Registering a company and obtaining permission to run it in Korea are related tasks. They are assessed through different rules.
This matters because “D-8” is often discussed as though it were one business visa with one investment requirement. It covers several routes. An investor in a corporation, a participant in a qualifying venture business and a technology founder may need quite different evidence.
The useful first question is which route matches your role and proposed activity. Answer it while you are still choosing the structure and funding arrangement.
General information, checked 21 September 2026. This is an orientation, not an individual immigration, legal or tax assessment. Confirm current eligibility and application requirements with HiKorea, the responsible immigration office or a qualified Korean immigration professional before committing capital.
Three decisions to keep separate
First, determine what business you will own or establish. Second, establish whether the investment meets Korea's foreign-investment rules. Third, determine the permission you personally need to live and undertake the proposed work in Korea.
The same company can have an overseas shareholder who never relocates and a founder who works in Seoul. Their ownership sits in one business, but their immigration questions differ. Each person needs their own assessment. Adding someone as a shareholder or executive does not automatically give them a status of stay.
Our guide to starting a business in Korea explains the entity and registration side. Here, the focus is the individual founder.
The D-8 family at a glance
The Ministry of Justice's Korea Visa Portal distinguishes corporate investment, venture enterprise, individual-enterprise investment and technology startup within the D-8 family. Those labels provide a starting point, not an eligibility decision.
D-8-1: Corporate investment
For a founder investing in a Korean corporation, D-8-1 is an important route to investigate. KOTRA's guidance for the ordinary individual corporate-investor case specifies investment of at least KRW 100 million and ownership of at least 10% of voting shares or total capital. The route also covers certain qualifying dispatched personnel, so not every D-8-1 applicant is personally investing under that fact pattern. See KOTRA's investor-visa FAQ.
Do not use those figures as a universal price for forming a Korean company or obtaining any startup visa. Foreign-investment recognition and the applicant's immigration assessment remain separate. An exception available under investment law should not be assumed to establish personal visa eligibility.
D-8-2: Venture enterprise
This route concerns a representative of a qualifying venture business, with formal venture recognition or the relevant technical appraisal. Describing a business as a startup, or raising money from a private investor, does not by itself establish the required recognition. Ask which formal status and evidence would apply to your venture.
D-8-3: Investment in an individual enterprise
This category is easy to misunderstand. KOTRA describes it in connection with qualifying foreign investment and joint management in a Korean national's individual business. It is not a general visa for any foreigner who registers a solo proprietorship. The Korean participant, joint representation and funding conditions require a specific assessment.
D-8-4: Technology startup
D-8-4 addresses qualifying technology entrepreneurship. Technical capability, the founder's qualifications and the applicable assessment or recommendation pathway matter. An ordinary service business does not become eligible simply by adopting the word “startup.”
KOTRA's 2025 visa guide explains the category distinctions. Its edition date matters: use the current immigration guidance to assess an application, rather than treating an older guide as a complete 2026 checklist.
Where OASIS fits
OASIS stands for Overall Assistance for Startup Immigration System. It provides support through designated centres, with activities including education, intellectual-property support, mentoring, startup competitions and business-development assistance. HiKorea's OASIS guidance, updated in April 2026, describes the system and its providers.
Some activities can contribute evidence or points relevant to an assessed technology-startup route. OASIS is not itself a visa, and its numbered programs should not be read as a mandatory sequence in which everyone completes levels one through nine.
Before enrolling, ask what the specific program provides: instruction, mentoring, a completion certificate, points, a participation letter or another form of evidence. Then ask how that evidence applies to your intended immigration route. Those questions can prevent spending time on an activity that is useful generally but irrelevant to your application.
For example, the official 2026 OASIS 4 and 5 recruitment notice distinguishes participation from completion and provides intake-specific arrangements. An announcement for an earlier intake is evidence that the program operated; it does not mean enrolment remains open now.
The standard D-8-4 framework also includes designated support or recommendation pathways. Admission to any private accelerator should not be assumed to substitute for the relevant immigration conditions. Ask the provider to identify the exact pathway its program supports.
The Startup Korea Special Visa is a separate option
The Startup Korea Special Visa, D-8-4(S), supplements the existing technology-startup route. It uses an assessment of the proposed startup's feasibility and innovation, followed by a recommendation from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and a separate immigration review. The ministry's program announcement explains the distinction.
The December 2024 announcement still linked by the Global Startup Center's current program page says academic background and OASIS scores are not required for the applicant under this special program. It still has substantive eligibility conditions. Its scope targets eligible innovative and technology businesses, and excludes ordinary general trade, distribution and food-service businesses. A conventional café should not assume it qualifies because its founder has an original brand concept.
The current Special Visa program page and linked application announcement also allow application before a Korean entity has been established, subject to an entity-establishment condition within six months. Confirm the applicable timing and conditions with the authorities for your case. Do not infer that every route requires incorporation before an application, or that this exception applies without conditions to every founder.
A recommendation advances the process. Immigration approval remains a separate decision.
Check immigration before choosing your business structure
Consider two hypothetical founders.
One wants to open a conventional retail business and manage it personally. The other plans to commercialise qualifying technology with a cofounder. Both need a business plan and an operating budget. They should not assume that the same investment amount, company documents and program certificates will establish eligibility for both.
Now suppose the technology founders divide ownership equally. That may be commercially sensible, but it does not answer whether each person meets the requirements of their own intended status. One founder's qualification or recommendation does not automatically cover the other.
Before transferring funds or signing a lease, prepare a short description of:
- The product or service, intended customers and work you will personally perform.
- Your current status, location and proposed application or status-change route.
- The entity, owners, investment proportions and each founder's role.
- Where the money comes from and how it will reach the business.
- Any technical, educational, intellectual-property or program evidence relevant to the proposed route.
- The premises and practical operation you expect to establish.
Ask the relevant authority or adviser to assess that description. A route name without the underlying facts is not enough to organise your next steps.
The evidence extends beyond registration
An investment application can involve the origin and introduction of funds, their use, the actual business premises and the applicant's role. A technology route can require a different set of founder and business evidence. KOTRA's visa and investment-funds guidance helps explain why the money trail deserves attention before a transfer.
Keep business and application records from the beginning. Ask how invoices, expenditure, contracts, tax records and evidence of actual activity may matter when you apply or later seek an extension. A successful initial application should not be treated as permission to stop maintaining the business or its records.
Also confirm whether a change of status can be made from your present circumstances. Do not assume that entering Korea as a visitor, registering a business and applying from inside the country will be an available sequence for you.
For founders still preparing a technology business, D-10-2, the technology-startup preparation category, may be worth investigating. Preparation status should not be treated as unrestricted permission to trade or undertake other work. Its suitability and permitted activities need checking against your actual plan.
Use the current rule for the decision in front of you
Online guides can be misleading even when a figure once appeared in an official source. HiKorea's public technology-startup overview carries an older date, while program notices and immigration manuals are updated separately. Combining numbers from different versions can create a checklist that belongs to no real route.
For that reason, this orientation does not reproduce a standard D-8-4 score calculator. Use HiKorea's current manuals and update notices, and confirm the applicable requirements through the immigration contact centre at 1345 or the responsible office.
Your next useful step is a route-specific enquiry supported by a clear business description. Once the proposed work, structure and personal eligibility fit together, you can commit to the registrations, funding and evidence that actually serve the application.
Cover illustration created with AI for PIN Insights.