F-2-7 Visa Points Calculator

The F-2-7 visa — formally the points-based Residence visa, or 점수제 거주비자— is South Korea’s route for skilled foreign professionals who want to settle long term without being tied to a single employer. Instead of assessing you against a job offer, immigration scores your personal profile and grants the status if you clear a threshold.

That distinction matters more than it first appears. Most work visas in Korea, such as the E-7, bind your legal status to one sponsoring company: if you lose the job, you have a limited window to find another sponsor or leave the country. The F-2-7 removes that dependency. Holders can change jobs freely, work in most sectors without further permission, and start a business. Spouses and minor children can join as dependants, and the status is one of the standard stepping stones to F-5 permanent residency.

Eligibility is decided by a points table published by the Ministry of Justice. The four common categories — age, education, Korean language ability and annual income — are worth a combined 130 points. Bonus items can add up to +40, and deductions for legal violations can subtract up to −70. You qualify at 80 points or more. Because the categories are additive, there is no single mandatory qualification: weakness in one area can be offset by strength in another.

Age — up to 25 points

Applicants aged 25 to 29 receive the maximum 25 points. Scores taper off in both directions: 23 points for those aged 18 to 24 or 30 to 34, 20 points at 35 to 39, then a sharp drop to 12 points at 40 to 44, 8 points at 45 to 50, and just 3 points from 51 onwards. Age is the one category you cannot improve, which is why applicants in their forties usually need a strong income to compensate.

Education — up to 25 points

A doctorate in a STEM field earns the full 25 points; a doctorate in the humanities earns 20. A master’s degree is worth 20 points in STEM and 17 otherwise, while a bachelor’s degree scores 17 or 15 on the same split. Associate and vocational degrees earn 15 or 10. Degrees awarded outside Korea must be authenticated by apostille or consular legalisation before immigration will score them, so start that paperwork early.

Annual income — up to 60 points

Income is by far the heaviest category, worth almost half of the common total on its own. The scale runs from 10 points for earnings above minimum wage but under 30 million KRW, through 30 points at 30 million, 45 points at 50 million, and 60 points at 100 million KRW or more. The figure used is your pre-tax income for the previous year as recorded on your certificate of income amount (소득금액증명원) issued by the tax office — not your current salary or your contract value. A single promotion or bonus year can therefore move an application from rejection to approval.

Korean language — up to 20 points

Twenty points go to holders of TOPIK level 5 or 6, or those who have completed KIIP Stage 5. Fifteen points are awarded for TOPIK 4 or KIIP Stage 4, ten for TOPIK 3, five for TOPIK 2 and three for TOPIK 1. Only the higher of your TOPIK level and your KIIP stage is counted, so there is no benefit to doing both purely for scoring — although KIIP Stage 5 completion also attracts a separate bonus.

Bonuses and deductions

Common bonus items include graduating from a global top-500 university under the QS or Times Higher Education rankings, receiving a recommendation from a central government ministry, completing KIIP Stage 5, holding a degree from a Korean institution, and sustained volunteer work. Deductions apply for criminal convictions and immigration violations, scaled by the size of the fine imposed. Bonus and deduction items are revised more frequently than the core table, so treat the values in this calculator as indicative and confirm them before you file.

GNI — Gross National Income

GNI per capita is the average income per person in Korea, published annually by the Bank of Korea. Immigration uses it as a moving benchmark so that income requirements track the national economy instead of being frozen at a fixed number. Applicants are generally expected to earn at least around 1.5 times GNI per capita, and the commonly cited threshold for converting to F-5 permanent residency later is 2 times GNI.

Korea’s GNI per capita has been running in the mid-to-high USD 40,000 range in recent years, which works out to roughly 45 to 50 million KRW annually. On that basis, the practical income floor for a comfortable F-2-7 application sits somewhere near 65 to 75 million KRW. Because the published figure moves each year and is revised, check the current Bank of Korea release rather than relying on an estimate.

KIIP — Korea Immigration and Integration Program

KIIP (사회통합프로그램) is a free government course run through immigration offices and partner institutions. It combines Korean language teaching with classes on Korean society, law and culture, and runs from Stage 0 through Stage 5. You take a placement test to determine your entry stage, and each stage requires classroom attendance plus a pass in the end-of-stage assessment.

KIIP is popular with visa applicants for three reasons. Completing a stage is recognised as equivalent to the matching TOPIK level, so it substitutes for the exam. It is free, whereas TOPIK carries a fee and fixed test dates. And Stage 5 completion is frequently required or heavily weighted for F-5 permanent residency and naturalisation, meaning the effort carries forward beyond the F-2-7 application itself.

Unlike most Korean visas, the F-2-7 grants a period of stay that scales with your score rather than a flat term. The higher you score above the pass mark, the longer you can stay before renewing.

• 80 – 109 points → 1 year
• 110 – 119 points → 2 years
• 120 – 129 points → 3 years
• 130 points or more → 5 years

A strong income score can independently lift the granted period, so two applicants with the same total may receive different terms. At renewal you are rescored against the table in force at that time, which means a drop in income or a change to the point values can shorten your next term. Applicants close to a band boundary often find it worth delaying an application until after a raise or a language qualification lands.

Not sure the F-2-7 is the right track for you? The Korea Visa Checker walks through a short quiz and points you to the visa type that fits your situation, and the Korea visa guide explains the main categories in more depth.

Since income drives most of your score, it is worth knowing what you actually take home. The Korea salary calculator shows net pay after the four major insurances and income tax, and the income tax calculator breaks down your annual liability. If you are weighing whether to stay long term, the national pension refund calculator shows what you would forfeit or reclaim on departure, and the cost of living calculator helps you judge whether a given salary goes far enough.