🇰🇷South Korea

Korea's start-up visa for foreign founders with intellectual property or equivalent technology: instead of a capital investment, applicants need a degree, 60 of 300 points on the OASIS points system and a Korean corporation they have set up themselves. OASIS courses (IP, incorporation, start-up training) run by government-designated Global Startup Immigration Centers earn points.

PromiseTurn a patent or tech idea into your own Korean company and the visa to run it.

What it takesNo grant money. You must personally establish a Korean corporation and complete company and business registration before getting the visa, and score 60/300 points — the mandatory items are hard (registered patent/utility model/design, joint inventor status, a government start-up support award or OASIS-6/9, 3+ years as an E-1/E-3 professor/researcher, or ₩100M+ of VC/accelerator investment). Points for jointly held items are split. Renewal depends on the business actually operating.

Ministry of Justice regional visa: foreigners already living in Korea who are recommended by a participating local government can switch to F-2-R residence if they live and work in a designated population-decline area; the scheme covers 89 depopulation areas plus 18 'areas of concern' (107 in total) with 5,072 F-2-R places allocated for 2025–26.

PromiseA stable Korean residence status, with your family, in exchange for settling in a shrinking rural county.

What it takesNo cash — it is a residence status. You must already be in Korea on an eligible visa (seasonal, E-9/E-10 non-professional, trainee and similar statuses are excluded) and get a county recommendation. You must live in the recommending depopulation area for 5 years (after 2 years you may move to another depopulation area in the same province); quotas are set per local government. Korean at TOPIK/KIIP level 4 was required under the 2025 plan.

Foreign employees and executives who start working in Korea by 31 December 2026 can elect to pay a flat 19% income tax on their Korean employment income instead of progressive rates, for tax years ending within 20 years of their first day of work in Korea.

PromiseA capped 19% income tax rate for higher earners moving to Korea.

What it takesElecting it removes all non-taxable allowances (with limited exceptions), deductions, exemptions and credits, so it mainly pays off for higher earners. Work must start by 31 Dec 2026 under current law. Not available to day labourers or when working for a company related to you through family or management control (some tax-incentivised foreign-invested companies excepted). Local income tax is charged on top.

Qualifying foreign engineers and researchers who start work in Korea by 31 December 2026 pay only half the normal income tax on their Korean employment income for 10 years from their first day of work.

PromiseDo R&D in Korea and keep more of your salary for a decade.

What it takesNarrow eligibility: you need a science, engineering or medical bachelor's degree plus 5 years of R&D experience at a recognised foreign university or research institute (2 years if you hold a PhD), and must work as a researcher at a qualifying corporate R&D lab or institute (or as a professor in an R&D special zone), or be recognised under an engineering-technology import contract or as 'outstanding overseas talent'. Not available if the employer is related to you. You must file the reduction application through your employer by the 10th of the month after you start; it cannot be combined with the 19% flat-rate option. Work must start by 31 Dec 2026 under current law.

National Ministry of Agriculture (MAFRA) scheme run through city/county offices and NongHyup Bank: subsidised loans of up to ₩300 million per household to start farming and up to ₩75 million to buy, build or extend a rural home, at a fixed 2.0% or variable rate, repaid over 5 years' grace plus 10 years.

PromiseCheap long-term loans to set up a farm and a home in rural Korea after leaving the city.

What it takesLoans, not grants — repayable over 15 years and secured on your credit/collateral. You must live at the site and farm for the whole 15-year loan period; selling the farm or house or quitting farming without approval triggers early repayment. Only people who moved to a rural area within the last 6 years after 1+ year living in a city (or who are moving this year) qualify; 8+ hours of farming education required. Selection rounds run twice a year with short windows and county-level scoring.

Korea's remote-work visa, made permanent on 30 June 2026 after a 2024-26 pilot: 1-year stay, extendable one year at a time up to 3 years, for people working remotely for a foreign employer or their own foreign company.

PromiseLive in Korea for up to 3 years on your foreign salary, with a much lower income bar if you're under 35 and live outside the Seoul capital area.

What it takesIncome bar is 1x-2x Korea's prior-year GNI per capita (2025 basis ₩52.41M) depending on age & whether you live in the Seoul metro area; dependents raise it to 1.5x-2x. No Korean employment allowed, 1+ year with the foreign employer required, ₩100M medical insurance mandatory.

Korean government (Ministry of SMEs and Startups) market-entry accelerator for foreign-led startups, with free office space in Pangyo/Gangnam, travel and stay support, prize money and commercialization grants, and D-8-4 startup visa recommendation letters.

PromiseKorea pays part of your way in, gives you a desk in Pangyo and helps you get a startup visa.

What it takesCash is competitive: only the top 20 teams get prize money and the top 8 commercialization grants; travel support is capped at KRW 8M per team; a Korean legal entity may be needed to receive awards. The 2026 intake closed 17 June 2026.