How to Get a Working Holiday Visa in South Korea

So you have decided you want to apply for a visa and move to South Korea, congratulations! You have the adventure of a lifetime waiting for you. Before you are able to obtain your visa and make your way to Korea, there are some things you must get in order before boarding your plane. Below is a helpful guide for how to get a Working Holiday Visa in South Korea!  

What is a Working Holiday Visa?

A Working Holiday Visa (or H1 Visa) is meant for people who want to travel and discover Korean culture while being able to finance their living and travel expenses by working part-time jobs. A Working Holiday Visa allows you to live in South Korea for up to 12 months (the guidelines are slightly different for U.K. and US citizens) with the freedom to travel in and out of the country as many times as you would like since it is a multiple entry visa.  

The Working Holiday Program in South Korea is open for application from 25 counties, in case you are not sure about your country, take a look at the list below to check! It is also important to be aware that there is a limit to how many applicants from each country can apply and obtain a visa each year, this is decided by who applies first! 

Requirements to Apply for a Working Holiday Visa

To be able to apply for an H1 Visa, you need to meet certain criteria, such as:

• Be between the ages of 18 and 30 years old.

• Be a citizen of a country that has been approved for the Working Holiday Program by South Korea. 

• Have an empty page in your passport.

• Have a valid passport for at least 1 year.

• Have proof that you can support yourself financially during the first part of your time in South Korea – you must have at least KRW 3,000,000 (or roughly US $3,000) in savings.

• Have a return ticket booked or financial proof that you can buy one later.

• Have travel insurance for your stay in South Korea. 

• Be traveling to Korea for the purpose of travel and holiday.

• Not be traveling with a dependent.

• Have a clean police record. 

The requirements might be slightly different depending on your nationality, so be sure to check with your country’s Korean embassy to get accurate information before applying! 

How to Apply for a Working Holiday Visa

The next step is to prepare all the paperwork. You will find the exact list of required documents on the website of the Korean embassy in your country. The required paperwork you will have to show is roughly as follows: 

• The completed application form.

• A valid passport.

• A return flight ticket or proof of purchase (if return tickets are not available yet, simply state that tickets are not available and you will purchase asap).

• Proof of sufficient funds.

• Proof of address of stay in South Korea.

• A criminal record check.

• A rough schedule for your trip.

• In some cases: payment of application fee and medical check (blood work, doctors note, x-ray). 

• Two passport size photographs (check where you can get these taken in your country).

Travel Plan

The travel plan is a document where you outline your reasons for wanting to go to South Korea and your plan for what you will do while there alongside a timetable in chronological order. You will also be asked for your arrival and departure dates (tentative if you are not able to purchase a return ticket yet).  Depending on the embassy, you might be able to download a form to fill in, if not, you can make your own on Excel. Here is a sample template form you can follow to give you an idea of what information you will need to include. 

Working Holiday Insurance

If you do not already have an insurance plan that covers travel, there are some special insurance plans for Working Holiday applicants that you can purchase. They require a 1-year insurance contract with a coverage minimum of 40,000,000 won. You can do a quick Google search to find an insurance plan that fits your needs.

Submitting Your Paperwork 

Once you have all the required paperwork, you can bring everything to your local Korean embassy (you might have to wait until you get to the embassy to fill out the application form). When you give them your papers they will tell you if there is anything you are missing. If not you can follow their instructions for waiting times and approval! They will notify you when you can come to pick up your visa and passport, it generally takes around 3 to 4 weeks. After receiving your visa you have one month to enter Korea starting from the issuance date. Otherwise, your visa might be canceled! 

What to Prepare Before Coming to South Korea

Learning Korean 

If there is one thing I would recommend that will help make your life easier in South Korea: learn Korean! Even just the basics if you do not have much time to learn before leaving. You can find some suggestions for the best apps to learn Korean here. A Working Holiday Visa allows you to study Korean for a certain amount of time at universities without needing a student visa. Otherwise, you can pay for private lessons at an academy, or Hagwon as they call them in Korea. 

It is true that you can live relatively easily in Korea without speaking a single word of Korean, but it becomes very different when it comes to working. Most jobs available to foreigners require at least a basic or intermediate level of Korean. Although your options might be more limited, you can still find jobs that do not need Korean, so don’t feel discouraged! Above all, learning Korean shows respect to the people of South Korea, and tells them that you care about learning about their culture and language! From my experience, people appreciate it and are often very happy when we can communicate in their language. 

Kinds of Work Can you do with a Working Holiday Visa 

The kind of jobs you can have with a Working Holiday Visa in South Korea are pretty restricted. You cannot work as a teacher, researcher, manager, artist, model, etc. Hospitality jobs like cafes, restaurants,  hotels, and guesthouses are allowed. 

Depending on your home country, working hour restrictions, and how long you can work for the same company might differ. Working hours typically are limited to 25 hours per week. 

The minimum wage in Korea is 8,350 won per hour. Be aware of this number since some employers might try to hire you for less seeing that you’re a foreigner. Since you are working legally, however, know that you are entitled to at least 8,350 per hour.

Things to do When you Arrive in South Korea

Alien Registration Card

Once you arrive in South Korea, there are still a couple of things to do. Within the first 90 days of your arrival, you have to get your Alien Card Registration (ARC) at the Korea Immigration Office. You can find a list on here of the documents you have to prepare. The registration process costs about 30,000 won, you will have to pay beforehand inside the immigration center, and keep the receipt to show with your other required documents. 

An ARC card is necessary if you want to travel to other countries or get a phone plan in South Korea! If you plan to travel before receiving the physical card, you can show your temporary certificate at immigration.

Credit: Trazy

Change of Address

If you move during the duration of your Working Holiday in Korea, you are required to inform immigration within 14 days. You can go to your local “gu” office (if you live in Mapo-gu, look for the Mapo-gu office) or Korea Immigration Office. If you do not inform the government of your new address within 14 days, you might be fined and will have to go to the Korea Immigration Office.

Korean National Health Insurance

After living in Korea for 6 months it becomes mandatory for you to pay the National Health Insurance (NHI). The amount you pay is dependent on your visa status and your income. You will be sent a bill in the mail each month with instructions for how to pay, the deadline for sending payment, and the amount owed. You will need a Korean bank account to pay this.