I want to incorporate and run a startup in Korea as a foreigner. What visa route should I be looking at?
Comments 1
Pattern2026.05.19 02:13
I'm not an immigration lawyer, so treat this as a map, not legal advice — visa rules change and you should confirm current requirements with an official source or a licensed administrative scrivener.
The route most digital founders look at is the corporate-investment visa, which is tied to actually investing capital into a Korean corporation. There's also a job-seeker / startup-preparation visa, and a startup-specific track aimed at tech founders without large capital.
The thing nobody tells you upfront: the visa and the incorporation are entangled. You often can't fully incorporate without the right status, and you can't get the status without showing the business. An administrative scrivener who has handled foreign-founder cases will save you months of going in circles. Budget for one — it's not the place to save money.
I'm not an immigration lawyer, so treat this as a map, not legal advice — visa rules change and you should confirm current requirements with an official source or a licensed administrative scrivener. The route most digital founders look at is the corporate-investment visa, which is tied to actually investing capital into a Korean corporation. There's also a job-seeker / startup-preparation visa, and a startup-specific track aimed at tech founders without large capital. The thing nobody tells you upfront: the visa and the incorporation are entangled. You often can't fully incorporate without the right status, and you can't get the status without showing the business. An administrative scrivener who has handled foreign-founder cases will save you months of going in circles. Budget for one — it's not the place to save money.