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.

[yeremy]

is to get married to a Korean national. Korean Immigration is flush with applications for residency visas and they're looking for fake marriages.

[yeremy]

I found this on the investkorea.org website. It was in English and it was pretty clear. The other link to Kotra did not work well for us. We kept being redirected without being able to open the link.

(D-

Issued for -

Specialists engaged in the business management, production or technological sector of an FDI company supported by the Foreigner Investment Promotion Act (not including those recruited in Korea).
"Specialists" refers to those stated in the following:
Executives: Those primarily responsible for the organizational management within a business organization, exercising a wide range of rights in the decision making process, and only generally supervised and directed by the Board of Directors and shareholders as the highest ranking members of the organization (not those directly engaged in the provision of the service).
Senior Managers: Those responsible for the establishment and execution of the objectives and policies of a company or its organizational units, with the rights for planning, control, supervision and recommending, hiring and firing employees, and deciding, supervising and controlling the work of other supervisory, professional and managerial employees or exercising discretionary rights over their everyday business (not including those controlling front-line supervisors who are not professional service providers or those directly engaged in the provision of service).
Specialists: Those with highly professional and proprietary experience and the knowledge essential for the research, design, technology and management of the service provided by a specified business.
Those engaged in ordinary administrative services or engineers available in Korea or the providers of a direct service are not regarded as "essential specialists."

Visa issuance procedure

An applicant entering Korea without a visa or with only a short-term visa may apply for a change in the status of sojourn at Invest KOREA (IK) of KOTRA or at a local immigration office.
An applicant may apply for a business investment (D- visa at a Korean embassy in a foreign country. Each embassy is authorized to issue a D-8 visa for one year or less as entrusted by the Justice Minister .
An applicant may apply for a business investment (D- visa at a Korean embassy in a foreign country with the Confirmation letter of visa issuance (or number) issued by a local immigration office to an inviting Korean. ( if the Korean embassy in a foreign country doesn't have right to issue a visa)
Effective from September 25, 2005, the electronic visa issuance system was in operation in which the relevant immigration office issues a Korean inviting a foreigner the Confirmation letter on visa issuance number via e-mail or cell phone.


Documents to be submitted at the time of application

For an applicant investing not less than 50 million won:

Application for a visa (or Confirmation letter of visa issuance).
Passport (or a photocopy of a passport in the case of applications for a Confirmation letter of visa issuance).
Photocopy of a certificate of FDI company registration.
Photocopy of a business registration certificate or incorporation register, if applicable.
Certificate of declaration of a foreign currency (issued by the Customs Office).
Certificate of remittance issued by the relevant bank, in the event that the investment amount was remitted to Korea.
Photocopy of a foreign currency purchase certificate.
Photocopy of an office lease contract.
Photocopy of a bank book.

For an applicant dispatched to Korea as an essential specialist by a parent business in a foreign country:

Application for a visa (or a Confirmation letter of visa issuance).
Passport (or a photocopy of passport in the case of applications for a Confirmation letter of visa issuance).
Letter explaining the reason for the applicant's invitation to Korea.
Written order to work in Korea (issued by the relevant business).
Resume.
Diplomas, career certificates, qualification certificates and other certificates attesting to the applicant's status as a specialist.
Photocopy of a certificate of FDI company registration.
Photocopy of a business registration certificate or incorporation register, if applicable.
Application for a tax payment certificate.

Documents to be submitted

Confirmation Letter of Visa Issuance
Photo or Photocopy of Passport
Dispatch Order or Assignment Letter
Certificate of Employment
Certificate of Business Registration
Incorporation Register Book
Certificate of FDI Company Registration
Declaration of Foreign Currency
Certificate of Foreign Currency Purchase
Incoming Remittance Details
Office Lease Contract
Certificate of Tax Payment
Certificate of Export Report
Power of Attorney

The documents to be submitted may vary, depending on the judgment of the visa issuance office

[Juregen]

[raewon]

Juregen is spot on. Simply having/sending the money to Korea won't get you the visa. You need to go through all of the paperwork and legally establish a business in Korea. If you get the visa, it will then be illegal for you to do any kind of work that is not directly related to your business.