Korea D-8 Visa: The 100 Million Won Rule

So what is the D-8 visa, really?

You want to build here, not just work here.

The D-8 is Korea’s corporate investment visa. It is for a foreigner who invests capital into a Korean company and then manages or works for it. The Korea Immigration Service issues it under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act. In plain terms: put real money into a real company, and you can stay to run it.

Most readers land here from a student or job-seeker status. You are on a D-2, a D-10, or an E-7, and you are tired of needing an employer’s permission to exist. The D-8 flips that. You become the sponsor. That freedom is the draw. It is also the trap, because the paperwork proves the money, not just your intentions.

Here is what trips people up first.

D-10 visa to E-7 change

The number that decides everything: 100 million won

The D-8-1 corporate track requires a minimum investment of 100,000,000 KRW (roughly $72,000 to $75,000). This must be equity in a Korean corporation, registered as foreign direct investment. It is not a rental deposit, a loan, or personal savings sitting in your account.

That is the startup investor visa Korea eligibility question most people ask, and the answer is blunt. One hundred million won is the floor, not a target. Officers look at whether the capital is genuine and traceable. Where did it come from? Did it actually enter the company? A round number in a bank statement is not enough.

Think about the D-8 minimum investment amount Korea rule this way. The law sets a threshold. Reality sets a bar higher than the threshold. A company with the exact minimum, no office, and no plan reads as a shell. A company with the minimum, a lease, and a clear business model reads as real.

There is a second track. The D-8-4 startup visa has no fixed cash floor. We will get to it. First, the paper trail that sinks people.

“A foreigner who has made a foreign investment under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act may be granted the corporate investment (D-8) status of stay.” - Ministry of Justice / Korea Immigration Service guidance, published in English at MOLEG

open business bank account Korea foreigner

Where most applicants get stuck: the money trail

The D-8 fails at the document stage, not the idea stage. You need to prove the investment before you apply, in a specific order, with the right stamps.

The foreign company Korea branch visa documents question is where confusion peaks. A branch office of a foreign parent and a locally invested corporation are not the same thing, and they need different paper. Below is the core set for the standard D-8-1 corporate route.

The order matters. You remit the capital, register it as foreign investment, incorporate, then apply. Do it backwards and the wire looks like personal money, not investment. That single sequencing mistake causes more rejections than any weak business plan.

Branch offices differ. A foreign parent opening a Korean branch registers the branch separately, and staff sent from headquarters often move on a D-7 intra-company transfer, not a D-8. If your setup is a branch rather than a new invested corporation, confirm the category on HiKorea before you file. The wrong category means the wrong document list.

But it gets more interesting if you have no capital yet.

The startup path almost nobody talks about

No 100 million won? There is still a door. It is called D-8-4.

The D-8-4 is a technology startup visa for founders with intellectual property or innovation, not deep pockets. It runs through the OASIS program, a points-based startup framework backed by the Ministry of Justice. Instead of a cash floor, you earn points for education, a patent, a government startup award, or completion of startup training.

This is the real answer to startup investor visa Korea eligibility for younger founders. A recent graduate with a patent and an OASIS course can qualify where a fixed-capital rule would shut them out. It rewards what you built, not just what you banked.

The catch is proof of a different kind. You must document the intellectual property, the training completion, and the business viability. The threshold is a point score, not a won amount, so weak evidence still fails. Check current point tables and course lists through the Korea Immigration Service, because OASIS criteria are updated periodically.

Got the visa? Year one is the easy part. Year two is where founders panic.

F-2 points visa Korea

Renewal: why year two is harder than year one

Your first D-8 rewards a plan. Renewal rewards results.

The D-8 corporate investment visa renewal review looks at whether the company is alive. Officers check tax filings, revenue, whether the invested capital stayed in the business, and often whether you employ any Korean staff. A company that took the money and went dormant is the classic renewal failure.

Extend before your stay expires, at any immigration office, with an appointment booked through HiKorea. Typical renewal documents include the latest corporate tax return, financial statements, the business registration certificate, and proof the foreign investment is intact. Keep clean books from month one. Renewal is not a formality. It is an audit with a friendly name.

Stay compliant for enough consecutive years, and the D-8 can become a bridge. Long-term investors sometimes move toward an F-2 residency or, later, F-5 permanent residence. That path is real, but only for founders who ran an actual company, filed real taxes, and can show it. Register for health coverage early too, since company directors deal with the NHIS like any other resident.

One last thing before you file.

Before you file: three things that quietly matter

Rules move. Confirm the current investment floor, document list, and D-8-4 point table on official portals, not old forum posts. The 100 million won figure is stable, but sub-category details shift.

Use Government24 for civil documents and MOLEG to read the Foreign Investment Promotion Act in English. When a Korean-language requirement confuses you, translate the exact term rather than guessing. A single mislabeled document can restart the whole process. Slow and correct beats fast and rejected.