What the Korea Visa Service Covers
The service is scoped around a corporate assignment rather than around a single application form, because in practice the application is only one item in a chain that starts with the entity and ends with the assignee registered and working legally.
Eligibility review before anything is collected
We establish which status of stay actually fits — D-7 intra-company transfer, D-8 corporate investment, D-9 international trade or another category — against the assignee's service history, the role in Korea and the entity that will invite them. This is the step that determines the entire document list.
The certificate of confirmation of visa issuance
Preparation and filing of the application by the Korean entity as the inviting party, including the statement of reasons for the invitation and the evidence that the establishment is genuinely operating.
Dependent family (F-3)
The spouse and minor children of the assignee, prepared alongside the principal application rather than after arrival, because F-3 is derived from the assignee's status.
Extensions, status changes and workplace changes
Extension of the period of stay before the current period ends, permission to change the status of stay, and permission or report for a change or addition of workplace during the posting.
The employer-side reporting duties
A company that employs a foreign national holding a status permitting employment must report to the competent immigration office within 15 days of dismissal, retirement or death, of losing contact with the employee, or of a change to a material term of the employment contract. We keep this on the company's calendar rather than leaving it to be discovered.
How a Korea Work Visa Application Runs
Most corporate assignments are filed through the certificate of confirmation of visa issuance route. Under the Immigration Act the Minister of Justice may issue that certificate on application before a visa is granted, and the person who intends to invite the foreign national may make the application on their behalf — which is why the work sits with the Korean entity.
Intake and eligibility review
Service history, role, entity form, family composition and nationality. We tell you at this point if the category you assumed does not fit, before an internal announcement makes it awkward.
Document list issued to the head office
A list built from the assignee's actual facts, marked with what needs an apostille or consular legalisation and what needs a Korean translation — the two items that most often set the schedule.
The Korean entity's own evidence assembled
Registration or the accepted notification, business registration or unique number, and the evidence that the establishment is operating: operating funds brought in, tax payment records, or an operating plan where it is newly established.
Application filed with the competent immigration office
Filed by us as agent for the inviting entity. Where an agent files, the set additionally includes a power of attorney, the agent's certificate of employment and the agent's identification.
Certificate issued and passed to the assignee
Employment-related visas are multiple-entry visas and are issued on the basis of the certificate in this route.
Visa application at the Korean mission, then arrival
Filed in the country of the applicant's nationality as a rule. After entry, alien registration is due within 90 days where the stay exceeds 90 days, and we carry that through rather than handing it back.
What You Need to Prepare
Two document sets run in parallel — the head office proves the employment relationship and the dispatch decision, the Korean entity proves that it exists and operates. Nothing on the foreign side can be used until it is legalised and translated.
| Owner | Item | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Head office | Certificate of employment covering the assignee's service | One year or more before the dispatch for a D-7, unless a defined exception applies |
| Head office | Dispatch or assignment order with the period stated | Legalised and translated |
| Head office | Evidence of executive, senior manager or specialist standing | Curriculum vitae, certificates of career, qualifications where the category requires them |
| Korean entity | Establishment permit or accepted notification, and business registration | A branch or liaison office also evidences operating funds brought in |
| Korean entity | Evidence the establishment is operating normally | Tax payment records; an operating plan where the establishment is new |
| Assignee | Passport and standard photograph | Validity checked against the intended period of stay |
| Family | Marriage or birth certificate, original, from the home country | Translator's certification attached; apostille for a convention country, consular confirmation otherwise |
| Family | Tuberculosis certificate | Required under the immigration guidance for F-3 |
Document requirements differ by category and by nationality, and the head of the competent immigration office may add to or reduce the attached documents in order to examine the genuineness of the invitation. The list is confirmed case by case at intake. Source: visa issuance guidance manual of the Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice.
Where Korea Work Visa Applications Go Wrong
The failures we see are rarely exotic. They are the same five, and all of them are avoidable if they are checked before the posting is announced internally.
Assuming a recent hire can be transferred
A D-7 generally requires at least one year of service at the foreign head office, branch or other place of business before the dispatch. Exceptions exist — national key industries or state projects, and essential professional personnel dispatched to the Korean establishment of a foreign company whose operating funds brought into Korea reach USD 500,000 or more — but they are narrow.
Inviting from an entity that only exists on paper
The application relies on evidence that the establishment is actually operating. A registered but dormant office is the most common reason a first assignment stalls.
Treating a visa-free entry as a way in
Nationals of the countries designated for visa-free entry may come without a visa, but as a rule an extension of the period of stay or a change of status of stay is not granted to a person who entered under a visa exemption or for tourist transit. Someone who will exceed that period must obtain a visa before entering.
Working somewhere other than the designated workplace
A foreign national holding a status that permits employment may not work at a place other than the designated workplace, and a change or addition of workplace requires prior permission — except for the professionals the Enforcement Decree prescribes, who report within 15 days of the change. Secondments inside a group are where this is most often overlooked.
Missing the deadlines that sit on the company
Alien registration within 90 days of entry, a report of change of place of stay within 15 days of moving in, and the employer's report within 15 days of the listed events. None of these is discretionary, and the last one is the company's duty, not the employee's.
Who Prepares and Files Your Application
Eligibility review, document preparation and filing are carried out in-house by the licensed administrative agents (행정사) of VISION Administrative Office, which has operated since 2014 and supports foreign companies in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. The same office handles the entity registration that comes before the visa and the housing and settlement work that comes after it, so nothing is handed to a third party mid-file and nothing has to be explained twice.
Where a matter belongs to another discipline — a court filing, a tax opinion — we say so and coordinate rather than improvise. What we do not do is send you elsewhere for the visa itself.
Korea Visa Service — Frequently Asked Questions
Does the company apply, or does the assignee?
In the usual corporate route the Korean entity applies in Korea for the certificate of confirmation of visa issuance, and the assignee then applies for the visa itself at a Korean embassy or consulate abroad using that certificate. The Immigration Act expressly allows the person intending to invite the foreign national to make that application on their behalf, so most of the preparation sits with the company.
Can someone already in Korea on a short business trip switch to a work status?
As a rule no, where they entered under a visa exemption or for tourist transit — an extension of the period of stay or a change of status of stay is generally not granted in those cases, and a person whose stay will exceed the permitted period must obtain a visa before entering. Where the person is in Korea on another long-term status, a change of status requires permission obtained in advance, and eligibility is assessed on the facts.
Do you handle the visa yourselves, or refer it out?
In-house. Eligibility review, document preparation and filing are carried out by the licensed administrative agents (행정사) of VISION Administrative Office, which operates KOCATION. Intake, the entity work before the visa and the settlement work after it all run through the same team.
Related
Visa requirements on this page follow the visa issuance guidance manual of the Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, and the Immigration Act as published on the National Law Information Centre (law.go.kr); the current standard is re-confirmed for every case at intake. Processing times are not published here because they vary by immigration office, category and consulate. Pricing is not published on this site — scope and fees are quoted individually after a consultation.
Sending people to Korea?
Tell us the roles, the entity they will join and how long each person has been with the company — we will map the visa route and the document list.
Discuss Your Visa Case →