F-4 overseas Korean visa: who qualifies and which jobs remain off-limits

This guide is for people of Korean descent who hold another nationality and want to live or work in Korea, and for employers who hire them. The overseas Korean status F-4 (재외동포) allows a stay of up to 3 years per grant and most kinds of work. Since February 12, 2026, one F-4 system applies to ethnic Koreans from every country.

Who qualifies

The Act on the Immigration and Legal Status of Overseas Koreans (재외동포의 출입국과 법적 지위에 관한 법률, the Overseas Koreans Act), Article 2, and its Enforcement Decree, Article 3, cover two groups:

1. people who held Korean nationality by birth, including those who emigrated before the Korean government was founded, and later took a foreign nationality (code F-4-41);
2. their lineal descendants who hold a foreign nationality (code F-4-42).

Article 3 of the decree was rewritten on July 2, 2019. Older guides that limit descendants to people whose parent or grandparent was Korean describe the earlier text.

F-4 is refused to men who gave up or lost Korean nationality without finishing military service or getting an exemption (Article 5(2)). The Minister of Justice may grant it from January 1 of the year the man turns 41. The immigration manual applies this to men who first renounced or lost Korean nationality on or after May 1, 2018. F-4 is also refused if the applicant may harm Korea's security, public order, welfare or diplomatic relations.

What changed on February 12, 2026

Until then, ethnic Koreans from China and the former Soviet Union mostly came on the visiting employment status (H-2, 방문취업). From February 12, 2026, the Ministry of Justice merged the two statuses: it issues F-4 to ethnic Koreans from all countries under one standard and has stopped issuing new H-2 visas. People who already hold H-2 stay under the H-2 rules. Sub-types in older guides, such as F-4-14 for graduates or F-4-27 for licence holders, belong to the former system.

How to apply

Abroad: apply at a Korean embassy or consulate (재외공관). Besides the application, passport, photo and fee, you need proof of Korean descent (such as Korean family relation certificates or birth certificates), proof of Korean ability and criminal record certificates. Procedures and fees vary by consulate, so check its website first. For short visits, overseas Koreans can get a 5-year multiple-entry visiting visa (C-3-8) for stays of up to 90 days at a time; work is not allowed on it.

In Korea: you can change to F-4 only if your documents are issued in Korea or can be checked in the immigration system. Before a change of status or a residence report, you must complete the Early Adaptation Program (조기적응프로그램). Exempt are, for example, students and graduates of Korean schools, people aged 6 or under or 65 or over, people who stayed 3 years or more on a long-term status, and people taking or finished with KIIP level 1 or higher.

Korean language and criminal records

Any one of these proves Korean ability:

TOPIK and pre-test scores count for 2 years from the result date. Exempt: former Korean nationals, people aged 60 or over, children aged 13 or under, graduates of a Korean primary school or higher, and people who already submitted proof for another status. People who got an F-4 visa, or were already staying on F-4, before September 2, 2019 need not submit it for extensions. With proof or an exemption, a consulate issues a multiple-entry visa with a 2-year stay, and in Korea you can get up to 3 years. Without it you get 1 year, or 2 years if you have registered for KIIP classes.

Criminal record certificates must come from your country of nationality and from any third country where you lived 1 year or more in a row in the last 5 years. They must be issued within 6 months before you apply and carry an apostille, or consular confirmation in non-apostille countries. US citizens submit an FBI record, or a state record that covers the whole country. Exempt: children under 14, people aged 60 or over, independence and national merit patriots and their families, and some others.

Living in Korea on F-4

• Residence report: if you stay 90 days or more, file a domestic residence report (국내거소신고) with the immigration office within 90 days of entry. It counts as alien registration (Article 10(4)). The residence card (거소증) costs ₩35,000.
• Moving: report your new address within 14 days (Article 6(2)).
• Re-entry: with a residence report, you can leave and come back within your stay period without a re-entry permit (Article 10(3)).
• Extensions: up to 3 years per grant (Article 10(1)). Bring the form, fee, Korean proof and proof of address. Law violations can limit an extension.
• Health insurance: you join as a local subscriber after 6 months of stay, or as an employee from your first day at work. Local membership ends if you stay abroad for more than 1 month.
• Permanent residence: after 2 years on F-4 you can apply for F-5-6 if you meet a requirement such as annual income of at least last year's per-capita GNI.

Jobs F-4 holders cannot do

F-4 holders can take most jobs (Article 10(5)); a job that needs a Korean licence still needs it. Ministry of Justice Notice No. 2026-35, in force from February 12, 2026, bars three groups of work:

1. 29 simple-labour occupations, including movers, postal, parcel and food delivery, building and street cleaning, garbage collection, apartment security, meter reading, parking attendants, laundry and ticket checking;
2. work at gambling businesses, as hostesses in entertainment bars, or in businesses that harm public morals;
3. 8 service jobs: foot care, bathhouse attendants, wedding staff, karaoke room staff, other amusement facility staff, golf caddies, bar service staff and street vendors.

Construction and mining labourers and petrol station attendants, found on older lists, are not on the 2026 list. If you live in a depopulation area chosen for the regional visa programme (지역특화형 비자), or work within the same province or metropolitan city, groups 1 and 3 do not apply to you, but group 2 still does. The regional sub-type is F-4-R.

Records that block F-4

The manual refuses or limits F-4 for people who, in Korea:

• were sentenced for a specific violent crime (특정강력범죄);
• were sentenced to imprisonment (금고) or more for drugs, voice phishing or drunk driving 3 or more times;
• were sentenced to imprisonment or more (including a suspended sentence) for another crime, until 5 years after the sentence ended or became final;
• have fines totalling ₩7 million or more, until 3 years after paying the fine that reached that total;
• have immigration-law penalties totalling ₩7 million or more, until 3 years after payment (cut to 1 year with 100 hours of volunteering over 6 months or more).

Crimes abroad: a specific violent crime means refusal; drugs, voice phishing or repeated drunk driving block F-4 for 7 years from sentencing; other crimes punished like imprisonment or more block it for 5 years from sentencing.

Checklist

• Collect proof of Korean descent for you and your Korean-born ancestor.
• Order criminal record certificates with an apostille, issued within 6 months.
• After arrival, finish the Early Adaptation Program and file the residence report within 90 days.
• Check that your job is not on the 2026 restricted list.
• Apply for an extension before your stay ends.