South Korea E-7: An Employer Owns Your Visa Until You Convert to F-2-7

Short answer, if you are searching for the Korea E-7 to F-2 residence requirements. To move from an E-7 work visa to F-2-7 residence status you generally need all of the following, as set out in the Ministry of Justice notice on the points system for residence status and administered by the Korea Immigration Service:

• Lawful E-7 status now, held on the occupation code you were actually approved under, with a clean record of extensions and reported changes.
• A total score at or above the published pass mark on the F-2-7 points table, which awards points for age, educational attainment, Korean language ability, annual income, and work experience or residence in Korea, with a smaller block of bonus items.
• Annual income at or above an essential floor expressed as a multiple of Korea's per capita gross national income for the preceding year, evidenced by National Tax Service documents.
• Language evidence, normally a TOPIK certificate or completion of the Korea Immigration and Integration Programme run by the Ministry of Justice.
• A document set covering education, employment, income, address and, where the notice requires it, criminal record certificates.
• A change of status application filed at the immigration office with jurisdiction over your address.

Every threshold in that list, the pass mark and the income multiple included, is set in a notice that gets revised. Treat all figures here as dated planning figures and reconfirm the version in force on Hi Korea, the Korea Immigration Service portal, or with your local immigration office before you rely on any of them.

The South Korean E-7 work visa is sponsored, employer-tied and occupation-tied. It authorises you to work for one named company in one approved occupation code, and it ends when that employment ends. The F-2-7 residence visa is the standard exit from that dependence. It is scored on the published points table, it is held in your own name with no sponsor attached, and it lets you change jobs without asking permission first. The conversion is what most E-7 holders are really planning for, and it is decided almost entirely by things you control in advance.

The practical shape of the problem is three years long. Year one on E-7 you fix your documents and start Korean. Year two you push income and language. Year three you apply. This article is general information for skilled workers and it is not advice on your situation. A registered Korean certified administrative agent, a licensed immigration lawyer, or the immigration office itself should confirm your own case before you act on anything here.

Who this route is for

The E-7 to F-2-7 path fits a specific person.

• Engineers, IT specialists, designers, researchers and specialist trade professionals already in Korea on an E-7-1 professional workforce visa, sponsored by one company.
• Semi-skilled and skilled workers on E-7-2, E-7-3 or E-7-4 status, including those who moved up from E-9 non-professional employment through the skilled worker points route, where the income and language bars are harder and the planning matters more.
• People who converted from D-10 job seeker status or from a D-2 Korean degree, the latter usually carrying an advantage on both language points and the Korean-education criteria.
• Families where a spouse on dependent F-3 status has restricted work rights, since the principal moving to F-2 changes what the household can earn.

The route is a poor fit for someone who expects to leave Korea within two years, someone working outside the occupation code they were sponsored under, and someone whose income sits well below the national average with no path upward. In those cases a different destination is often the cleaner answer, and the closest comparison in the region is Japan's Highly Skilled Professional points sheet, which scores salary, education, age and Japanese and shortens permanent residence to three years or one.

Why the E-7 is tied to your employer

Understanding the tie clarifies why the conversion is worth years of effort.

An E-7 grant names three things: the sponsoring company, the specific occupation code approved for you, and the period of stay. The Korea Immigration Service issues the status on the basis of a specific employment contract, checked against criteria the Ministry of Justice publishes for each code, including required education, career length, salary level relative to national income and, for many codes, a cap on how many foreign nationals a company may employ relative to its Korean staff.

Three consequences follow directly.

Working outside the approved code is a status violation. If your sponsored code is one thing and your daily work becomes another, the mismatch matters at extension time even when the employer is content. Job titles drift. Immigration reads the code.

Changing employer runs through the immigration office as well as your manager. A change of workplace on E-7 involves reporting and, in most cases, permission before you start, because the new employer must satisfy the same criteria the old one did. Commonly cited practice is that a change of workplace must be reported to the immigration office within a short window of days, and that you should not begin work on a new contract before the change is granted. Confirm the exact window and the exact sequence with your immigration office before you sign anything, because getting it backwards is a violation you cannot undo.

