F-6 visa screening: who may invite a foreign spouse and what is checked

Before Korea issues the marriage migrant visa F-6 (결혼이민), it checks the foreign spouse and the Korean citizen who invites them, the inviter (초청인). The rules are in Article 9-5 of the Enforcement Rule of the Immigration Act (출입국관리법 시행규칙) and in Ministry of Justice (법무부) notices. This guide covers the limits on the inviter and the main requirements as of October 2026.

What the embassy checks

Under Article 9-5(1), the Korean embassy or consulate (재외공관) can check how the couple met, whether the marriage is valid in both countries, the 5-year rule, the inviter's income (₩25,195,752 a year for two persons in 2026), the exchange of health and criminal record information, basic Korean, housing, the 3-year rule and the inviter's criminal record (items 1 to 12). The embassy can ask the immigration office (출입국·외국인관서) covering the inviter's address to check facts (Article 9-5(2)).

Limits on the Korean inviter

A different spouse within 5 years. If you invited a different foreign spouse in the 5 years before the visa application, a new invitation is restricted. Inviting the same spouse again, for example after divorce and remarriage, is allowed. Ministry of Justice Notice No. 2025-534 (법무부고시 제2025-534호) lifts the check when:

• the couple has a child together;
• a court annulled the earlier marriage because that spouse married only to enter Korea;
• the earlier visa was refused, or the spouse never entered Korea;
• the earlier spouse died without fault of the inviter, for example not from violence.

3 years after status gained through marriage. If you naturalized as the spouse of a Korean under the Nationality Act (국적법), Article 6(2)1 or 2, or received permanent residence F-5 as the spouse of a Korean, wait 3 years before inviting a foreign spouse. People naturalized under Article 6(2)3 or 4 (the marriage ended without their fault, or they raise a minor child) are not covered.

Criminal records. The waiting period runs from the end or waiver of a prison term, from the date a suspended sentence became final, or, where the table says so, from the date a fine became final.

These record checks do not apply if the couple has a child together.

The international marriage guidance program

If the foreign spouse is a national of China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan or Thailand, the inviter, man or woman, must complete the international marriage guidance program (국제결혼 안내프로그램) before the visa application. The Ministry chose these 7 countries based on marriage, divorce, naturalization and illegal stay figures. Ministry of Justice Notice No. 2023-695 (법무부고시 제2023-695호), in force since January 1, 2024, sets the rules.

• Sign up on the Social Integration Information Network (사회통합정보망, www.socinet.go.kr) and attend on a date the immigration office sets, at the Immigration Integration Support Center (이민통합지원센터) of one of 17 immigration offices.
• You get a completion number by text message and a certificate. Write the number on the invitation letter or attach the certificate. It lapses if no marriage visa application follows within 5 years.

You are exempt if you dated while staying in the spouse's country for 6 months or more, or in a third country on a long-term visa for study or work; if the spouse dated you while staying legally in Korea for 91 days or more on a long-term status; or for pregnancy, childbirth or another humanitarian reason. Exempt couples also skip the Korean spouse's health certificate and the foreign spouse's criminal record certificate, but a tuberculosis (TB) certificate is still needed.

Korean language

The foreign spouse must communicate in basic Korean (Article 9-5(1)6). Notice No. 2025-534 accepts one of these:

• TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) level 1 or higher, still valid, including TOPIK IBT
• 120 hours or more at a Korean Education Center (한국교육원, level 2) or a King Sejong Institute (세종학당, beginner)
• A beginner course at an institute the embassy designated with the Ministry's approval
• Level 2 or higher of the Korea Immigration and Integration Program (사회통합프로그램, KIIP)
• A university or graduate degree related to Korean

If the designated course or KIIP was finished more than 2 years earlier, the spouse must pass a direct test by the consul.

The requirement is waived if the couple has a child, if the spouse is an overseas Korean with proven Korean, or if the spouse lived in Korea for 1 year or more in a row. A shared language also counts: the inviter lived for 1 year or more in a row where the spouse's mother tongue is official, the couple lived together for 1 year or more in a row in a country with a third official language, or the inviter's former nationality shares the spouse's mother tongue. The consul may still test a couple whose ability seems clearly lacking.

A home for the couple

The couple needs a normal home for living together. Gosiwon rooms (고시원), motels and vinyl greenhouses do not count (Article 9-5(1)7). The visa manual requires a home owned or rented in the name of the Korean spouse or their lineal family, brothers or sisters. A third party's home does not count in principle, except places such as company housing. The address must match the resident registration (주민등록등본). Submit the register extract (등기부등본), plus the lease if you rent.

Forms, evidence and false statements

• Invitation letter for a foreign spouse (외국인 배우자 초청장), Form No. 19-2 of the Enforcement Rule, written in Korean by the Korean spouse. The manual calls it the most important document; answer every item.
• Identity guarantee (신원보증서): the inviter becomes the spouse's guarantor (Article 9-4(1)).
• Marriage background statement (결혼배경진술서), written in English by the foreign spouse.
• Relationship evidence (photos, social media chats) on up to 5 A4 pages. Through a broker: copies of the broker's registration certificate, guarantee insurance policy and contract. Through an acquaintance: a copy of the introducer's ID.
• Korean certificates must be issued within 3 months.

Inviting with false facts or a false guarantee, or applying with false information, is prohibited (Immigration Act, Article 7-2) and punishable by up to 3 years in prison or a fine of up to ₩30 million (Article 94). If a broker introduced you, check these requirements before registering the marriage: registration does not guarantee a visa.

Refusals and the first years in Korea

After a refusal, you can apply again after 6 months, or earlier for childbirth or another urgent need (Article 9-5(3)).

The F-6-1 visa is a 90-day single-entry visa. Within 90 days of entry, the spouse registers as a foreign resident and applies for an extension at the immigration office covering the address. The first permission runs 1 year from entry. For nationals of the 7 program countries, it is 2 years if they complete the early adaptation program (조기적응프로그램) after entry, and otherwise 6-month periods until 2 years from entry. Later extensions run up to 1 year, or up to 3 years when the couple raises their child. The maximum per grant is 3 years.