Working in South Korea: Work Visa, Minimum Wage, Income Tax and Contributions

A French national who entered visa-free for 90 days stays as a tourist: employment requires a residence status that allows it, and each status sets its own framework. The Visa Navigator guide of Korean immigration reminds us that a foreigner works only in the activity and for the employer that their status allows, and that any change or addition of workplace requires prior authorisation or a declaration within 15 days as the case may be. Working without authorisation exposes a student who takes a job without a permit to a fine of up to 30 million KRW (about €19,800).

• E-7, designated occupation: professional, semi-professional or skilled worker in a specific field, 3-year stay, extendable. The file includes a contract with a Korean employer and proof of qualifications or career. Certain science and technology profiles can apply for their visa online.
• D-7, seconded employee: essential employee sent by a foreign company to a Korean subsidiary or establishment, 3 years, extendable.
• D-8, investor: key employee of a foreign-invested company or founder of an innovative business, 5 years, extendable. The immigration guide cites a standard investment amount of 100 million KRW (about €66,000) under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act.
• E-2, foreign language teacher: conversation teaching in a language institute, 2 years, extendable.
• D-2, student: employment prohibited in principle; a part-time work permit, for simple tasks, is obtained in advance, with 6 months of stay required for students and language trainees.
• F-2, F-5, F-6: the permanent resident (F-5) and the spouse of a Korean (F-6) work without restriction; the resident (F-2) works with partial restrictions.

The statuses, their durations and life on site are presented on the page living in South Korea. The guide to working abroad places these choices among the other destinations.

The working holiday programme gives H-1 status. For France, the Working Holiday Info Center of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicates an age limit of 30, after the end, on 31/12/2024, of the temporary measure that had raised it to 32, an annual quota of 2,000 visas, a duration of one year and work limited to 25 hours a week. The applicant must have sufficient funds for initial accommodation, a means of leaving the country, a clean criminal record and health insurance valid for the whole stay. The guide to the working holiday visa and the page on working holiday insurance specify the insurance proof expected.

The F-1-D workation visa (digital nomads) is meant for employees of a foreign company who work remotely from Korea. The Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires applicants to be at least 18, to have one year of seniority in their current company, to have the employer’s authorisation to work remotely for more than 90 days in Korea and to have an annual income tied to gross national income per capita, set at 52,416,000 KRW in 2026. The threshold depends on age and location: 1 times this income for 18 to 34-year-olds outside the Seoul area (about €34,600), 1.5 times for 18 to 34-year-olds in the Seoul area or those aged 35 and over outside it (about €52,000), 2 times for those aged 35 and over in the Seoul area (about €69,300). A family accompanying the holder comes under 2 times this income in the Seoul area and 1.5 times elsewhere. The initial stay is one year, extendable each year up to 3 years in total; self-employed workers are excluded, insurance covering care and evacuation is required, and any employment in Korea is prohibited. See also the guide to digital nomad visas and digital nomad insurance.

The Labor Standards Act requires a written contract stating in particular the salary, working time, rest days and paid leave. Legal working time is 40 hours a week; with an agreement, it can be extended by 12 hours a week, or 52 hours at most. An employee who has worked at least 80% of the year earns 15 days of paid leave.

The minimum wage in force is 10,320 KRW an hour (about €6.82). The Ministry of Employment and Labor confirmed on 05/08/2026 a rate of 10,700 KRW (about €7.07) for 2027, or 380 KRW more (+3.7%), applicable from 01/01/2027; it amounts to 2,236,300 KRW a month (about €1,478) on the basis of 209 monthly hours. The same rate applies to all companies, with no distinction by sector, including to piece-rate workers. For 2026, the same calculation gives 2,156,880 KRW a month (about €1,425).

Above this floor, salary levels depend on the status. For the E-7 visa, each occupation code is linked to a minimum pay set by the administration and reviewed every year: the immigration service (1345) gives the amount for the code concerned. For the points-based F-2-7 status, the immigration guide cites, for workers in growth sectors such as IT, biotechnology, new materials or energy, a previous-year income above 1.5 times gross national income per capita.

