Held in an immigration detention centre: how do you get released?

Three clocks start the moment immigration takes someone in. A detention that began on an emergency form has to be converted into a written detention order within 48 hours, or the person must be let go. Detention while immigration decides on deportation runs 10 days and can be extended once by up to 10 more, so 20 days is the ceiling at that stage. And somebody outside the centre has to be notified in writing within 3 days. Work out which clock applies before you decide what to file.

The first 48 hours

An immigration officer who has reasonable grounds to suspect that a person falls under the deportation grounds, and who believes that person may flee, may detain them on a written detention order (보호명령서) issued by the head of the local immigration office. In an urgent case the officer may take the person first on an emergency detention form (긴급보호서), which has to be shown to them straight away. The written order must then be obtained and shown within 48 hours. If it is not, the Act says the detention must be released at once. That is a deadline on the office, not a favour it grants.

A shorter clock covers people stopped at the border. Someone refused entry, someone holding a conditional entry permission, or someone already under a departure order who may flee can be held in a detention room (외국인보호실) for up to 48 hours, extendable once by up to another 48 hours.

Nothing in the detention room has to be signed on the spot. If a paper is in Korean and nobody has read it back to you in a language you actually use, say so before you put your name on it, and say that you want an interpreter in your first language.

How long can it last?

The place of detention is a detention room, an immigration detention centre (외국인보호소) or another place the Minister of Justice designates.

Those outer limits are new. Article 63 was rewritten by Act No. 20794 of 18 March 2025 after the Constitutional Court decided on 23 March 2023 that the old open-ended provision was unconstitutional, which is why there is a ceiling at all. Each extension now needs the prior approval of the Foreigner Detention Committee (외국인보호위원회), and in approving one the committee has to consider whether return is actually possible, whether detention is still needed and whether the receiving state is cooperating. It must set the shortest period necessary.

The cases that allow the longer total are narrow: a refugee application or litigation filed after the deportation order that delays return, or offences under the National Security Act, the counter-terrorism Act, the terrorist-financing Act, insurrection and related chapters of the Criminal Act, or other crimes set by Presidential Decree such as murder, injury, rape, robbery and indecent acts, where imprisonment or a heavier sentence was imposed.

Who has to be told?

Within 3 days the officer must give written notice of the time, the place and the reason for the detention to the detainee's legal representative, spouse, lineal relative, sibling, family member, lawyer, or a person the detainee names. If no one has heard anything, chasing that notice comes first.

Consular notice works differently, and this trips families up. The consul of the country of the detainee's nationality or citizenship must also be informed, but only where the detainee requests it, and the office may hold off for an urgent or unavoidable reason. No one calls the embassy automatically. Say that you want it, and say so on the record.

Inside the facility the office has to post, somewhere visible, the procedure for a review of the detention, for visits and for petitions. Read that board. If you are visiting, photograph it.

Asking for the detention to be reviewed

A detainee, or any of the relatives listed above, may apply through the head of the local immigration office for the Foreigner Detention Committee to review the detention. The committee sits in the Ministry of Justice and the Act says it performs its work independently. It either dismisses an application it finds unfounded or orders the person released.

This is a review of the detention, not of the deportation decision. The two are separate instruments on separate clocks: an objection against the deportation order itself is filed with the Minister of Justice, counted as 7 days from the day the order reaches the person.

Temporary release, the deposit, and what cancels it

A temporary release (보호의 일시해제) can come about in two ways. The head of the office may decide it without being asked. Or the detainee, the detainee's guarantor, or those same relatives may apply, and where the committee decides in favour, the office head must release the person.

• A deposit can be demanded, up to a ceiling of 20 million won. The written decision has to state the amount, when and where to pay it, the conditions attached, and that a breach can lead to cancellation and forfeiture.
• Conditions typically include a restriction on where the person lives, reporting to the office at set intervals, and naming a guarantor.
• The committee has to decide an application within 3 weeks of receiving it from the office, and may extend that once by up to 2 weeks.
• The deposit is returned to whoever paid it when the person leaves Korea or when the release is cancelled, except where it has been forfeited.

The Decree sets out what the committee weighs: a risk to the detainee's life or body, or of financial loss that cannot be recovered; whether the national interest would be harmed; the detainee's record, age, character and conduct inside the facility; the risk of flight; and any other grave humanitarian reason. Hospital records, a dependent child's school papers, and a guarantor with steady work in Korea all speak to those points. None of them makes release certain.

Be clear about the other side of it. A temporary release can be cancelled, and the deposit forfeited in whole or in part, if the person flees or appears likely to, fails without good reason to answer a summons, or breaks any other condition. Losing the money is the smaller half of that.

Where to begin, from outside

Find out which facility the person is in, then ask the office for the written detention order and the date on it, because every limit above is counted from that date. Ask whether the 3-day notice went out and to whom. The immigration helpline, 1345, can give you the local office's direct line; note what time you rang and who answered. With the order, the date and the family details, a lawyer can say which filing fits: a review of the detention, an application for temporary release, or the 7-day objection. This firm bills for a consultation. Our staff will quote you the figure on the return call, before you agree to anything.

법무법인 대한중앙
1533-7377

Rules applied

Immigration Act (출입국관리법, Act No. 20992, in force 23 January 2026) Article 51(1), (3), (4) and (5) (detention order; emergency detention; the order obtained and shown within 48 hours or release at once), Article 52(1) and (2) (up to 10 days, extendable once by up to 10 days; place of detention), Article 54(1) and (2) (written notice within 3 days; consular notice on the detainee's request), Article 55 (application through the head of the local immigration office for review by the 외국인보호위원회; dismissal or an order of release), Article 56 (48 hours, extendable once by up to 48 hours), Article 56-9 (procedures for review, visits and petitions posted in the facility), Article 63(1), (2) and (3) (up to 2 months; extensions in blocks of up to 3 months with the committee's prior approval, to 9 months in total, and up to 20 months in the listed cases; the matters the committee must consider and the shortest necessary period), Article 65(1), (2) and (3) (temporary release on the office's own motion or on application; deposit of up to 20 million won; conditions including restriction of residence, periodic reporting and a guarantor), Article 66 (cancellation of a temporary release and forfeiture of the deposit), Article 66-4 (the committee sits in the Ministry of Justice and performs its work independently), Article 60(1) (objection to a deportation order within 7 days of receiving it). Enforcement Decree (출입국관리법 시행령) Article 79(2) items 3 to 5 (contents of the written release decision) and (5) (return of the deposit), Article 79-2(3) (decision within 3 weeks of receipt, extendable once by up to 2 weeks), Article 79-3(1) (the five matters reviewed). Article 63 was rewritten by Act No. 20794 of 18 March 2025 after the Constitutional Court's decision of 23 March 2023; Articles 55 and 66-4 are in the wording wholly amended or newly added on 18 March 2025. None of these detention provisions carries a pending enforcement date.

This is general information, not legal advice. Every case is different.