Starting a business in Korea involves deciding what the business will do, who will own it, and who will carry out the work. Foreign nationals can establish businesses here, but those choices affect the permissions, documents, and registrations they need.
Imagine a website designer who wants to live in Seoul and serve Korean clients. The designer has a service to sell and may be ready to find customers. Before accepting assignments, however, they need to understand whether their immigration permission covers the work and how the business should be registered. An overseas company opening a Korean sales office has a different set of decisions.
This guide uses those hypothetical situations to explain the process. The aim is to make the next conversation with an immigration office, bank, or professional adviser more useful, before money is transferred or a lease is signed.
What “starting a business” includes
Several procedures can sit behind that everyday phrase. Each answers a different question, so it helps to understand them before looking at a checklist.
Immigration permission concerns the person doing the work. A foreign national's status of stay determines the activities they may carry out in Korea, together with any conditions or further approvals. Owning a business does not itself authorize its owner to work in it.
The business also needs a legal form. Someone may run an individual business directly or create a separate company. Creating a company is called incorporation. Under Commercial Act Article 172, the company comes into existence through its incorporation registration.
Business registration is the tax-office filing that identifies the business and its activities. A corporation needs this as well as its incorporation registration. Depending on the activity, a further permit, license, or report may be required. A tax registration does not replace those approvals.
For the website designer, the first task is therefore to establish which permissions and business form fit the proposed work. Those decisions will guide the registration process.
Begin with a plain description of the work
A useful starting note explains what will be sold, to whom, and where the work will happen. “Website design for Korean small businesses, carried out by one person in Seoul” gives an adviser more to work with than “a digital company.”
The designer should add whether anyone else will own part of the business, whether staff will be hired, and what kind of workspace is planned. A shop founder would also describe the goods, storage, imports, and customer premises. Those details can change the questions that need answering.
An existing overseas business should first explain what it needs in Korea. It may want local sales staff, a separate Korean company, or help from a distributor, a business that sells another company's products. A distributor arrangement brings its own contract, import, tax, and customer-service questions. It should be assessed against the work the overseas business actually needs.
Learning about customers can help make this description more concrete. Our guide to testing the Korean market before incorporating explains how to investigate demand while checking which proposed activities require permission or setup.
Check the founder's permission and the activity's rules
The designer's current immigration status is an early part of the inquiry. Permission tied to an existing job should not be assumed to cover a separate business. Immigration Act Article 18 requires a status permitting employment and addresses work at designated workplaces.
Someone planning to move to Korea needs to explain their intended role too. An investor who remains abroad and a founder who manages daily operations in Seoul may own the same kind of company while needing different immigration advice.
The Immigration Contact Center at 1345 provides multilingual guidance. A useful inquiry gives the person's current status, location, and proposed duties. Ask which office or procedure applies and what must be approved before work begins. A guidance conversation helps establish the next step; it does not issue permission.
D-8 is the name used for several investment and startup immigration categories. Our D-8 guide introduces the routes. It is worth checking existing residence permission first rather than assuming every foreign founder needs that category.
The activity and premises need a separate check. A food business, for instance, should ask the responsible authority what approvals and premises standards apply before choosing a space. For any proposed business, explain the actual use of the address. Being able to rent a room does not establish that it is suitable for every activity or application.
Choose who will legally run the business
An individual business, often called a sole proprietorship when there is one owner, is run directly by that person. Its owner is personally responsible for the business's debts. The founder still needs the applicable tax registration, records, permits, and work permission.
A corporation is legally separate from its owners. It can hold property and enter contracts in its own name. One person can establish a stock company alone, so working without a partner does not settle the choice. Company formation also brings additional records and management duties.
For the designer, useful comparison points include client-contract risks, accounting costs, and whether another owner may join. A shop founder should also consider the lease, purchases, employees, and any personal guarantee, a promise to cover specified business debts personally if the business does not pay. Our sole proprietor and corporation guide explores those questions.
An overseas company has further options. A Korean subsidiary is a separate local company owned by the overseas parent. A branch remains part of the overseas company, whose responsibility extends to the branch. A liaison office can perform permitted non-sales work, such as research and business contacts; it cannot conduct profit-making business in Korea. KOTRA's business-setup comparison explains these distinctions.
The proposed Korean operation should be described before selecting one of those forms. An office intended to take sales orders needs a different assessment from one gathering information for its overseas headquarters.
Understand the investment figure before planning a transfer
The figure of KRW 100 million often appears in discussions about foreign founders. KRW means Korean won. This amount belongs to a particular foreign-investment rule, rather than a universal price for creating a business. KOTRA confirms that a foreigner may incorporate with less.
For the ordinary ownership-investment route under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act, the investment must be at least KRW 100 million per foreign investor. The investor normally holds at least 10% of the voting shares or total equity. Shares and equity represent ownership; voting shares carry voting rights in company decisions.
