Everything You Should Know About South Korea's New Digital Nomad Visa

On June 30, South Korea's Ministry of Justice announced that the two year pilot period for its digital nomad visa is over, and that it is now a permanent policy. If you have spent the past few years watching friends set up shop in Lisbon or Chiang Mai while wondering whether Seoul's version of this freedom was worth the paperwork, the terms just improved considerably. The F-1-D, officially the Workation Visa, now comes with a lower income bar for younger applicants, a longer stay, and a clear incentive to build your new life somewhere other than Gangnam and Seoul.

Here is what actually changed, what you need to qualify, and whether it is worth your time.

All You Need To Know About South Korea's Digital Nomad Visa

What the Workation Visa Lets You Do

The F-1-D allows you to live in South Korea while working remotely for a company based abroad or running your own foreign business. The visa is not a conventional work authorisation: you cannot take a job with a Korean employer, and you cannot do paid work for a South Korea-based company. Your income has to keep arriving from outside the country.

In place of this, you get multiple entries during your stay, a maximum period that has jumped from two years under the pilot to three years now, and the option to bring your spouse and dependent children along on the same visa. Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho has framed the update as a bid to draw creative, highly skilled professionals who might eventually decide to put down roots in the country.

The Income Threshold

Under the pilot program, every applicant, regardless of age, needed to show income at roughly double South Korea's gross national income per capita from the previous year. That puts the bar somewhere between $65,000 and $74,000, depending on how a given consulate calculates it, since some use pre-tax income and others deduct tax first.

Under the new rules, this requirement only holds for the general applicant pool. If you are between 18 and 34 years old and willing to base yourself outside Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province, the bar drops to one year's GNI per capita, which was $36,963 in 2025. Everyone else, meaning applicants over 34 or anyone insisting on the capital region, is still looking at close to double that number. Officials have said intermediate tiers exist for other age and region combinations. The full table of these combinations isn’t out yet, so if you fall outside the extremes, confirm your exact figure with your local consulate before assuming you qualify.

What You Will Need to Apply

The paperwork is fairly standard for a long-stay visa. You will need a completed application form, a passport valid for more than six months, a passport-size photo, an employment verification letter, a clean criminal record certificate from your qualifying country of residence, proof of medical insurance (covering at least $75,000 for treatment and repatriation), and proof of income through bank statements or tax records. Depending on your nationality and where you currently live, the consulate may ask for more.

You're supposed to apply in person, by appointment, at a Korean embassy or consulate in your country of residence. There is no online shortcut and no expedited processing option at any price, so build the three-to-four-week average window into your planning. The fee ranges from country to country; it’s about $45 for US citizens (roughly Rs 4,300 at current rates) and around CAD 121.50 for Canadian applicants (roughly Rs 8,200). Fees vary by nationality, so treat these as reference points.

Is It Worth It?

During the two-year pilot, South Korea issued 743 of these visas. By May 2026, only 398 holders were still registered, and about 85 per cent of them had settled in the Greater Seoul area anyway, which is the opposite of the outcome the new rules encourage. The government is not being coy about what it wants: young, remote-earning professionals who will rent apartments in Busan or Daegu, spend money locally, and eventually consider staying for good.

If you are under 35, your income is over $37,000, and you are genuinely open to a base outside Seoul, this is a great offer: three years of multiple-entry residence, family included, all for a visa fee that costs less than a good dinner.