South Korea has one of the best golden visa scheme in Asia. South Korea’s close proximity to China, hub in Asia with electronics industry attracts large number of investors.
In 2019, South Korean passport is No.2 powerful passport in the world by Henley at par with Singapore, with visa free access to 189 countries and its openness towards dual citizenship are some of important factors making South Korea a great investment destination HNWI population.
Under the investor residence scheme, which allows foreigners making an investment of more than 500 million won KRW (US$441,600) on certain real estate or financial products qualifies a residence visa in South Korea.
F-2 residence visas are issued for two years for the purchase of condominiums worth more than 500 million KRW
After five years a permanent residence is issued. The permanent residence offers access to public education and health care insurance enjoyed by all South Korean citizens.
According to the latest statistics released by IOM Migration Research and Training Center, a total of 1,901 residence visas have been issued to foreigners for investment from 2010 to 2017.
Among these 170 foreigners acquired an F-5 permanent residence visa.
In 2010, only 3 visas were issued, it went to peak in 2016 with 667 visas issued, then in 2017 only 40 visas issued.
Chinese account for 93% of all foreigners who acquired permanent residence in South Korea through investment, according to the IOM Migration Research and Training Center.
Top countries
These are the top country nationals applying for korea investor residence visas
- China
- Cambodia,
- Hong Kong,
- United States, and
- Norway
“The extreme fluctuation in the number of immigration cases through investment heavily depends on the political and economic environment in China,” said the IOM center.
China’s stricter control over foreign exchange might have had a significant role in the fluctuation in the number of investor visas.