Losing the job puts your status on a clock. Where employment ends, the status that rested on it is exposed. Korea, like most sponsored systems, expects a report and then either a new qualifying employer or departure inside a defined period. The general dynamics of that clock, and how to use it, are the same everywhere sponsorship exists, and our piece on redundancy on a sponsored visa and the grace period covers how to behave in the first week after a job ends.

The F-2-7 removes all three constraints at once. It is a residence status held in your own name, and the grant names no company.

What the F-2-7 points table actually measures

As published in the Ministry of Justice notice, the F-2-7 score is built from a small number of headings. The exact allocations move between revisions, so what follows is the structure, with the instruction to read the current notice for the numbers.

The two ends of the table behave differently. Age and past education are settled before you start. Language, income and Korean work history are where a three-year plan is actually written.

Figures for the maximum score and the pass mark circulate widely on forums and agency sites, and they have been revised more than once. This article deliberately does not quote one, because a stale pass mark is the most expensive thing you can carry into a points system. Ask the immigration office for the notice in force, or find the current version through Hi Korea, print it, and score yourself against that document.

The income multiple is the line most applicants fail

Language gets the attention and income decides the outcome.

The F-2-7 conditions include an income floor stated as a multiple of Korea's per capita gross national income (GNI) for the preceding year, as published by the Bank of Korea and adopted in the immigration notice. Two features of that design catch people.

The target moves every year. Because the floor is indexed to national income, a salary that cleared the bar the year you calculated it may not clear it the year you apply. Korean wages and the published GNI figure both move. If you plan on a 2026 number and apply in 2028, you are planning against the wrong line.

The multiple is not always one. The notice can set different multiples for different categories of applicant, and points are also awarded on a sliding scale for income above the floor. Being just over the essential floor is a different position from scoring well on the income heading. Applicants routinely satisfy the first and then fail the total score because they assumed the second followed automatically.

There are only a few honest levers on income.

• Negotiate the contracted salary, not the total package. Immigration assessment works from documented, taxable annual income evidenced by your income tax withholding receipt and certificates from the National Tax Service. Housing provided in kind, an allowance paid irregularly and a bonus that is discretionary are all weak evidence compared with base salary on the contract and on the tax record.
• Time your promotion to the application, not the other way round. Assessment looks at income for a completed period. A raise granted the month before you file may not be reflected in the tax documents you must submit.
• Change employers deliberately, once, in year two. A compliant move to a higher-paying sponsor inside the same occupation code is the fastest income lever available to most E-7 holders. It carries permission risk, so it needs to happen with time to recover, and never in the same quarter you intend to apply. The general mechanics of moving employer without damaging a residency clock are in our guide to changing employer while on a sponsored visa.
• Accept that some occupations will not get there. Certain E-7-2, E-7-3 and E-7-4 roles sit structurally below the national average, and where that is true the answer is a different occupation or a different country, known in year one.

Before you commit three years to a route, it is worth checking whether it is the strongest one available to you. Our free quiz takes your occupation, age, qualifications and current status and shows which routes across Korea, Canada, Australia, Germany and the rest actually fit your profile, including whether an employer-tied route is the right sequence at all. If you would rather have the whole three-year order written down for you with dates attached, NextMigrate's personal migration roadmap is $499, down from $999, started with a $99 deposit with the balance settled afterwards.

What you need before you start

Assemble this early, because several items take months to obtain from outside Korea.

