Investment in Korea.
Foreigners who want to come to
Korea next year will go through stricter verification procedures
than before. More funds must be invested to
qualify for investment immigration, and criminal
experience and sources of funds must
also be thoroughly proven.
The Ministry of Justice announced
on the 23rd that it had discussed a plan to improve
the investment immigration system
at the 10th Investment Immigration Council held
on the 22nd.
Investment immigration is a system
in which foreigners pay a residence visa (F-2)
if they invest more than a certain amount in an area designated
by the Minister of Justice,
and permanent residence (F-5) is granted
if they maintain their qualifications
for the next five years.
It has been in effect since February 2010.
At the council meeting,
the Ministry of Justice has decided to raise
the investment immigration standard
from the current 500 million won to 700 million won.
It is explained that it reflected inflation for 11 years
since 2010 when the system was introduced.
During this period, the consumer price index rose 22%
and the producer price index rose 16%.
It also considered that foreign investment
immigration thresholds such as
the U.S. 1.2 billion won and Australia 2.1 billion won are
higher than those of Korea.
It has also decided to more thoroughly verify foreign
investors’ criminal careers of foreign investors.
Currently, when obtaining permanent residency,
it checks the criminal experience,
but in the future, it will be checked at the time of investment
when it becomes residential. In addition,
it plans to introduce a procedure for verifying
the source of investment.
Contrary to the original intention,
it is evaluated that the investment immigration system
reflects the criticism that it has side effects such as
“eat and run” that only acquires foreign criminals’ escape or
permanent residency and recovers their investments.
The number of investment attractions
in the real estate investment immigration system decreased
from 193 cases (10.6 billion won)
in 2016 to 7 cases (5.6 billion won) last year.
By the end of November 2021,
there were four cases (KRW 3.45 billion).
The Ministry of Justice plans to improve
the investment immigration system
in the first half of next year.