Article 2 of the investment decree also recognizes an alternative to the 10% ownership condition: an investor with an ownership stake appoints or sends an executive entitled to participate in important management decisions. The KRW 100 million minimum still applies to that alternative.
These conditions concern recognition under the investment law. They should be kept distinct from company formation and an individual's immigration application. Qualifying individual businesses can also fall within the investment framework. The form and arrangement need checking with KOTRA or a bank handling foreign investment.
The designer should therefore explain the proposed ownership and funding before moving money. If the investment falls outside that framework, the bank should identify the applicable foreign-exchange reporting procedure. A smaller investment does not eliminate the need to check how funds may be introduced.
Capital is money or other assets contributed to the business. Budget separately for professional fees, rent deposits, equipment, and operating expenses. The capital contribution is part of the business's funding, rather than a fee paid for immigration approval. Activity-specific funding requirements may also need checking.
Prepare documents for the office that will receive them
The court registry, tax office, bank, and immigration office each need evidence for a different purpose. Ask for the checklist for the actual applicant and route, including the required order and document dates.
The National Tax Service, or NTS, lists an application form for an individual business, a lease copy where premises are rented, and applicable permit-related papers. Its document guidance also identifies residence-card or passport evidence for foreign applicants and a partnership agreement for a joint individual business. Additional requirements depend on the circumstances.
Company and investment applications may need ownership and funding records. If a representative files documents, they may need a power of attorney, a document authorizing them to act. IBK's investment-document page provides a bank-specific example of identification, ownership, and authentication requirements.
Before paying for documents abroad, confirm whether translations or authentication are needed. An apostille is one form of official document authentication. The appropriate method depends on the document, issuing country, and receiving authority. A checklist supplied for another founder or bank may not fit this application.
A simple working list can record the document, issuing office, receiving office, and any translation or authentication needed. It also helps the founder identify questions early, such as whether a proposed lease meets both business and immigration requirements.
Follow the registration sequence for the chosen route
NTS says a business-registration application may be made before business begins and must be made within 20 days after it starts. This is the tax-registration deadline. It does not authorize work that requires immigration permission or another approval first.
For an individual business, the founder prepares the tax-registration papers after checking the activity and work permission. There is no separate corporation to create. Any required permit or investment-reporting procedure still needs to be coordinated, along with suitable banking arrangements.
For a new corporation using the foreign-investment process, KOTRA describes this broad sequence:
- Notify the proposed investment to KOTRA or a foreign-exchange bank.
- Transfer the investment funds through the agreed route and retain the evidence.
- Register incorporation at the court registry.
- Obtain the activity's required authorizations or permits.
- Complete the formation notification and business registration at the tax office.
- Arrange the corporate bank account and movement of funds into it as required.
- Register the completed foreign investment with the agency that received the original notification.
The founder should confirm deadlines and dependencies before beginning. Permit preparation and bank checks may start earlier than their place in the sequence suggests. Immigration applications may depend on business documents, so their timing needs to be planned alongside these filings.
A corporation outside the foreign-investment route still needs company formation, tax registration, and banking. Branches and liaison offices follow their own procedures. Our business bank account guide explains the practical questions to bring to the bank.
Prepare for the first customer and the first filing
Before work starts, the founder should confirm that the relevant business approvals and each worker's permission are in place. A registration certificate is one part of that check.
The designer also needs a way to record customer payments, invoices, purchases, and receipts. This recordkeeping is called bookkeeping. It supports both day-to-day decisions and tax filings. Agreeing who keeps each record is easier before the first payment arrives.
An accountant can identify the taxes and filing dates that apply. VAT, or value-added tax, applies to many goods and services. Some payments require withholding, where the payer deducts tax and sends it to the tax authority. The treatment depends on the payment. Hiring staff also calls for checks on payroll and applicable insurance obligations. Our business tax guide introduces that work.
A useful first inquiry
The hypothetical designer could begin with this note:
“I currently hold [status] and want to provide website-design services from Seoul. I expect to work alone and am comparing an individual business with a company. I have not signed a lease or transferred investment funds. Which permission, registrations, and documents should I check, and what needs to happen first?”
Immigration can address the founder's proposed work. KOTRA or a bank can explain investment procedures. The tax office handles business registration, while qualified Korean legal and tax professionals can assess contracts and individual circumstances. The useful outcome is a coordinated next step, with each question going to the office responsible for it.
Sources and scope
Official sources checked October 14, 2026. In addition to the sources linked above, KOTRA's immigration overview explains the business and immigration sequence, the government's Easy Law guide addresses one-person stock-company formation, and NTS explains withholding and VAT.
This is general planning information, not a professional assessment of a particular business. The examples are hypothetical. Confirm the applications, permissions, premises, and documents for the actual plan before committing funds.
Cover illustration created with AI for PIN Insights.
