18/11/2025
🇰🇷Hello everyone! We have received many inquiries about the investor visa in Korea, so today we decided to explain it in more detail.🇰🇷
➡️The D-8 visa in Korea is an investment (business) visa. In simple terms: a visa for those who open or invest in a company in Korea and actually manage it.
1. What is the D-8 visa?
There are several subtypes (D-8-1, D-8-2, etc.), but the core idea is the same:
➡️A foreigner invests in a Korean company (usually by registering a legal entity — 법인).
➡️Becomes the manager of this company.
➡️Based on this, they obtain the right to live and work in Korea while managing the business.
The visa is usually suitable for:
➡️owners of small/medium-sized businesses,
➡️startups (sometimes overlaps with the D-8-4 startup visa),
➡️those who already work in a foreign company and open a branch in Korea.
2. Main requirements
➡️Investment into a Korean company
Previously, the general benchmark was around 100 million KRW or more as paid-in capital, but the actual number is not the only factor — what matters is whether the business is real: office, lease agreement, website, contracts, etc.
➡️A real business plan
➡️Description of the activity, projected income/expenses, hiring plans, market analysis.
➡️Company documents
➡️Corporate registration (사업자등록증, 법인등기부등본, etc.).
➡️Office lease agreement.
➡️Corporate bank account + proof of deposited capital.
➡️Applicant’s personal documents
➡️Passport, photo.
➡️Often — resume, proof of work/business experience, sometimes education.
3. Advantages of the D-8 visa
➡️You can legally live and work in Korea while managing your business.
➡️If the company operates successfully and the visa history is stable, the D-8 can be used as a pathway to F-2 / F-5 (long-term residence / permanent residency).
➡️Possibility to bring family members (spouse/children — F-3).
4. Disadvantages and difficulties
➡️High entry threshold: you need capital, documents, and a clear business (tourism, trading, IT, services, etc.).
➡️Immigration may strictly check whether the business is real — revenue, taxes, employees.
➡️Visa renewals depend on actual business activity: paper investments alone are not enough.
5. Typical steps toward obtaining the D-8 visa
➡️Decide what type of company and business activity you will run.
➡️Register a legal entity in Korea, open a bank account, deposit the paid-in capital.
➡️Prepare the full document package (business plan, lease agreement, corporate documents, etc.).
➡️Apply for the D-8 visa at the Korean consulate / or through a status change within Korea.
➡️After approval — receive your ARC and continue living/working in Korea with regular renewals.