Living Korea Guide explains Korea’s official rules in plain English, for people who live here.
If you have ever opened a Korean government website, found the English page, and still not known what to bring or where to go, this site is for you.
Who writes this
This site is written by a Korean resident of Korea, not by a foreign resident.
That matters, and not in the way you might expect. It means the person writing has no personal story about applying for a visa or standing in line at an immigration office. It also means she can read the Korean original.
Most English guidance about living in Korea is either a translation of a translation, or someone’s memory of what happened to them two years ago. This site works from the Korean source documents: the notices, the application forms, the enforcement rules. Then it explains them in English.
How the information is checked
Every fact on this site comes from an official source: a government ministry, a public agency, or a local authority. Each article lists its sources at the end, with links, so you can check them yourself.
Each article also carries the month the information was verified. Rules change, fees change, and forms are revised. A date tells you how much to trust what you are reading.
When an official source does not publish something, this site does not fill the gap with a guess. The item is left out, and you are pointed to where you can ask.
What this site does not do
It does not tell you what happened to someone else. There are no personal application stories here, because the person writing has not been through these processes and will not pretend otherwise.
It does not give legal, tax or medical advice, and it does not comment on individual cases. Immigration decisions depend on details this site cannot see.
It does not replace the government. For anything that affects your status in Korea, confirm with the official source or call the Immigration Contact Center at 1345.
Korean terms
Where a document or office has a Korean name, this site prints it in Korean next to the English. You can show that Korean text on your phone at the counter. That is often faster than explaining.
Contact
Corrections are welcome. If something here is out of date or wrong, please say so through the contact page, and include a link to the official source if you have one.