Korea D-7 Intra-Company Transfer Visa: Requirements and Required Documents

The D-7 intra-company transfer visa is the status of stay granted to executives and employees who have worked continuously at an overseas headquarters for at least one year and are being posted to a branch, liaison office, or subsidiary in Korea. What decides the outcome is rarely the number of documents — it is how convincingly you prove the relationship between the headquarters and the Korean business site.

Eligible applicants are executives or employees of a foreign headquarters who are dispatched as essential specialized personnel, and the Korean entity must have already completed its domestic branch establishment report under foreign exchange transaction laws, or finished incorporating a subsidiary.

Below, we walk through eligibility requirements, the document list, the Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance process, the points where real screening gets stuck, extensions, and accompanying family — in that order.

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D-7 Eligibility: Start With the Employment History

The D-7 is a status of stay grounded in item 12, "Intra-Company Transferee (D-7)," of Attached Table 1-2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Act.

The provision itself is short, but in practice you have to prove three separate things.

At Least One Year of Continuous Service at Headquarters

The first thing reviewers check is whether the person being dispatched has worked continuously for at least one year at the overseas headquarters (or a designated affiliate of it).

The word that trips people up here is "continuously."

If there is a gap where the employee resigned and was rehired, or if they were transferred to a different corporate entity within the group, a single certificate of employment does not explain enough.

You need payroll records, local social insurance records equivalent to Korea's four major insurances, and the internal transfer orders documenting each change of affiliation — together, those make the continuity visible.

Does the Role Qualify as Essential Specialized Personnel?

Simple labor and general clerical support staff are not eligible for the D-7.

The role has to be explained as one that cannot readily be filled by a Korean hire: overall business management, accounting and finance responsibility, technology transfer, enforcement of headquarters standards, and the like.

A job description written as a formality is exactly where this argument goes soft.

Practical tip: Rather than leaning on a job title, break the role down into concrete tasks and answer the question "what does this person actually do in Korea, day to day?" That reads far better in screening.

Listed Companies and Public Institutions Are Treated Differently

For dispatches involving listed companies or public institutions, the length-of-service requirement is sometimes relaxed.

These relaxations are administered through detailed internal guidelines and are revised often, so whether your company qualifies has to be confirmed with the competent immigration office.

We have seen recent cases where this judgment went either way, so if the form of your headquarters is ambiguous, it is safer to have it reviewed before filing.

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The Korean Entity Comes First — Branch vs. Liaison Office vs. Subsidiary

The D-7 is a visa where the company has to be ready before the person is.

If there is no receiving entity on the Korean side, the application does not even get off the ground.

How the Three Forms Differ

Branches and liaison offices go through the domestic branch establishment reporting procedure under Article 18 of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and the Foreign Exchange Transactions Regulations.

The report normally goes to a designated foreign exchange bank, but depending on the industry it may instead have to be filed with the Ministry of Economy and Finance — worth confirming in advance.

Where Liaison Office Applications Get Stuck

Because a liaison office is structured so that no revenue arises, it receives a unique registration number certificate rather than a business registration certificate.

In actual screening, the question asked is: "Why does an office with no revenue need a resident expatriate at all?"

If that explanation is thin, you will get a request for supplementation no matter how thick the file is.

You need to tie it together: the headquarters' Korean market research plan, prospective business partners, and the flow of operating funds remitted from headquarters. Only then does the logic hold.

Caution: A liaison office is restricted from concluding contracts and receiving payments. If the office is actually doing business while nominally remaining a liaison office, the problem surfaces at the extension stage.

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D-7 Required Documents: What Is Actually Asked For

Documents fall into two broad groups: applicant documents and company documents.

If the company documents are weak, no amount of polish on the personal documents will get the application through.

As a rule, documents issued abroad require an apostille or consular confirmation from the Korean diplomatic mission in the issuing country, plus a Korean translation.

Whether notarized translation is also required varies by the office handling your case, so confirm before filing.

Caution: The document list posted on HiKorea is updated from time to time. Preparing against last year's list and being turned away at the counter is a common outcome.

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Application Procedure and Processing Time

For the D-7, the usual sequence is that the inviting company in Korea first obtains a Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance, after which the applicant receives the visa at a Korean mission in their home country.

Processing times vary considerably from one immigration office to another, and a single supplementation request pushes the whole schedule back.

Which office you file with and when you file are what really determine the elapsed time — we map out the fastest route based on where your case stands.

Costs differ case by case, so we give you exact figures during the free consultation.

What is paid to the government consists solely of the officially published government fee plus administrative processing costs.

Request your free consultation now → 02-363-2251 / KakaoTalk: alexkorea

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Where Real Screening Separates Approvals From Supplementation Requests

Companies that file everything and still get a supplementation request tend to share the same weak points.

The Link Between Headquarters and the Korean Entity

The first thing a reviewing officer looks for is: "Does this Korean business site really belong to that headquarters?"

