Korean Job Discussion Forums

[martinpil]

can you stay in korea if you are not married and buy an apartment there?

[andrewchon]

A foreigner can buy property but it doesn't give you a visa. Wrong! Edit out.

OK, there is a D-8 investment visa. Looks like $50,000 up front and a partnership with Korean company, and a visa not issued in Korea but from home country. So, if your plan was to stay in Korea by buying property, eh... I don't want to think anymore.

[Drew345]

No visa for owning an apartment.
You end up in a strange position where you can own a place but only visit it as a tourist.

[blackjack]

do you have $50,000? if so you can get an investment visa

[martinpil]

whats an investment visa? invest in what? apartment or business? and 50k isnt much for property is it?

[hellofaniceguy]

The absolutely best thing for you to do....ask immigration.

[yeremy]

No, 50 million won is not a lot of money in Korea's real estate investment world. That seems to be a recent urban legend floating on the boards here.
50 million won might buy you 2 Samsung SM7's, but not much in the way or real estate. The wolsae deposit on my last apartment in Gyonggi-do was 50 million won a couple of years ago. That was for a 18 pyoung apartment in an apartment complex behind a subway station. Parking was hellish and we heard every marital problem and piano lesson within a block.
My wife and I tried to buy an apartment in the city we live in four months ago. We didn't because we were both legally classified as foreigners, even though she had been born in Korea and gained US citizenship after we married, so the banks asked for a 60% deposit on top of which we would have had to pay taxes and insurance on an apartment for sale at 186 million won. And because we were foreigners, the banks wanted to charge us a higher interest rate than for a Korean buyer.
A telling government statistic is that it takes the average Korean first-time house buyer 11 years to save up the money to buy their first house. When you consider that EFL teachers in Korea aren't the highest paid people here and that our salaries top off quickly around 3 million won a month while our Korean colleagues and their friends are just taking off, it is not that easy for us to buy real estate here on our salaries.
I believe than to get an investment visa, which you mentioned, requires an investment of at least a half a million dollars. I think this is more likely. I suggest that you call the appropriate K govt agency, perhaps Immigration, and get the scoop for yourself.
$50, 000 might be enough for a deposit on a house or a condo back home but it's far from being enough here. It is enough to buy a nice care here in cash, though.

[Drew345]

I asked immigration (two years ago). He told me I can buy an apartment and it will belong to me, but I cannot get a visa for it (and that is what I did). Immigration told me that owning an apartment is not an investment and I cannot get an investment visa with it, even though the price is much more than 50 million. Investment visa is for something else, I am not really clear on that (something about limited partnerships...); but not for owning an apartment.

[kprrok]

Would your home country give a foreigner permanent residence just because they bought a house/apartment? I'm 99.9% sure the US would never do such a thing. Why would Korea?

[raewon]

No, you can't get the investment visa for owning an apartment.

An investment of 50 million Won (not half a million dollars) is the official amount required for the D-8 visa to be issued. However, this doesn't mean that if you have 50 million Won to invest that immigration will grant you a D-8 visa. If you want accurate
information about the D-8 visa, you should contact KOTRA
http://www.kotra.or.kr If you can't speak Korean, it would be best to have a Korean friend contact them.

I know someone who has the D-8 visa and it was issued within Korea.
However, it was not an easy process and this method is not the recommended way to secure the D-8 visa.

[yeremy]

This is a good reply. When in doubt it is far better to go directly to the source for information.