The progressive scale for total income applicable to income from 2023 to 2025 runs from 6% to 45%: 6% up to 14 million KRW (about €9,250), 15% up to 50 million (about €33,000), 24% up to 88 million (about €58,100), 35% up to 150 million (about €99,100), 38% up to 300 million, 40% up to 500 million, 42% up to 1 billion and 45% beyond (NTS). The thresholds for the current year should be checked on the tax administration site.

Foreign employees have an option: unless they work for a related company, they can choose for 20 years, from the tax year of their first job in Korea, between the progressive scale and a single rate of 19% applied to gross salary. The NTS specifies that this choice excludes exemptions, deductions, reductions and tax credits. The law targets employees whose first job starts by 31/12/2026 at the latest: any extension should be checked with the NTS. The choice depends on the salary level and family situation; individual tax advice is useful.

The France-Korea tax treaty, signed in Paris on 19 June 1979 and in force since 1 February 1981, amended by a protocol in force since 1 March 1992 and by the BEPS multilateral convention, shares the right to tax. Under article 15, a salary is taxable in the state where the employment is exercised. An exception covers short assignments: the salary is taxable only in the state of residence if the stay in the other state does not exceed 183 days in the year, if the employer does not reside there and if the pay is not borne by a permanent establishment. In France, Korean tax is not deductible, but a tax credit equal to the corresponding French tax neutralises double taxation on employment income (article 23). Each state’s tax residence is determined by its domestic law and by article 4 of the treaty.

An employee is enrolled in four social insurances: the pension (NPS), health (NHIS, with long-term care insurance), employment insurance and work accident insurance. The table below summarises the deductions; the rates for employment insurance and work accident insurance, set by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, should be checked on its site.

• Pension (NPS): 9.5% of monthly reference income, shared equally (4.75% for the employee, 4.75% for the employer). Reference income lies between 410,000 KRW (about €271) and 6,590,000 KRW (about €4,354) from July 2026 to June 2027. An old-age pension in principle requires at least 10 years of contributions.
• Health insurance (NHIS): 7.19% of monthly salary in 2026, shared equally with the employer, or 3.595% for the employee, to be paid before the 10th of the following month. See the guide to the Korean healthcare system and the page on healthcare reimbursement.

Korean contributions add to French rights depending on status: a seconded employee can remain attached to French social security (Sécurité sociale), a local employee comes under the Korean scheme. This interplay, specific to the France-Korea agreement limited to pensions, is detailed on the reimbursement page.

Self-employed activity requires a status that allows it. The permanent resident (F-5) and the spouse of a Korean (F-6) work without restriction; the founder of an innovative business can come under the D-8 visa; the resident (F-2) works with partial restrictions. The workation visa excludes self-employed workers and prohibits any employment in Korea. Registration and VAT procedures are handled with the NTS, and a self-employed person joins the NHIS as a regional insured person, with a contribution calculated on a points system: the insured person’s score is multiplied by a value of 211.5 KRW per point in 2026.

Remote work for a foreign employer beyond 90 days falls under the F-1-D visa. The seconded employee of their French employer comes under D-7 status in Korea, for 3 years, extendable. On the social protection side, staying in the French scheme is possible in some cases, detailed on the reimbursement page: the guide to secondment versus expatriation and the glossary entry on the seconded employee explain the consequences, and the notion of the local contract designates the other option.

The economic department of the French embassy noted in January 2026 that exports exceeded 700 billion dollars in 2025 for the first time, driven by semiconductors and the global artificial intelligence cycle, and that inflation in 2025, at 2.1%, was the lowest since 2020. In its summary of 21 to 25 September 2026, it indicates that the OECD raised its growth projection for 2026 by 1.1 points, to 3.7%, before a slowdown to 2.6% in 2027, thanks to buoyant exports and semiconductor production, whose exports rose 259% over one year (34.1 billion dollars from 1 to 20 September). The Bank of Korea reports household debt of about 85% of GDP.

The currency is the won (KRW). The ECB reference rate of 02/10/2026 is 1,513.44 KRW per €1, the basis of all the conversions on this page. Semiconductors and electronics drive growth. For a French national, skilled job offers are concentrated in these sectors, in industry and in subsidiaries of international groups, with the E-7, D-7 and D-8 statuses described above. The outlook depends on global demand for components and on keeping household debt under control.