South Korea Start-up Visa

No minimum capital level is set; the D-8-4 route is scored on a start-up points scale based on qualifications, intellectual property and having incorporated an entity, unlike D-8-1 which requires KRW 100 million. Intellectual property counts only if recognised under Korean law or registered in an OECD country, and the corporation must be newly established rather than acquired. Outside the points scale sits the Startup Korea special visa (D-8-4S), for applicants who have passed a private-sector evaluation committee and been recommended by the Minister of SMEs and Startups.

Money still appears before the permanent residence stage, in two places. At the D-10-2 start-up preparation step, the visa manual requires a bank balance certificate showing at least the annual one-person-household housing benefit standard multiplied by the months of stay, and the manual gives no figure in won. On the D-8-4 points scale, investment of KRW 100 million or more from accelerators or venture capital, confirmed by the Global Startup Immigration Center, earns 60 points, enough on that item alone to reach the pass mark.

The larger sum sits at the permanent residence stage. Under the Ministry of Justice stay manual of September 2026, a D-8-4 holder can move to F-5 permanent residence if, as at the date of application, they have resided in Korea continuously for three years or more on D-8-4 status, earlier stays not counted; have attracted 300 million won or more from domestic or foreign investors, or hold equivalent capital, with attracted investment and the corporation's capital counted together; and have employed two or more Korean nationals full time for six continuous months or more.

For this group, the basic knowledge requirement, such as the KIIP social integration programme, is waived. Applicants who have completed KIIP level 3 or higher receive additional points when applying for D-8.

The D-8 Corporate Investor status is granted to essential professional workers of foreign-invested companies under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act, and to founders of venture companies; the maximum period per grant is five years for investment in a corporation (D-8-1) and in a sole proprietorship (D-8-3), but only two years for the D-8-4 technology start-up branch covered by this record; it is extendable.

A technology founder has a separate and shorter route to F-5 permanent residency than the general one: as at the date of application, three years or more of continuous residence in Korea on D-8-4 technology start-up status, earlier stays not counted; investment of 300 million won or more attracted from domestic or foreign investors, or equivalent capital, with attracted investment and the corporation's capital also accepted where together they reach that sum; and two or more Korean nationals employed full time for six continuous months or more.

By comparison the general permanent residence route requires more than five years on D-7 to D-10, E-1 to E-7 or F-2 status

The Ministry of Justice manuals of September 2026 state no processing time for this route. The only published figure found is that of the Korean Embassy in Hanoi: a visa issued on a Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance is processed within 7 working days of filing, weekends and public holidays excluded.

Entry to the D-8 technology start-up route runs through three alternative gates: an associate degree or higher obtained in Korea; a bachelor degree or higher obtained abroad; or a recommendation from the head of a central administrative agency.

The applicant must in addition meet the requirements of the points system, or the requirements to take part in the K-startup Grand Challenge.

The maximum period of stay per grant for the D-8-4 branch is two years, extendable; the five-year cap applies only to D-8-1 and D-8-3. An extension can be filed no earlier than four months before expiry and no later than the expiry date.

D-8 holders cannot extend online through HiKorea; it is one of the statuses excluded from the e-application extension service. A change of address must be reported within 15 days of moving in.

The published path runs from D-10 preparing a tech start-up, to D-8, and on to F-5 after three continuous years on D-8-4 if the investment and hiring conditions in the capital threshold cell are met.

The three general conditions for permanent residence are good conduct, the ability to earn a living, and basic knowledge — but the thing this table previously left out must be said at once: for this record own route, the third condition is exempt.

The Ministry of Justice handbook, at the step from tech start-up to permanent residence, states plainly that the requirements of basic knowledge, meaning the Social Integration Program, are exempt for tech start-up investors.

Completing level 5 or higher of that programme is how the condition is met for the general permanent residence route and the point-based one, not for this route — and this route is not alone on the handbook's exemption list, which covers many other permanent residence categories, among them holders of a doctorate in high-tech or general fields, large investors, investors in tourism and leisure facilities or public-interest projects, and research and development staff of foreign-invested companies.

The Integration Program still has a part to play here, but at a different step and in the applicant favour: at the step of acquiring tech start-up status, completing level 3 or higher earns additional points on the scoring scale.

The same course therefore adds points at the lower step and is not needed at the upper one. On the status once held, the handbook records three things worth knowing: for a holder of F-5 permanent residence there are no restrictions on employment or profit-making activities.

Since 21 September 2018, issuance of a permanent resident card with a ten-year validity and its re-issuance have been mandatory under Article 33 of the Immigration Act, and failure to re-apply within the relevant period can lead to a penalty; and re-entry permits are exempt for those re-entering within two years of the date of departure.

A holder of D-7 to D-9 status may invite a spouse and underage children on F-3 Dependent Family status, and that status does not permit work. Parents, including parents-in-law, may be invited on F-1 status, but only where annual income exceeds twice the previous year GNI per capita.

For a person who obtained a bachelor degree or higher at a domestic university before moving to that status, the requirement is eased to annual income at or above the GNI level. As a matter of principle, an F-1 holder cannot change status while in Korea

The status this programme grants, whether a visa or a residence permit, does not replace the holder's passport. The holder still travels on the passport of their own country, so the figure below belongs to the South Korea passport and becomes the holder's only once they are issued a South Korea passport.