• Your alien registration card and the full history of your stay, including every extension and any change of status.
• Your E-7 grant conditions and the exact occupation code you were approved under. This is the number that governs whether an employer change is possible.
• Degree certificates and transcripts, apostilled or consular-legalised in the issuing country. Korea accepts apostilles from Hague Convention states and requires consular legalisation from others. Our explainer on apostille or certified translation sets out which of the two your documents need, because they are different processes with different offices.
• Certified Korean translations of foreign documents, prepared to the standard your immigration office accepts.
• Income evidence from the National Tax Service, typically a certificate of income amount and the withholding tax receipt, covering the assessed period.
• Employment certificates and the business registration certificate of your employer.
• TOPIK certificate or KIIP completion certificate. Check validity periods before you file, because language certificates expire and applicants discover this late.
• Criminal record certificates where the notice requires them, from every country you have lived in for a qualifying period.
• Proof of address and residence in Korea, plus evidence of any dependants.

Everything on that list should exist in a folder before you begin the application, and several items should be refreshed close to filing because immigration commonly wants recent issue dates.

What it costs

Government fees in Korea are modest relative to the preparation costs, and the preparation costs are where the budget actually goes.

Confirm every government figure on Hi Korea before you budget, because fee schedules are revised and a figure quoted in an old blog post is worth nothing. Note also where the real expense sits. The two years of evenings you spend on Korean cost more than every government fee in the table put together.

How long it takes

The realistic sequence for someone starting from a fresh E-7 grant with no Korean.

Year one. Register, get your alien registration card, and read your grant conditions closely enough to know your occupation code. Start Korean immediately, either through KIIP or a private academy, because the language block is slow and everything else is faster. Order your apostilled degree documents from home now, while you are not under time pressure. Confirm with your employer that your actual duties match your sponsored code. Sit TOPIK once, early, purely to establish a baseline.

Year two. Push language to the level that scores. Decide whether your current employer can get you to the income floor with a realistic multiple above it, and if the answer is no, make one compliant employer change with immigration permission granted before you start. Keep every extension clean, because lawful continuous residence feeds both the F-2-7 score and the later F-5 permanent residence route. If a Korean master's is a plausible addition, this is the year it starts.

Year three. Confirm the current notice, score yourself against it honestly, refresh the documents with recent issue dates, and file the change of status application at your jurisdiction's immigration office. Processing for a change of residence status is commonly measured in weeks to a few months, and it varies by office and season, so ask your office directly rather than relying on an average.

After F-2. F-2 residence status is generally the step before F-5 permanent residence, which in the ordinary case rests on a longer qualifying period of lawful residence in Korea plus income, conduct and integration conditions set by the Ministry of Justice. Naturalisation is a separate process with its own tests.

When this does not work

Be honest about the cases where three years of effort will not produce an F-2-7.

Your income cannot reach the floor. Some approved occupations pay below the national average by design. Where the ceiling of your role sits under the multiple, the score is unreachable no matter how good your Korean becomes.

Your status history has gaps or violations. Overstays, unreported employer changes and periods of work outside your approved code all sit in the record. Points systems reward clean continuous residence, and a violation can affect both the score and discretionary approval.

Your age band is against you and nothing else is strong. Age points fall away at the top of the range. An older applicant needs the language, income and education headings to be genuinely strong to carry the total.

Common mistakes

Treating the F-2-7 as a year-three problem. The score is built from things that take two years to acquire. Applicants who start planning at month thirty are applying with the profile they happened to have.

Assuming the pass mark and the multiple are fixed. They are set in a notice that gets revised. Score yourself against the version in force in the year you apply.

Confusing the essential income condition with the income points. Clearing the floor makes you eligible. Scoring on the heading is what gets you to the pass mark. These are separate tests in the same document.

Letting your actual job drift from your sponsored code. The mismatch surfaces at extension or at conversion, long after anyone could fix it.

Starting a new job before permission is granted. The sequence is permission first, start date second. Reversing it is the most common serious violation on employer-tied status anywhere.

Believing an agent who guarantees the outcome. Nobody can guarantee a points-tested government decision. If someone offers a certain F-2-7 for a fee, or asks you to pay a personal bank account, or offers to arrange an E-7 sponsorship in exchange for an upfront payment from you, walk away and report it. Paying for a job offer is illegal in most systems and the offer is frequently fictional. Our guides on verifying an overseas job offer and avoiding immigration scams list the specific checks, and in Korea the honest advisers are administrative scriveners and lawyers you can verify against their professional bodies, working to a written scope and a fixed fee.

