Detailed comparison of the D8 visa and D7 visa

Detailed comparison of the D8 visa and D7 visa

In order to run the business in Korea or invest to Korean corporation, foreigners must obtain two types of visa. The first one is for the case of investment which towards to Korean corporation. The last one is for the case of establishing retail office or branch company in Korea from the original foreign company.

Many foreign clients have a problem to understand the differences between two visas when they obtain investment visa first time. The chart below would be helpful to make things clear and easy.

Establishment of Business in Korea
	Foreign invested enterprise (D8 visa)	Korean Branch (D7 visa)
Business Format	Foreign(Original) Corporation	Retail or branch office
Law / Act	FOREIGN INVESTMENT PROMOTION ACT	FOREIGN EXCHANGE TRANSACTIONS ACT
Corporation type.	Korean Corporation	Foreign Corporation
Relationship type.	Foreign investor and foreign invested company are separated	Original company and retailed or branch office are completely connected.
Authorization	From KOTRA From Foreign Exchange Bank	From Appointed Foreign Exchange Bank. From Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
Tax	Income tax for domestic income and international in come.	income tax for only domestic source income

From the chart above, you can see the differences between Korean branch office and Foreign (original) corporation.

The required documents for D7 visa and D8 visa are different because relevant law, system, and authorizing organization are significantly different by each cases.

Certificate documents for Foreign Investment Registration shows that a foreigner made foreign direct investment to Korean corporation. (D8 visa)

Report statements for establishment of Korean branch is a form of reporting system shows foreign original corporation establish its branch office in Korea.

For the D8 visa, Korean corporation is established and gets investment from foreign investor or enterprise. So it is independent.

For the D7 visa, Korean branch office and original company in overseas are linked and dependent.  

D8 visa. 

Foreign Invested-Corporation Registration 

1.Apply for foreigner investment registration 

2.Transfer of investment 

3.Establish a corporation and registration.

4.Business and corporation registration 

5.Transfer the capital to the business account

6.Registration of a foreign-invested enterprise

*It normally takes one to three business days to apply for Establishment of corporation.

This procedure may be vary depends on type of business.

Business registration takes about 3days of confirmation and certificate is issued.

D7 visa and D8 visa have major difference in investment capital.

In order to obtain D8 visa, total amount of 100 million KRW or higher is mandatory and registration of foreign-invested enterprise is possible with the investment funds.

For the case D7 visa, establishing Korean branch doesn't require any investment capital. 

According to given information above, D8 visa and D7 visa have a common in business activity. However, relevant law, investment system, and basic procedure of these two visas are significantly different.

The detailed types of visa also may be vary by the type of business.

Visa issuance procedure must be followed after checking conditions and current situation of one's self. 

JobnVisa(Job&Visa) focuses on client's business type and plan of business and follow the visa issuance procedure.

We offer a D8 visa service from registration of foreign invested enterprise to establishment of corporation and offer a D7 visa service from opening Korean branch to branch establishment registration.