E-7 — specially designated activities

What E-7 covers

E-7 is not one visa. It is a family of sub-categories, each tied to a designated occupation code: management, professional roles, technical and sales roles, and a set of skilled trades. The code on your visa matters more than the visa letter, because it defines what you are permitted to do. Working outside your code is unauthorised employment even if you stay at the same company.

The three groups you will see referred to are E-7-1 (professional), E-7-2 (semi-skilled) and E-7-3 (skilled trades). Most foreign professionals in Korea — engineers, designers, marketers, researchers — hold E-7-1.

What you have to prove

• A bachelor's degree or higher 학사 학위 in a field that matches the occupation code, plus at least one year of relevant experience in most codes.

  Or the experience route below — the two are alternatives, not both.

• Five or more years of documented full-time experience 실무 경력 in the occupation, with no degree requirement.

  Career certificates must state role, dates and duties, and be apostilled.

• An offered salary of at least ₩31,120,000 for E-7-1.

  Effective 1 February 2026 · 법무부 공고 제2025-406호. Below the floor is an automatic refusal.

• A sponsoring employer that meets the employer conditions — the staffing ratio, financial soundness and registration tests below.

  Assessed on the company's paperwork, not yours. This is where most refusals happen.

Qualification: the degree-or-experience test

The word doing the work in the first route is matches. A computer science degree against a software development code is straightforward. An unrelated degree against the same code is not, and you fall back to the experience track — where the evidence bar is materially higher. Career certificates must state your role, your dates and your duties, and be apostilled or consular-legalised. Pay slips on their own are rarely accepted.

Salary: the income floor

The offered salary must reach an annual minimum. A contract below it is refused without further consideration, regardless of how well qualified you are.

Figures apply from 1 February to 31 December 2026 and are revised annually. Since April 2025 the floor is a flat won amount applied to all employers — the earlier differentiation by company size against GNI per capita was abolished. Separate concessions exist for some SME, venture and non-capital-region mid-sized employers.

This is why "we will start you low and raise it after probation" is a bad arrangement for an E-7 applicant — the contract as filed is what is assessed.

The employer conditions

This is where most refusals happen, and it is the part applicants have least control over. The sponsoring company must:

• Employ enough Korean nationals to satisfy the national-to-foreign staffing ratio for its size and sector.
• Be financially sound, evidenced by corporate tax returns and financial statements.
• Be properly registered, with a real office — a virtual office or a residential address is a problem.
• For some codes, show it advertised the role domestically before hiring from abroad.

A small start-up with three Korean employees may simply be unable to sponsor a fourth foreign hire regardless of merit. It is worth asking a prospective employer, early and directly, whether they have sponsored an E-7 before. "We will look into it" is a warning sign.

Applying from outside Korea

1. Sign the employment contract stating the occupation code and salary.
2. Your employer applies to their regional immigration office for a Certificate of Visa Issuance Confirmation (사증발급인정서). This is the step that takes the time — two to six weeks is normal, and longer if documents are queried.
3. You take the confirmation number to a Korean embassy or consulate and apply for the visa itself. A few days.
4. Enter Korea, then register for your residence card within 90 days.

You can also apply for the visa directly at a consulate without the confirmation certificate, but it is slower and more likely to be refused, because the consulate has to assess the employer's documents itself.

Changing to E-7 from inside Korea

Common, and generally preferable — you keep living in Korea while it processes. The usual starting points are D-10 (job seeker) and D-2 (student, after graduation). You file a change-of-status application at your regional immigration office with the same employer document set. Book the HiKorea appointment as soon as you have a signed contract; slots in Seoul routinely run three to six weeks out.

See the full walkthrough in D-10 to E-7.

Documents

The four that most often come back for correction:

• Certificate of employment 재직증명서 For each employer claimed
• Apostilled degree certificate 아포스티유 학위증 Original, with transcript
• Company tax payment certificate 납세증명서 From your employer
• Standard employment contract 표준근로계약서 Occupation code and salary stated

The full set, split by who produces it:

Duration, renewal and changing jobs

E-7 is granted for up to three years and renewed at your regional office. Renewal looks at whether you are still employed in the same occupation, still paid above the floor, and whether your employer still meets its conditions.

Changing employer requires a change of workplace report within 15 days of starting the new job — and, crucially, the new employer must independently satisfy the employer conditions. If you are made redundant you generally have a limited window to find a new sponsor before your status is at risk; report the termination and speak to your regional office rather than waiting quietly.

Common reasons for refusal