.

The Korean Embassy in Hanoi revised its F-1-D page to the new rules on 17 August 2026. The pages of the Korean missions in Canada and Ireland still carry pilot-era wording.

The income tiers

The threshold is set against the previous year’s gross national income (GNI) per capita published by the Bank of Korea. Before the change it was twice that figure for everyone; the ministry’s July release used KRW 52.41 million for 2025.

The release gives Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon as examples of the capital region. A pilot-era ministry Q&A says income is measured before tax, at the exchange rate on the visa application date.

An applicant claiming a lower tier must provide documents showing an intended stay outside the capital region, for example a lease of at least a month. A holder who moves into the capital region faces the capital-region test at extension, and the permitted stay is reduced to six months.

The Bank of Korea revised 2025 GNI per capita to KRW 52.57 million on 9 June 2026. The immigration texts read still use KRW 52.41 million, and which figure missions now apply was not established.

Who qualifies

The 2026 texts describe the visa as for foreigners aged 18 or over who belong to a company outside Korea, can work remotely and have worked for at least a year in the same industry. A pilot-era ministry Q&A adds that the year need not be with the same company, and that owners of an overseas business they currently run may apply.

The same Q&A excludes freelancers who belong to no company. The 2026 texts read neither repeat nor withdraw these points.

Applicants need private medical insurance of at least KRW 100 million covering treatment and repatriation. According to the pilot-era Q&A, a holder who lives in Korea for six months or more joins national health insurance, and may apply for exclusion if foreign law, foreign insurance or an employer contract gives equivalent cover.

Three years, no work in Korea

The visa gives a year from entry, extendable a year at a time to three years. Holders must register as foreigners within 90 days of entry for a stay of more than 91 days, and report a change of address within 14 days.

Employment and profit-making activities in Korea are restricted; the embassy notice calls the restriction on employment strict and says any violation is punished under the Immigration Act. A person already in Korea on a short-stay tourist status (B-1, B-2 or C-3) can change to the visa if the requirements are met.

A spouse and minor children may accompany the holder, whose own threshold then follows the family row above. According to the pilot-era Q&A, family members need their own medical insurance, but face no separate income test, and need no criminal record certificate if the holder submits one.

Nothing in the texts read turns the visa into a route to permanent residence. The minister’s statement speaks only of preparing a “settlement model”.

Applying from Vietnam

No official text read limits the F-1-D by nationality. Some other countries’ nomad visas do set such a bar, as an overview of digital nomad visas open to a Vietnamese passport shows.

Vietnamese applicants file by place of residence at a Korea Visa Application Centre: in Hanoi for Quang Tri and the north, and in Ho Chi Minh City for Gia Lai and the south. Which mission handles applicants living between those two lines was not established; a third mission, the consulate general in Da Nang, exists.

The centre fee is VND 390,000 at both centres. The missions’ general fee for a single-entry visa for a stay of more than 90 days is USD 50, though neither fee table names F-1-D.

A 2022 notice of the Hanoi embassy requires Vietnamese nationals applying for a visa to stay more than 90 days to submit a tuberculosis certificate from an embassy-designated hospital, and the embassy posted a list of designated screening institutions on 17 September 2025. The F-1-D document list does not mention the certificate.

For the criminal record certificate, the Hanoi embassy’s notice of 20 October 2025 requires a Form No. 2 personally signed by the head of the issuing Vietnamese department, and does not accept electronically signed copies. The Ho Chi Minh City consulate general’s notice of 14 September 2026 requires an original obtained by visiting the Vietnamese authority, and does not accept online-issued copies.

Korea did not object to Vietnam’s accession to the Apostille Convention. Since 11 September 2026, the embassy states, Vietnamese public documents need only an Apostille from Vietnam’s foreign ministry, and Korean missions no longer confirm them. The pilot-era ministry notice requires an Apostille or consular confirmation on foreign public documents such as the criminal record and family certificates.

Tax

Under the Income Tax Act, a person with a domicile in Korea, or 183 days’ residence, is a tax resident. A foreign resident who has lived in Korea for five years or less in the past ten is taxed on foreign-source income only if it is paid in Korea or remitted there. The pilot-era Q&A repeats this rule and adds that a double-tax treaty applies where it so provides.

The Act also treats pay for work performed in Korea as Korean-source income. Whether a remote worker’s salary for work done in Korea is foreign-source was not established.

What this article has not established

Which GNI figure missions apply after the Bank of Korea’s revision, and whether the pilot-era Q&A answers apply in the regular programme, were not established. The rights of accompanying family members to work or study were not established, and the list of population-decline areas qualifying for the lower tier was not opened. Whether a remote worker’s salary for work done in Korea counts as foreign-source income was not established.

Whether a Vietnamese criminal record certificate stays valid for three months, as the Hanoi embassy’s general rule says, or six, as the pilot-era Q&A says, was not established. The embassy’s Apostille notice says consular confirmation may continue as before for some civil-status certificates and criminal record reports; whether that covers Vietnamese certificates was not established.