What to do next

Four concrete steps, in this order.

1. Read your own grant. Find your occupation code and your permitted activity. Everything downstream depends on knowing exactly what you are authorised to do.
2. Get the current notice. Ask your immigration office or check Hi Korea for the version of the points table and the income conditions in force now, and score yourself against it today. The gap you find is your plan.
3. Start the slowest item this month. For almost everyone that is Korean, and for people from non-apostille countries it is also the document legalisation chain.
4. Decide whether Korea is the destination. Three years of employer dependence is a real cost. It is worth paying when the F-2 and the eventual F-5 are what you want, and it is worth reconsidering when they are not.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change jobs on an E-7 visa in Korea?

Yes, with permission. The E-7 is tied to a named employer and an approved occupation code, so a new employer must satisfy the same criteria and the change must be reported to and approved by the immigration office. The standard expectation is that the change is granted before you begin work, and that a change of workplace is reported within a short window of days. Confirm the current window and sequence with your immigration office or on Hi Korea before you resign, because starting first and reporting later is treated as a violation.

What score do I need for the F-2-7 visa?

The Ministry of Justice notice sets a pass mark against a stated maximum, and both numbers have been revised in the past. Rather than trusting a figure from a forum or an agency page, get the notice in force in the year you apply from the Korea Immigration Service or your local immigration office, and score yourself against that. A plan built on an outdated pass mark is the most expensive kind of mistake in a points system.

How much income do I need for F-2-7?

The essential condition is expressed as a multiple of Korea's per capita gross national income for the previous year, as published by the Bank of Korea and adopted in the immigration notice, and additional points are awarded on a sliding scale above that floor. Because the figure is indexed, it moves annually. Calculate against the current year's published GNI, and confirm which multiple applies to your category with the Korea Immigration Service before you assume you qualify.

Does TOPIK or KIIP matter more for the points?

Both count under the language heading and the notice defines how each maps to points. TOPIK is a test you can sit repeatedly and improve quickly if you study hard. KIIP is a structured government programme that takes longer in calendar time and carries weight elsewhere in the residence system. Many applicants do both. Choose based on your schedule and check the current mapping in the notice rather than assuming last year's equivalence still holds.

Is F-2-7 permanent residence?

No. F-2-7 is a long-term residence status that is not tied to a sponsor and that permits broad employment. F-5 is Korea's permanent residence status and generally requires a longer qualifying period of lawful residence plus income, conduct and integration conditions. F-2 is normally the step that makes F-5 reachable, and naturalisation is a separate process again.

Can my spouse work if I hold E-7 or F-2-7?

Work rights for dependants on F-3 status are restricted and depend on permission, which is one of the practical reasons households push for the principal to reach F-2. Check the current dependant work rules with the Korea Immigration Service, since they have changed over time and vary by the principal's status.

Should I use an agent for the F-2-7 application?

You can file it yourself, and many people do. Where the case is complicated, by a status gap, an employer change or unusual documents, a Korean administrative scrivener or an immigration lawyer is the right kind of help, verified through their professional body and working to a written scope and a fixed fee. Refuse anyone who guarantees approval, asks for payment to a personal account or offers to sell you a sponsorship.

The bottom line

The E-7 gives you Korea on someone else's terms. The F-2-7 gives it to you on your own, and it is scored on a table you can read years before you need it. Get the current notice, find the two headings where you are short, and spend years one and two closing them, because year three is only a filing exercise if the work is already done.

If you want to know whether this route is genuinely your strongest option, take the free quiz and it will show you where an employer-tied Korean route sits against everything else your profile opens. If it is the right route, the personal migration roadmap is $499, down from $999, with a $99 deposit to start, and it puts the three-year sequence on a calendar. If a different country would get you to secure status faster, we would rather tell you that in month one than in month thirty.