Workation Visa (F-1-D)

South Korea Digital Nomad Visa 2026

South Korea's Workation visa (F-1-D) spent two years as a pilot and graduated in June 2026: it is now a permanent immigration pathway, and the upgrade mattered. The maximum stay doubled from two years to three, and the income rules were redesigned around a deliberate policy goal — spreading remote workers beyond Seoul. The thresholds now scale with your age and your address, all pegged to Korea's GNI per capita (KRW 52.41 million for 2025): applicants 35 and over heading for the Seoul metropolitan area face the full 2× GNI bar — roughly KRW 104.83 million a year, about USD 74,000, the highest standard threshold in Asia — while 18-to-34-year-olds willing to base in Busan, Jeju or the regions need only 1× GNI. Everyone needs a year of professional experience (apostilled proof), KRW 100 million in health coverage, a clean record, and a foreign employer or foreign clients — Korean employment of any kind is prohibited. What you get for clearing the bar is exceptional: the fastest mainstream internet on earth, a capital that runs 24 hours, K-culture at source, and a cost of living 20–25% below major US cities. The F-1-D is not the easy Asian option — that is Malaysia or Thailand — it is the premium one, built for high earners who want East Asia's most wired society for up to three years.