Korea D-7 Intra-Company Transfer Visa: Eligibility and Required Documents Explained
The D-7 intra-company transfer visa is the status of stay granted to an employee who has worked at an overseas head office for at least one year and is then dispatched to that company's branch, subsidiary, or affiliate in Korea. The heart of the review is proving the relationship between the head office and the Korean place of business.
It covers people who belong to a foreign company, public institution, or organization and are sent to a Korean workplace as essential specialized personnel. Simple manual labor and general clerical support do not qualify.
Below, we walk through the eligibility requirements, the procedure for establishing a domestic branch, the document checklist, the application process, the reasons applications actually get refused, and how family members can accompany you.
D-7 Eligibility Requirements — Read This Before You Search for Korea Work Visa D-7 Required Documents
Chinese-language searches often file this visa under "work visa," but the D-7 is a different animal from an ordinary employment visa.
Here is the core point.
You are not being hired by a Korean company. You must remain on the overseas head office's payroll and be dispatched from there.
The One-Year Employment Requirement
Under the Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Act, Attached Table 1-2, item 12 (Intra-Company Transferee, D-7), the status applies to a person who has worked for at least one year at the head office, a branch, or a business location of a foreign public institution, organization, or company.
What most applicants miss is how that year is actually counted.
Immigration frequently verifies continuous employment through actual payroll records and social insurance contributions rather than the start date written on a contract.
If you resigned and were rehired somewhere in between, this is usually where the application stalls.
Employees of certain listed corporations or specific industries may be assessed against a different service-period standard, so you will need to check with the immigration office with jurisdiction over your case to see whether your record falls into one of those categories.
The Essential Specialized Personnel Condition
The regulations limit transferees to "essential specialized personnel."
In practice, reviewers care less about your job title than about whether you can be replaced.
If nothing in the file explains why a person hired locally in Korea could not do the job, a thick stack of documents still produces a weak result.
Practical tip: Do not list only a job title on the dispatch order. Spell out the specific things — head-office systems, technical know-how, management of particular business partners — that a locally hired employee could not take over. That is where cases separate.
Where a D-7 Application Really Starts — Registering a Domestic Branch of a Foreign Company
The D-7 is an individual's visa and at the same time a corporate filing.
A Korean place of business capable of receiving you has to exist before the application can even be made.
Branch Office vs. Liaison Office
| Category | Branch (Business Office) | Liaison Office |
|---|---|---|
| Business activity | May generate revenue | Non-revenue activities only |
| Business registration | Business registration certificate issued | Unique number certificate issued |
| Establishment filing | Filed with a foreign exchange bank | Filed with a foreign exchange bank |
| D-7 transfer | Permitted | Permitted (limited scope of work) |
A liaison office is confined to market research, liaison, and promotional work. If it turns out that the transferee is actually selling or signing contracts, the problem surfaces at the extension stage.
The establishment filing is made with a designated foreign exchange bank under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and its regulations, and each bank asks for slightly different supporting paperwork.
These practical standards have been adjusted in recent cases, so the correct filing type for your industry needs to be confirmed individually.
Proving Affiliate and Subsidiary Relationships
When the transfer is to a Korean corporation (a subsidiary or affiliate) rather than a branch, shareholding documentation becomes the decisive piece.
If the shareholder register, proof of capital contribution, and group organizational chart contradict one another, this is normally where things unravel.
It is common for the shareholder composition on the Korean corporate registry to look different from the ownership structure shown in home-country documents.
Complete D-7 Document Checklist
The paperwork falls into three bundles.
Documents issued by the head office, documents prepared by the Korean place of business, and the applicant's personal documents.
| Category | Document | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Head office | Certificate of incorporation / commercial registration | Official home-country document |
| Head office | Certificate of employment (confirming 1+ year of service) | State hire date and position |
| Head office | Dispatch order | State assignment period, duties, salary |
| Head office | Salary payment records | Last 12 months recommended |
| Korea | Acceptance of branch establishment filing or corporate registry extract | Include the bank's filing certificate |
| Korea | Business registration certificate or unique number certificate | Copy |
| Korea | Lease agreement for the premises | To verify the office is real |
| Korea | Statement of necessity for the transfer | Explain why no substitute exists |
| Personal | Application for Certificate of Visa Issuance, passport, standard-size photo | Check passport validity |
| Personal | Degree certificate and career certificates | To confirm relevance to the duties |
| Personal | Tuberculosis screening certificate (nationals of designated countries) | Issued by a designated hospital |
Where Translation and Notarization Trip People Up
Home-country documents must be submitted together with a Korean or English translation.
The step that actually blocks people is the apostille or consular legalization.
China now falls under the Apostille Convention, but the processing channel differs by document type, and picking the wrong issuing authority means sending the paperwork back home and starting over.
Caution: A certificate of employment printed on nothing but the company's own letterhead carries no public verification, which weakens its evidentiary value. It is better to attach official records such as social insurance payment certificates alongside it.
The Submission List Is Not Fixed
The Ministry of Justice publishes a baseline list in the visa issuance guidance on HiKorea, but the immigration office handling your case will request additional material depending on your industry, company size, and history of previous transfers.
In a recent comparable case, applicants were additionally asked for proof of the head office's revenue scale and performance data for the Korean place of business.