According to the Passport Index of Prosperous Intelligence, on data dated 30 September 2026, the South Korea passport reaches 204 destinations without applying for a consular visa in advance. The figure combines three forms of entry and does not count an e-Visa that must be obtained beforehand:

It is therefore a measure of how easily the holder travels, not a count of visa-free countries in the narrow sense.

For comparison, on the same source and the same method of counting, the Vietnamese passport reaches 44 destinations. The two lists of destinations do not nest inside one another, so the difference is an indication rather than a list of places newly opened.

Prosperous Intelligence dates its data and advises checking with the destination’s official authorities before travelling.

The two sources of the issuing authority — the programme guidance page and the visa navigator of the Ministry of Justice — do not mention tax or income tax; the guidance page mentions business registration only as a formality to be completed, not as a tax obligation.

The programme has no tax regime of its own. Korea does have a concession for foreign workers, and it is at once generous and carries an exclusion that bears directly on this category.

Article 18-2(2) of the Restriction of Special Taxation Act covers a foreign national who is an executive or employee, excluding daily workers, and who first provides labour in Korea before 31 December 2026.

Such a person may have income tax on earned income computed at 19 per cent until the taxable period ending within twenty years from the day labour was first provided, notwithstanding Article 55(1) of the Income Tax Act.

And the exclusion sits inside the square brackets of that very provision:

The earned income eligible for 19% is income received from working in Korea, but excluding cases where labour is provided to a specially related person as prescribed by Presidential Decree, termed a specially related company, other than a foreign-invested company prescribed by that Decree.

The price of the 19%, at paragraph (3): electing it forfeits all non-taxation, deductions, reductions and tax credits relating to income tax, and that earned income is not aggregated into the global income tax base.

Procedure at paragraphs (4) and (5): the withholding agent may withhold 19% monthly, and a person seeking the rate must apply as prescribed by Presidential Decree.

That exclusion has to be read together with a condition of the visa itself: a holder of this visa must personally be the founder of a Korean corporation and must complete both corporate registration and business registration — the eligibility criteria state expressly that the applicant must be the founder of that corporation.

Article 16-2(2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Restriction of Special Taxation Act defines a specially related company as one with which the foreign worker has a kinship relationship or a management-control relationship under Article 1-2(1) and (3) of the Enforcement Decree of the Framework Act on National Taxes, and the de facto influence test is disregarded when judging management control.

Under Article 1-2(4) of that Decree, management control over a for-profit corporation is deemed where a person, directly or through relatives, holds 30% or more of its total issued shares or total contributions. On that wording, a founder who with relatives holds 30% or more of the corporation they work for falls outside the 19% rate, unless the corporation is a foreign-invested company receiving the tax reductions the Decree specifies; in any particular case the tax authority has the final word. A warning about an outdated source: the English-language manual of the National Tax Service expresses the same provision but states five years from the day labour was first provided — that is the 2020 edition, and the figure is outdated against the law in force, which reads twenty years.

The manual may be used for its English phrasing but not for its figures. The visa parameters: eligibility requires a bachelor degree or above, having established a corporation, including where the process is under way, and a score of at least 60 out of 300 on the assessment scale.

Only degrees already conferred count, and those about to graduate are excluded. The corporation must be newly established rather than an acquired existing entity, and where only incorporation is outstanding a six-month grace applies.

The scale comprises mandatory items up to 180 points — intellectual property rights up to 60, a beneficiary of a state startup support programme or a graduate of OASIS-6 or OASIS-9 30, a professor or researcher of three years or more 30, and attracting investment of KRW 100 million or more worth 60 — plus optional items up to 120.

The route to permanent residence: continuous residence on D-8-4 status for three years or more as at the date of application, earlier stays not counted, attracting investment or equivalent capital of KRW 300 million or more, and employing two or more Korean nationals continuously for six months.

Read this cell within its scope: the issuing authority sources cover eligibility, renewal, the points scale and the route to permanent residence, and are silent on tax; the tax statute states the flat rate for foreign workers and never mentions this category or any residence status

The technology start-up route is a branch of the Corporate Investment (D-8) status, so it inherits the group's fee waiver. Article 74(1)(3) of the Enforcement Rules of the Immigration Act exempts from fees any person holding status of stay No. 11, Corporate Investment (D-8).

That provision names the parent status without subdividing it by branch. This is an inference, and it is recorded here as an inference rather than as the words of the rule.

The Rules themselves do not mention the technology start-up branch, because the branching sits in a schedule to the Decree rather than here.

Article 74 names persons falling under D-8 status without separating visa fees from stay fees, so its wording does not by itself exclude the visa application screening fee paid abroad from the waiver; whether Korean missions in Viet Nam waive that fee for D-8-4 is not confirmed by any source.

The base fee under Article 71 is USD 60 for a single-entry visa covering a stay of 91 days or more and USD 90 for an unlimited multiple-entry visa. A head of mission may set a different amount with the approval of the Minister of Justice, and the Korean Embassy in Hanoi publishes USD 50 for a single-entry and USD 80 for a multiple-entry long-term visa.

What those without the waiver pay under Article 72 — precisely what this route saves — is as follows, in Korean won: