South Korea · Business & founder
D-8 Corporate Investment Visa
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Last verified July 2026Unconfirmed
Open. The KRW 100m minimum derives from the Foreign Investment Promotion Act. In practice, immigration officials scrutinise substance well beyond the statutory minimum.
At roughly USD 70k, the D-8 is by far the cheapest way into Korea. But it is an operating-business visa with real substance testing. The low statutory minimum is not the real bar. Immigration has tightened scrutiny of thinly capitalised shells.
Qualifying routes
100M KRW
D-8-1 corporate investment
KRW 100m, roughly USD 70–75k, invested to establish a Korean corporation. The applicant is dispatched as an executive or essential specialist.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- 100M KRW
- Total landed cost
- KRW 100m minimum registered foreign investment, plus incorporation, office and professional fees
- Route type
- Business & founder
- Timeline
- 2–5 months (Foreign investment registration, then a Certificate of Eligibility, then the visa)
- Physical presence
- You must genuinely run the Korean entity
- Family
- Spouse and children qualify via F-3 dependent status
- Permanent residency
- F-5 is available on various grounds. The F-5-5 track is reported to require USD 500,000+ investment and employment of five or more Korean nationals.
- Citizenship
- Generally 5 years of residence. Dual citizenship is generally not permitted.
- Language test
- Korean language and integration testing applies
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted. You would have to renounce.
- Requirements
- At least KRW 100m of registered foreign direct investment in a Korean corporationApplicant dispatched as an executive, manager or essential specialistGenuine business substance, including premises, a plan and real activity
What can go wrong
- KRW 100m is a statutory floor, not a practical one. Applications with minimal substance, no office and no employees are routinely refused or granted only short validity.
- The investment must be registered as foreign direct investment under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act. An ordinary capital injection does not automatically qualify.
- D-8 does not lead to permanent residency quickly. The F-5 investment tracks have materially higher thresholds and employment conditions.
- Korean worldwide taxation begins after 5 years of domicile in any 10-year window.