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Government makes it tougher to obtain permanent residency via investments
Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon speaks during a plenary meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Newsis
By Ko Dong-hwan
New rules take effect immediately
By Ko Dong-hwan
The government has made it tougher for foreigners to obtain permanent residency in Korea through financial investments in the country, while scrapping a program that let foreigners retire here and obtain the same visa after investing W300 million.
The changes are part of the Ministry of Justice's steps to make it harder for foreigners to obtain permanent residency amid news reports that many Chinese nationals are taking advantage of Korea's public health insurance system.
Under the investment immigration system adopted in 2013, foreigners who invest more than W500 million in Korea are given F-2 residency permits, which become F-5 permanent resident visas if they maintain that investment for five years.
Also, foreigners who invest more than 1.5 billion won and pledge to maintain that investment for five years receive permanent residency immediately. Foreigners aged 55 or older investing more than 300 million won in Korea for five years also receive residency permits.
Under the new rules announced on Thursday, the minimum requirement for general investors has increased to 1.5 billion won and to 3 billion won in order to qualify for immediate permanent residency.
According to a study requested by the ministry, Korea's previous minimum requirements fell behind those of Australia by a considerable margin ― $910,000 to qualify for residence permits and $3.18 million to be eligible for immediate permanent residency. The U.S. government requires foreigners to invest $760,000 to $980,000 and creates jobs for at least 10 Americans, while Portugal requires at least $1.52 million, according to the study.
And the ministry decided to stop accepting retiree investors because maintaining the program will keep generating deficits as the amount of money invested will not be enough to cover the financial costs of welfare services those people will receive here for the rest of their lives.
Those new rules were determined through discussions between immigration policymakers and experts from June 14 to 22. The participants noted that the programs remained untouched for the past 10 years.