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

Imagine you are an engineer from Manila, working for a mid-size company near Seoul. You like the job. The trains run on time, the streets feel safe at midnight, and you send real money home every month.

Then a rumour goes round the office: restructuring. Your Korean colleagues worry about their jobs. You worry about your job and your right to stay in the country. Because on an E-7 visa, those two things are the same thing.

Is there a way to stop one company holding your whole life in Korea? Yes. It is called F-2-7, and you can plan for it from your first month.

The short answer: The E-7 work visa ties you to one named employer and one approved occupation code. The F-2-7 residence visa is held in your own name, with no sponsor, and lets you change jobs freely. You reach it by scoring at or above the published pass mark on a Ministry of Justice points table (age, education, Korean language, income, and work or residence in Korea), clearing an income floor linked to national income, and filing a change of status. Plan on about three years.

What the conversion needs

To move from E-7 to F-2-7 you generally need all of the following, as set out in the Ministry of Justice notice on the points system for residence status and run by the Korea Immigration Service:

• Lawful E-7 status now, on the occupation code you were actually approved under, with clean extensions and reported changes.
• A total score at or above the published pass mark on the F-2-7 points table.
• Annual income at or above an essential floor, set as a multiple of Korea's per capita gross national income for the previous year, shown by National Tax Service documents.
• Language evidence, normally a TOPIK certificate or completion of the Ministry of Justice's Korea Immigration and Integration Programme.
• A document set covering education, employment, income, address and, where the notice requires it, criminal record certificates.
• A change of status application at the immigration office for your address.

Every threshold here, including the pass mark and the income multiple, is set in a notice that gets revised. Treat all figures as dated and reconfirm the version in force on Hi Korea, the Korea Immigration Service portal, or with your local immigration office.

Year one: fix your documents and start Korean. Year two: push income and language. Year three: apply. This is general information. A registered Korean certified administrative agent, a licensed immigration lawyer or the immigration office should confirm your case.

Who this route is for

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

It fits poorly if you expect to leave Korea within two years, you work outside your sponsored code, or your income sits well below the national average with no way up. Then another country may be cleaner. The closest regional comparison 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

An E-7 is like a rented room that comes with the job. Lose the job, and you lose the room. F-2-7 is a lease in your own name.

An E-7 grant names the sponsoring company, your occupation code and your period of stay. It rests on a specific contract, checked against Ministry of Justice criteria for each code: education, career length, salary relative to national income and, for many codes, a cap on foreign staff relative to Korean staff.

Three things follow.

Working outside your approved code is a status violation. Job titles drift. Immigration reads the code, and the mismatch shows up at extension time even if your employer is happy.

Changing employer goes through immigration, not just your manager. The new employer must meet the same criteria. Common practice is to report a change of workplace within a short window of days, and never start before the change is granted. Confirm the window and order with your immigration office first. Getting it backwards is a violation you cannot undo.

Losing your job starts a clock. Korea expects a report, then either a new qualifying employer or departure within a set period. Our piece on redundancy on a sponsored visa and the grace period covers what to do in the first week after a job ends.

F-2-7 removes all three constraints at once. The grant names no company.

What the F-2-7 points table measures

The exact points move between revisions, so here is the structure. Read the current notice for the numbers.

Age and past education are fixed. Language, income and Korean work history are where your plan is written.

Pass marks quoted on forums and agency sites have been revised more than once, so we deliberately do not quote one. A stale pass mark is the most expensive mistake in a points system. Get the current notice, print it, and score yourself against it.

The income line most applicants fail

Language gets the attention. Income decides the outcome.

The income floor is a multiple of Korea's per capita gross national income (GNI) for the previous year, published by the Bank of Korea and adopted in the immigration notice. Two things catch people.

The target moves every year. It is like aiming at a goal that shifts back a little each season. If you plan on a 2026 number and apply in 2028, you are aiming at the wrong line.

The floor and the points are separate. The notice can set different multiples for different categories, and it also gives points on a sliding scale above the floor. Clearing the floor makes you eligible. Scoring well on income gets you to the pass mark. Many applicants clear the first, assume the second follows, and fail the total.

The honest levers:

• Negotiate base salary, not the package. Immigration uses documented, taxable income from your withholding receipt and National Tax Service certificates. Housing in kind, irregular allowances and discretionary bonuses are weak evidence.
• Time your promotion before your application. Assessment looks at income for a completed period. A raise the month before you file may not show in your tax documents.
• Change employer once, deliberately, in year two. A compliant move to a better-paying sponsor in the same code is the fastest income lever for most E-7 holders. It carries permission risk, so leave time to recover, and never do it in the quarter you plan to apply. See our guide to changing employer while on a sponsored visa.
• Accept that some roles will not get there. Some E-7-2, E-7-3 and E-7-4 roles sit below the national average by design. If yours does, you need a different occupation or country, and you should know that in year one.

Before you commit three years, check whether this is your strongest route. The free eligibility check asks 6 questions (age, education, experience, English, target countries) and gives you a quick read on your options in 2 minutes.

What you need before you start

Several items take months to get from outside Korea, so start early.