Which category your company will be sorted into only becomes clear once the documents are actually reviewed.
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Costs vary case by case, so we will give you exact figures during the free consultation.
Application Process and Processing Time
There are two routes.
The Korean inviting organization can obtain a Certificate of Visa Issuance first, or you can apply directly at the Korean diplomatic mission in your home country.
| Step | Action | Handled by |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Branch establishment filing or incorporation | Foreign exchange bank / registry office |
| 2 | Business registration (unique number) application | District tax office |
| 3 | Application for Certificate of Visa Issuance | Immigration office with jurisdiction |
| 4 | Visa application using the certificate number | Korean mission in home country |
| 5 | Alien registration after entry | Immigration office with jurisdiction |
| 6 | Extension of stay | Apply before expiry |
Anyone staying more than 90 days after entry is subject to alien registration, and the application follows the guidance issued by the Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice.
Processing times vary widely between immigration offices and shift depending on when you file.
We identify the fastest available route and guide you through it.
What Actually Decides the Outcome
When a complete file still produces a bad result, the cause is usually one of three things.
The Place of Business Looks Insubstantial
If there is an address but no verifiable office space, the case stops right here.
Using a shared office is not a problem in itself, but if the file fails to explain that this is a space where the transferee will actually sit and work, a supplementary request follows.
The Necessity of the Transfer Is Underexplained
A single page showing the link between head-office operations and the Korean operation beats a long-winded statement of reasons.
If the Korean workplace already employs a Korean national in the same role, the substitutability question comes up first.
The Head Office's Situation Cannot Be Verified
If the head office was established recently or its revenue documentation is thin, reviewers start by asking whether it can sustain the assignment at all.
Weakness here leads to a short period of stay or another obstacle at the extension stage.
Comparing D-7 With Statuses It Gets Confused With
| Category | D-7 Intra-Company Transfer | D-8 Corporate Investment | E-7 Special Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic nature | Dispatch from head office | Operating a foreign-invested company | Hired by a Korean company |
| Affiliation | Remains with overseas head office | Domestic invested company | Domestic employer |
| Investment funds | Not required | Foreign investment thresholds apply | Not required |
| Work experience | 1+ year required | Based on position and role | Based on education and career |
| Key documents | Dispatch order, branch paperwork | Foreign investment report, remittance | Employment contract, qualifications |
The same person sometimes satisfies both the D-7 and D-8 requirements.
In that situation, the choice should account for any future plan to convert to F-2 or F-5, because picking wrong can break the continuity of recognized experience later on.
The original legislation is available at the Korean Law Information Center under the Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Act, Attached Table 1-2. Detailed review criteria change as guidelines are revised, so confirmation with the competent authority is necessary.
Extension of Stay and Bringing Your Family
The period of stay granted under a D-7 varies with company size and the terms of the assignment.
At extension, reviewers look at whether the branch has genuinely been operating and whether the transferee performed the duties that were declared.
There have been cases where extensions were blocked because actual performance diverged sharply from the business plan submitted with the first application.
A spouse and minor children may stay in Korea together with you on dependent (F-3) status.
F-3 holders are, as a rule, barred from employment; school placement for children and national health insurance enrollment proceed after alien registration.
Documents for accompanying family members are based on official home-country marriage and birth records, and which documents are accepted differs by country.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1. Is the D-7 an employment visa?
It differs from an employment visa where a Korean company hires you.
You remain on the overseas head office's payroll and are dispatched, and an arrangement where the head office continues to pay your salary is accepted.
Q2. What if I haven't completed one year at the head office?
The rule is one year or more.
Some categories, such as listed corporations, may be treated differently, so the first thing to check is what type of company you work for.
Q3. Can I get a D-7 if we only have a liaison office?
Yes, that is possible.
However, the scope of work is limited to non-revenue activities, so the first thing to verify is whether your actual duties match the type of office that was filed.
Q4. Can I apply without a business registration?
A branch relies on the business registration certificate; a liaison office relies on the unique number certificate.
If the establishment filing and tax office registration are not complete, the application is turned back at intake.
Q5. Does submitting everything at once speed things up?
Volume does not equal speed.
Documents that clearly establish the necessity of the transfer and the reality of the workplace are what drive the review forward.
Q6. How much does it cost?
The structure is the government-published fee plus administrative processing costs, and it varies with your company's form and the scope of work involved.
Costs vary case by case, so we will give you exact figures during the free consultation.
Do You Need Professional Advice?
A D-7 does not end with personal documents; it moves in step with company incorporation and establishment filings.
The points that are hardest to handle alone are choosing the right type of branch establishment filing, drafting the statement of necessity for the transfer, and selecting the correct authentication route for official home-country documents.
Those three items decide the outcome.
VISION Administrative Office Services
- Filing for foreign company branch and liaison office establishment
- Foreign-invested company incorporation and business registration
- Applications for D-7 Certificate of Visa Issuance
- Alien registration, extension of stay, and dependent (F-3) applications
- Guidance on translation and authentication of home-country documents
VISION Administrative Office
Phone: 02-363-2251
Email: 5000meter@gmail.com
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Address: 3F, Seongwoo Building, 324 Toegye-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul 04614, Korea
Detailed review criteria for each status of stay change as guidelines are revised, so confirm with the competent authority before applying.
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