Monday, June 15, 2015

Korean F5 Visa (permanent residency) for foreigners graduated from Korean Universities.


Sharing my experience of applying Korean F5 VISA under newly formed category (Feb, 2015) for foreigners graduated in Korea.

Yes, now foreigners graduated from Korean Universities can directly apply for permanent residency (F5 visa). Korean immigration relaxed the rules for foreign graduates in Korea.You don't have to be a holder of  F2 visa (point systems)  in this case. So after hearing this announcement, I thought of give it go.

Basic eligibility:
1. Foreigner who are degree holder from Korean Universities and working in Korea.
 - Bachelors degree (only 9 high tech stream and Science, Engineering majors ) + 3 years full time work
- Masters degree (no requirement for major) + 3 years full time work
- PhD degree (no requirement for major) + 1 years full time work.
2. One should be hired as full time "Regular employee" that means, you don't renew contract with your company  on yearly basis. (This is must)
3. Annual salary is above Korean GNI (~30 million KRW or more)

NOT required things: 
- To get differentiate  what is stand out here is one DO NOT need to provide a proof for Korean language proficiency (TOPIK certificate NOT required)
- Financial Asset proof (30 million KRW in Bank account ) in NOT required.

Documents Required
Employment Contract (clearly stating you are a regular employee)
- Certificate of Income (to prove your last year's salary , usually obtained from NTS)
- Copy of degree certificate of your Korean University
- Police Clearance Certificate (issued in your home country and based on your country of citizenship, you may need to get it "apostille")
- Guarantee Certificate signed by Korean citizen (신원보증서)
- Certificates of all kinds of insurances and pension plans your company has registered you in. (Your HR will provide you this).
- Fees 200,000 KRW in stamps + 30,000 krw in cash you give it to officer you are dealing with.


Being graduated from master program in Korea and having worked for 3.5 yrs as regular employee here, I have decided to give it a go. I visited immigration office  last week. Among all the documents I have submitted what I was missing an employment contract clearing stating I am a regular employee. Officer I was talking to raised an objection on it. Even from my employee certificate he understood I have been hired as a regular employee, he still insisted on, me to provide the same in the form of employment contract. I went back to office and requested my company's HR , he quickly sent me revised contract as per requirement. Next day morning I went to immigration office again.  Same officer was at the window. He quickly looked at my employment contract, he seemed happy based on what he read there. He asked me to pay the fees and told it will take ~9 months process time. All in all 10 min max. interaction.

*** I have been receiving lots of queries for F5. To say the truth, I am not the expert in the subject matter, nor I know any details on different kinds of way to apply for F5. I wrote this blog to share my experience and let aware others. Most important, I'm not closing following my own F5 application process. I just applied as I happen to qualify to apply, if its comes through that's good.***



21 comments:

Unknown said...

thanks for your share!!
I have a questions: does it mean I need to have a permanent contract from the company (정규직) instead of contract (계약직)?

Amol Muley said...

Yes, you must be a Regular employee and same need to be mentioned in your Employer Agreement.

Unknown said...

Oh... so no chance for me then as I m having a one year contract (with thread to kick me in the middle). One more thing, do they require you to be a graduate from ANY Korean uni or specifically technology-based uni (IT, NAno, Digital, Bio, etc.)?

Unknown said...

Hi Amol, Thanks for sharing this post. Can a Korean citizen who is doing PhD (student) become the guarantor?

Unknown said...

Hi Amol, after long search in the internet to find someone how applied under this new law, I found you. I've also applied on September 2015, but still waiting. I checked status from hikorea but it is still 접수중 as was in the beginning. Could you tell us if you've already get yours or still waiting?

Amol Muley said...

No, I haven't. They told it will take 9 months or more.

Unknown said...

Did you check application status in hikorea? Mine is showing 'submitted', 5 months have passed, not processing yet

Amol Muley said...

Oh, I don't know that we can actually check application status? HiKorea, Korean page or English? Could you please share a link? Thanks!

Unknown said...

http://www.hikorea.go.kr/pt/main_kr.pt you should use korean version, and find 방문민원신청 결과 조회

Amol Muley said...

for me also the same status "접수중"

Unknown said...

I think they don't update the status, it should have been processed already. Were you contacted by immigration for any additional documents?

Amol Muley said...

No, no communication from immigration. And to be honest, I'm not closing following my own F5 I just applied as I happen to qualify to apply, if its comes through that's good. If NOT, then GREAT!

Unknown said...

Please inform if you have any changes on the progress or if you get your F5

Unknown said...

Hi Amol, Thank you for the post. May I know what does "Guarantee Certificate signed by Korean citizen (신원보증서)" state?

Unknown said...

Dear Dr. Amol Sir,

Could you please comment on changing Korean visa from E-3 (Research) directly to F-5 (Permanent Residence) without first changing to F-2 (Residence) acquired through the point-based system (and holding the same for minimum 3 years)?

I am PhD from IIT Delhi and I have been working continuously with a biotechnology-based diagnostics company in Korea since October 2012.

I have completed 4 years and currently in the fifth year of my contract.

I could understand (from your post as well as from the information available on www.hikorea.go.kr) that if a PhD holder has been employed by a Korean company (in a permanent/regular employment contract), he/she can apply for F-5 visa after working for minimum one year with the same company (satisfying other eligibility conditions of income, continuous stay and documentation).

As my employment contract is rolling/yearly-renewable, I may not be eligible to apply for F-5 as of today.

The company may renew my employment contract for the sixth year also but a person can work on E-3 visa for a maximum of 5 years.

Hence, I would like to know whether I can still be eligible to apply for F-5 after completing 5 years on E-3 (Research visa) with a rolling/renewable contract.

What could be my options (other than F-2 visa)for next year i.e. after completing 5 years on E-3 if my E-3 visa is not extended beyond 5 years?.

Thank you in advance for your information.

Amol Muley said...

PHD need to be from Universities in Korea + 1 years full time working here to apply for F5 VISA


In your case, you need to work continuously for 5 yrs + need to have Topik level 2 + Some income requirement to apply for F5. For details you can ask by calling 1345.

Amol Muley said...

Look at the title of my post ""Korean F5 Visa (permanent residency) for foreigners graduated from Korean Universities." - You are NOT graduated here hence it doesn't apply in your case.

Unknown said...

Hi, Amol

Have you received the F5 visa or still waiting?

anjalimehtus said...



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Unknown said...

Hi Amol,

By any chance did you get any update?

Unknown said...

I am doing PhD from korea. After completing it may I apply for F5-15 Visa?
My husband is also foreigner, doing Job in korean company.