Unless you hold Korean citizenship, all people wanting to work in Korea need a visa and all dependent families wishing to live in Korea need a visa. For individuals hired by the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), the administrative staff at your Center will be responsible for helping you with any visa and immigration matters. Details concerning visas and other related contents in the following sections are subject to change without notice upon a decision of the Ministry of Labor. Information provided here is designed to give you a general overview of the process. For up-to-date information or scheduling a reservation at an immigration office please visit the Korean Immigration websites:

Korea Immigration Service (Korean, English) is a basic page which will redirect you to other immigration-related sites. It is a good starting point to see what kind of services are available.

Hi Korea eGovernment for Foreigners (Korean, English, Chinese) is a general site that focuses on visas but also provides other immigration-related information and registration for appointments at Immigration offices.

You can reach Immigration directly by calling 1345 from within Korea or 82 (Korea’s country code) and then 1345. Support is available in (1) Korean, (2) Chinese, and (3) English from 9 AM until 10 PM. Other language support includes (4) Vietnamese, (5) Thai, (6) Japanese, (7) Mongolian, (8) Indonesian, (9) French, (10) Bangladeshi, (11) Pakistani, (12) Russian, (13) Nepalese, (14) Cambodian, (15) Burmese, (16) German, (17) Spanish, and (18) Arabic but only are available from 9 AM until 6 PM. Select the language you want by pressing the number next to the language you desire and press *.

1345 services include information on immigration locations and hours, immigration representatives who will discuss your visa options, and as of October 2015 the number also connects you to lawyers or legal advocates to assist in a wide variety of legal situations.