South Korea visa routes: E-7, the Workation visa, and the F-2/F-5 points ladder
South Korea's immigration system rewards exactly two things: an employer, or Korean ability — ideally both. A sponsoring company opens the E-7 skilled-work visa. Demonstrable Korean, in the form of a TOPIK score, powers the points-based F-2-7 residence visa, which converts in time to F-5 permanent residence. And remote workers now have a third, lighter door: the Workation (digital work) visa, F-1-D, extendable to three years since a rule change effective 30 June 2026 — but explicitly a stay, not a settlement path. Korea is also refreshingly honest about what it is not: an investment-residence market. Here are the three doors, honestly labeled.
This guide is educational only — rules change, so treat the official sources linked below as the authority before you act.
Key takeaways
- E-7 is the main skilled-work visa: a specific occupation tied to a sponsoring employer, with a point-based professional track (E-7-1) weighing education, experience and salary.
- The Workation visa (F-1-D) is for remote workers 18+ with no Korean employer: income bar by age, stay of up to 3 years (rule effective 30 June 2026) — and no path to F-5 permanent residence.
- The points ladder runs F-2-7 (points for TOPIK Korean, income, age, education, Korean study, volunteering) → F-5 permanent residence.
- TOPIK is the biggest single lever for Hong Kong and Taiwan applicants — and Chinese literacy gives you a genuine head start on it.
- Korea does not sell residence for money: there is no mainstream golden-visa-style route. See our golden visa reality check for where money-routes actually work.
Door one: E-7 — sponsored skilled work
E-7 ties a specific occupation to a specific employer, so the sponsorship — not the job title — is what you are really applying for. The professional track, E-7-1, runs on points across education, work experience and salary: the younger, better-credentialed and better-paid you are, the smoother your file scores. We deliberately do not quote point thresholds here; they are occupation-specific and periodically adjusted, and the HI Korea portal (run with the Korea Immigration Service) publishes the current tables. Renewals follow continued employment; the long game for most E-7 holders is stepping onto the points ladder below rather than staying sponsored forever.
Door two: the Workation visa — three years of remote work, no settlement
Launched for the remote-work era, the Workation (digital work) visa, F-1-D, is for applicants 18 or older working remotely for clients or employers outside Korea — no Korean employer involved. The gate is money: an annual income bar that varies by age, roughly ₩104.83 million if you are 35 or older and about ₩78.62 million if you are 18–34. The bar is pegged to Korean national income and gets revised, so check the current figure on HI Korea before you plan around it. Under the rule effective 30 June 2026, the maximum stay is 3 years — previously shorter. What it does not offer matters just as much: no route to F-5 permanent residence, however long you stay. It is a base for remote work, not a runway. Our digital nomad visa comparison sets it beside Japan's and Europe's equivalents.
Door three: the points ladder — F-2-7 to F-5
Korea's most interesting door for people without a Korean employer is the F-2-7 residence visa, granted on points: Korean ability (your TOPIK level) is the heavyweight factor, alongside income, age, education, periods of study in Korea, and volunteer work. Score enough, hold the F-2 with continuous residence, and F-5 permanent residence becomes the target — commonly after around five years of residence, with income and Korean-language conditions attached. The ladder rewards patience: each year in Korea adds points, and each TOPIK level adds more. Treat the structure, not any single number, as the plan — the points table and F-5 conditions live on HI Korea.
Who scores well — and the hanja head start
The points ladder smiles on the young, degree-holding and Korean-speaking — in that order of fixability. Age and education you cannot change; TOPIK you can, and it is where readers from Hong Kong and Taiwan hold an unfair advantage. More than half of Korean vocabulary is Sino-Korean — words built on Chinese characters — so someone literate in Chinese walks in with a large passive vocabulary that European applicants must build from zero. For Chinese-literate readers, TOPIK is the cheapest points on the entire table.
What Korea is not
Korea is not an investment-residence market. There is no mainstream program selling residence for property or government bonds to foreigners; corporate and investment-based statuses exist but are niche, heavily conditional and a world away from Portugal-style golden visas. If your plan runs on capital rather than labour or language, read our golden visa reality check for the countries where money-routes genuinely work — and where they have been shutting.
The three doors at a glance
| Route | Korean employer needed? | Korean language? | Ends in PR (F-5)? |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-7 skilled work | Yes — sponsorship is the visa | Not required, but a strong plus for life and renewal | Workable via long residence or the points ladder |
| Workation (F-1-D) | No — foreign employer/clients | No | No — capped stay, no F-5 path |
| F-2-7 points → F-5 | No — points-based residence | Effectively yes — TOPIK is the big lever | Yes — F-5 after qualifying residence |
Key numbers last verified: October 2026
- Workation visa (F-1-D): income bar by age — roughly ₩104.83M/year (35+) and ₩78.62M/year (18–34); amounts are indexed to Korean national income and revised periodically. Maximum stay 3 years under the rule effective 30 June 2026; no path to F-5. Confirm current figures on the official portal: HI Korea
- E-7-1: point-based professional track weighing education, experience and salary — thresholds are occupation-specific and adjusted periodically, so we quote none here. Source: HI Korea / Korea Immigration Service
- F-2-7 → F-5: points include TOPIK Korean ability, income, age, education, Korean study experience and volunteer work; F-5 permanent residence commonly follows around 5 years of residence with income and Korean-language conditions. Source: HI Korea
Rules change — always confirm with the official portal before you apply.
Related reading
- Japan visa routes explained — the neighbouring system, where the points ladder and skilled-work doors work differently
- Digital nomad visas compared — Korea's Workation visa against Japan, Spain, Portugal and the rest
- How to choose your emigration route — the five-door framework if you are still comparing countries
- Apostille and legalization for HK/TW documents — police and degree papers you will need for any of these applications