Shareholding relationships, records of fund remittances, and concurrent officer appointments all have to connect on paper.

If the entity was set up as a nominal shell, or if the headquarters has almost no track record, this is where it stops.

Statement of Necessity for the Dispatch

This is what separates applications.

Rather than writing at length, it works better to map the Korean entity's current staffing against the specific gap this person fills.

• Current headcount and roles at the Korean business site
• Why that role is difficult to fill through domestic hiring
• Continuity with the work the transferee has been doing at headquarters
• The dispatch period and the staffing plan that follows it

Physical Substance of the Office

If all you have is a shared-office address with no dedicated occupied space, an on-site inspection can expose the problem.

There are cases where signage, furnishings, and whether anyone actually works there full time are all checked — a lease agreement alone is not enough.

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Period of Stay, Extensions, and Accompanying Family

The maximum period of stay granted per grant for the D-7 is three years, under Attached Table 1 of the Enforcement Rules of the Immigration Act.

That said, initial grants are frequently shorter, depending on company size and the dispatch plan.

What Extension Review Looks at Anew

An extension is not a copy of the initial application.

• Whether the branch or corporation is genuinely operating
• Whether operating funds have continued to flow in from headquarters
• Tax payment records and withholding tax compliance
• Whether the transferee has actually performed the duties that were reported

A company that started as a liaison office and has begun generating revenue may need to consider converting to a branch before extending.

Miss the right moment for that decision and it is hard to unwind, so a review is warranted at least three months before expiry.

Accompanying Family Uses the F-3

A spouse and minor children can stay together under Dependent Family (F-3) status.

F-3 in principle does not permit employment; if the spouse wants to work, you have to look at either a change of status or permission to engage in activities outside the current status.

School placement for children and the start of health insurance coverage both move in step with the alien registration schedule.

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D-7 or E-7: Which Way Should You Go?

It comes down to whether this is a dispatch or a hire.

If there is no overseas headquarters and the person is simply taking a job at a Korean company, the right path is E-7, not D-7.

Conversely, running a genuine headquarters dispatch through E-7 for convenience creates problems later, when the headquarters' fund flows and the salary payment structure no longer line up.

We recently changed the status category on a similar case and had to rebuild the sequence from scratch — which is why we recommend getting the initial call reviewed.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1. I have 11 months of service at headquarters. Can I still apply for a D-7?

As a rule the standard is one year or more of continuous service, so not as things stand.

Some categories, such as listed companies, may be treated differently, so the requirements need to be reviewed against the form of your headquarters and your role.

Q2. Can a D-7 be issued if we only have a liaison office?

It is possible.

However, because a liaison office is restricted from profit-making activity, the number of transferees recognized tends to be small, and the explanation of dispatch necessity is scrutinized more closely than for a branch.

Q3. I'm already in Korea on a different status. Can I switch to D-7?

Some cases do proceed as a change of status of stay.

Whether the change is available depends on your current status, remaining period of stay, and the structure of the headquarters dispatch, so it has to be checked case by case.

Q4. How long does processing take?

Counting both the review of the Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance and visa issuance at the overseas mission, think in terms of weeks.

It varies by immigration office and stretches further if a supplementation request comes back, so we give you an accurate timeline after reviewing your jurisdiction and document status.

Q5. Can I be paid by headquarters?

Payment by headquarters, payment by the Korean office, and split payment all occur in practice.

But the payment structure changes how withholding and tax filing work, and it gets checked at extension review, so it is better to set it up correctly from the start.

Q6. Does every document need an apostille?

For public documents issued abroad, an apostille or consular confirmation is the rule.

Handling differs for non-signatory countries and by document type, so pin down exactly which documents are needed before you start requesting them — that is where the time is saved.

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Need Professional Advice?

The D-7 is not a visa you can obtain by preparing personal documents alone.

The domestic branch establishment report, business registration, the case for dispatch necessity, and the filing for the Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance all have to interlock in the right order — and if one step goes wrong, you rebuild from the beginning.

The point where people working alone get stuck most often is stitching together, on paper, the relationship between the headquarters and the Korean business site.

Confirm exact costs and procedures through a professional consultation.

VISION Administrative Office

• Phone: 02-363-2251
• Email: [email protected]
• Address: 3F, Sungwoo Building, 324 Toegye-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul 04614, Korea
• KakaoTalk: alexkorea

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VISION Administrative Office — Our Services

• Establishment reports for Korean branches and liaison offices of foreign companies
• Establishment of foreign-invested companies and foreign investment reporting and registration
• D-7 intra-company transfer visa: Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance applications and extensions
• Review and handling of D-8 investment visas and E-7 specially designated activities visas
• F-3 dependent family status, changes of status, and activity permits
• Alien registration, re-entry permits, and immigration matters generally

Laws and screening guidelines are revised frequently.

Current standards can be checked at HiKorea, the Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, and the Korean Law Information Center — how they apply to your particular case should be confirmed with the competent authority.

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