How to Stay in Korea Long-Term as a Foreign Business Owner — Residency, Family, Real Estate, Healthcare (2026)

The moment the D-9-4 or D-9-5 visa is issued, you enter Korea, and the store opens for business is not the end of Business Immigration, but the beginning. From that point, long-term residency in Korea begins, and new agenda items unfold in sequence: period-of-stay extension, family settlement, children's education, housing stability, asset management, and — after a certain period — the transition to a long-term residency visa. This episode outlines which legal systems operate at this stage, and what should be prepared in advance.

Lawyeon Visa & Immigration Center does not only support the initial relocation and launch phase of Business Immigration. Through our ongoing support agreement, we provide continuous long-term legal counsel on residency, family, assets, and disputes following relocation. Every topic covered in this episode falls within this ongoing support area.

For both D-9-4 and D-9-5, the initial period of stay is typically one year, and you must obtain an extension before expiration to continue residing in Korea. Extension applications can be filed starting four months before expiration, and it is safest to complete submission no later than two months before expiration.

What the Immigration Office examines at extension review comes down to one thing: whether the business is actually operating. Specifically, four items are assessed:

When all of these elements have accumulated stably, the extension proceeds smoothly. The extension itself is a core task of ongoing support. From the earliest settlement stage, our law firm designs a record-keeping system for revenue evidence, tax payment records, and business operation documents together with the client; as the extension date approaches, we prepare and submit the application documents and handle any inquiries from the Immigration Office.

After maintaining D-9 residency for five or more years, the path to the F-2-99 long-term residency visa opens. It is the procedure for changing the status of stay to long-term residency while continuing the same business.

What is evaluated at F-2-99 transition review differs from D-9 extension review. D-9 extension asks "is the business alive?" F-2-99 transition asks whether the applicant has settled stably into Korean society. Specifically, four areas are assessed:

As mentioned in Episodes 2 and 3, when a D-9 holder invites their spouse and minor children to Korea, the family receives F-3 (Accompanying Family) status. The three scenarios most commonly encountered in actual F-3 operation are as follows.

When a child, after completing middle and high school in Korea, applies to a Korean university, the Korean admissions system provides a separate track called the special admissions track for foreign students.

The special admissions track generally targets applicants whose own nationality and both parents' nationalities are foreign, and proceeds through a path independent of the regular regular/rolling admissions. Review is primarily document-based and interview-based, and a grade on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) is commonly required. Specific eligibility requirements vary by university, and some universities additionally offer a separate international track for applicants who completed their entire high school education overseas.

Foreign nationals acquiring real estate in Korea face almost no legal or regulatory restrictions. The same basic tax framework applies as to Korean nationals. Acquisition tax at purchase, property tax and the Comprehensive Real Estate Holding Tax during ownership, and capital gains tax at sale are all imposed under the same structure as for Koreans. No separate surcharges are imposed based on nationality; however, special provisions that require residency as a condition — such as the one-household-one-home tax exemption — may apply differently depending on the form of residency status held.

When purchasing residential real estate, the mortgage financing structure is not substantially different from that available to Koreans. That said, beyond collateral value, Korean-based income and asset documentation becomes the central review material, so extensions are favored when business registration has been followed by stable accumulation of revenue and tax filings. Our law firm includes title analysis of the target property, contract review, and related tax analysis within our comprehensive advisory scope.

While operating a business as a commercial tenant, Korea's Commercial Building Lease Protection Act provides store owners with two important protective mechanisms: the right to request contract renewal and protection of the opportunity to recover key money (권리금).

Within Korea's social insurance system, National Health Insurance applies to foreign nationals on the same basic framework as to Korean nationals, with automatic application. As the business operator, you pay premiums as a regional subscriber, and when you hire employees, you transition to workplace-based subscription. After six months or more of residency in Korea, regional subscription applies automatically. The same applies to family members residing under F-3 accompanying status.

Foreign business operators gain access to public healthcare that would typically be out of reach in their home country. Through health insurance enrollment, the medical cost burden for oneself and one's family is reduced systemically — an element of living stability that supports long-term business operation.

All of the topics covered above fall within the scope of our law firm's ongoing support agreement.

The ongoing support agreement is not something every client must enter into. It can be selected in the scope needed and at the time needed, and single-engagement advisory for specific matters is also available.

If Episodes 1 through 3 addressed the beginning of Business Immigration to Korea, Episode 4 addresses the beginning of settlement. The core perspective this episode conveys is that visa acquisition is not the destination of the project — rather, it is the starting point of a long horizon: two-year-cycle residency extensions, the five-year F-2-99 transition, the ten-year arc of commercial lease stability, and throughout, the family settlement and asset formation that continue in between.

Lawyeon Visa & Immigration Center brings together experienced attorneys from Law Firm Lawyeon, interpreter-coordinators, and startup immigration specialists to support Business Immigration for foreign nationals residing abroad. Initial consultations are free of charge, and applicants can submit inquiries directly from their home country through our consultation thread.