• Your alien registration card and full stay history, including every extension and change of status.
• Your E-7 grant conditions and exact occupation code. This decides 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 needs consular legalisation from others. Our explainer on apostille or certified translation shows which your documents need.
• Certified Korean translations to the standard your office accepts.
• National Tax Service income evidence, usually a certificate of income amount and the withholding tax receipt for the assessed period.
• Employment certificates and your employer's business registration certificate.
• TOPIK or KIIP completion certificate. Check validity, because language certificates expire and people find out late.
• Criminal record certificates where required, from every country you lived in for a qualifying period.
• Proof of address in Korea, plus evidence of any dependants.

Refresh several close to filing, as recent issue dates are often wanted.

What it costs

Government fees are modest. Preparation is where the money goes.

Confirm government figures on Hi Korea. Your two years of evenings on Korean will cost more than every fee here combined.

How long it takes

For someone starting on a fresh E-7 with no Korean:

Year one. Get your alien registration card and learn your occupation code. Start Korean now, through KIIP or a private academy, because language is the slowest block. Order apostilled degree documents from home while there is no pressure. Check that your real duties match your sponsored code. Sit TOPIK once, early, just to see your baseline.

Year two. Push your Korean to a level that scores. Ask honestly whether your current employer can take you clearly above the income floor. If not, make one compliant employer change, with permission granted before you start. Keep every extension clean, because lawful continuous residence feeds both F-2-7 and later F-5 permanent residence. If a Korean master's makes sense, start it now.

Year three. Get the current notice, score yourself honestly, refresh documents, and file at your immigration office. A change of residence status commonly takes weeks to a few months, varying by office and season. Ask your office.

After F-2. F-2 is generally the step before F-5 permanent residence, which needs a longer period of lawful residence plus income, conduct and integration conditions set by the Ministry of Justice. Naturalisation is a separate process.

When this does not work

Your income cannot reach the floor. If your role's ceiling sits under the multiple, perfect Korean will not save the score.

Your status history has gaps. Overstays, unreported employer changes and work outside your code stay on the record and can hurt both score and approval.

Your age counts against you and nothing else is strong. An older applicant needs genuinely strong language, income and education to carry the total.

Common mistakes

Treating F-2-7 as a year-three problem. The score is built from things that take two years. Start planning at month thirty and you apply with whatever profile you happen to have.

Assuming the pass mark and multiple are fixed. Score yourself against the notice in force when you apply.

Confusing the income floor with income points. Separate tests in the same document.

Letting your job drift from your sponsored code. It surfaces at extension or conversion, too late to fix.

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

Trusting an agent who guarantees the result. Nobody can guarantee a points-tested decision. Walk away and report anyone who promises a certain F-2-7 for a fee, asks for payment to a personal account, or sells E-7 sponsorship for an upfront payment. Paying for a job offer is illegal in most systems, and the offer is often fake. Our guides on verifying an overseas job offer and avoiding immigration scams list the checks. In Korea, honest advisers are administrative scriveners and lawyers you can verify with their professional bodies, working to a written scope and fixed fee.

What to do next

1. Read your own grant. Find your occupation code and permitted activity.
2. Get the current notice from your immigration office or Hi Korea, and score yourself today. The gap you find is your plan.
3. Start the slowest item this month. For almost everyone that is Korean. For people from non-apostille countries, it is also the legalisation chain.
4. Decide whether Korea is the destination. Three years of employer dependence is a real cost. It is worth paying if F-2 and later F-5 are what you want.

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, with permission. The new employer must meet the same criteria, and the change must be reported to and approved by immigration, usually within a short window of days and before you start work. Confirm the current window and order with your immigration office or Hi Korea before you resign.

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 have been revised before. Get the notice in force in the year you apply from the Korea Immigration Service or your local office, and score yourself against that, not a forum figure.

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

The essential condition is a multiple of Korea's per capita GNI for the previous year, published by the Bank of Korea and adopted in the notice, with extra points on a sliding scale above it. It moves each year. Calculate against the current GNI, and confirm your category's multiple with the Korea Immigration Service.

Does TOPIK or KIIP matter more for the points?

Both count under language, and the notice sets how each maps to points. TOPIK can be retaken and improved quickly with hard study. KIIP takes longer but carries weight elsewhere in the residence system. Many people do both. Check the current mapping in the notice.

Is F-2-7 permanent residence?

No. F-2-7 is long-term residence with no sponsor and broad work rights. F-5 is permanent residence and generally needs a longer period of lawful residence plus income, conduct and integration conditions. Naturalisation is separate again.

Can my spouse work, and should I use an agent?

Dependants on F-3 have restricted work rights that depend on permission, which is one reason households push for the principal to reach F-2. Check current rules with the Korea Immigration Service. You can file the F-2-7 yourself. For complicated cases, such as a status gap or an employer change, use a Korean administrative scrivener or immigration lawyer verified through their professional body. Refuse anyone who guarantees approval or asks for payment to a personal account.

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. Then year three is just paperwork.

You came to Korea to build something. Make sure the ground under it is yours. Take the free eligibility check first.