F-5 permanent residence: what ends it, and why the card expires

Permanent residence (영주자격) removes the two limits every other foreign resident lives with. There is no restriction on the scope of your activity, and there is no stay period to extend. That is why the status feels final. Two things surprise F-5 holders anyway: the card runs out and has to be replaced before it does, and the status itself can be cancelled, in a short list of cases, one of which leaves the Ministry no choice at all.

What the status actually gives

A holder of 영주자격 is not subject to limits on the scope of activity or on the stay period. There is no extension application and no permitted-period date to keep in a diary. A permanent resident may also be exempted from the re-entry permit that a registered foreigner otherwise needs in order to leave Korea within their stay period and come back.

That exemption deserves its own paragraph further down, because people rely on a stronger version of it than the Act contains.

Three requirements, and who gets two of them relaxed

An applicant for 영주자격 has to satisfy all three of the following.

1. Good conduct, including observance of Korean law.
2. The ability to support themselves from their own income or property, or from that of family members who share their livelihood.
3. The basic knowledge needed to go on living in Korea, such as Korean language ability and an understanding of Korean society and culture.

For a person of special merit, a person of outstanding ability in science, management, education, culture and the arts or sport, or a person who has invested a set amount, the Presidential Decree may relax or waive the second and third of those. The detailed standards and the scope are fixed by ministerial rule, not by the Act itself, and that is where most of the real argument happens.

Notice that the first requirement describes a person over time rather than a test passed once. It reappears, in a different shape, among the cancellation grounds.

The card expires. The status does not.

The residence card issued to a holder of 영주자격, the 영주증, is valid for 10 years, and the holder must obtain a reissued 영주증 before that validity period ends. The procedure is set by Presidential Decree.

Holders who already had 영주자격 under the former provisions when Act No. 15492 took effect are on a separate transitional schedule. Where 10 years had already passed since they acquired the status, the reissue had to be applied for within 2 years of the effective date. Otherwise it has to be applied for within 2 years from the date on which the 10 years passes. The office is required to send a reissue notice stating the deadline, and to publish a notice in the official gazette where the person cannot be found. Until the reissue comes through, the old 영주증 stays valid.

A reissued 영주증 costs 35,000 won, the same as an ordinary residence card. Treat the card's expiry the way you treat a passport's. Put the date in a calendar during the week you receive the card, with a reminder several months ahead, because the duty is to apply before the date rather than near it.

Re-entry permits, and the sentence people shorten

A registered foreigner who leaves Korea within their stay period and intends to return needs a re-entry permit, and a holder of 영주자격 may be exempted from it, as may others set by ministerial rule. The words "may be exempted" are the whole of it. That is not a point to argue at a departure gate, and it says nothing about what an airline or a third country will ask you for.

Where a permit is needed, it is either single or multiple: 30,000 won for a single permit, 50,000 won for a multiple one. If illness or another unavoidable reason prevents you returning inside the permitted period, an extension must be obtained before that period expires, not after you have already missed it. The Minister may delegate that extension to Korean diplomatic missions abroad, which is how it is actually handled from outside the country, and an extension costs the equivalent of 20 US dollars.

The shape of all three duties is the same. Each one is phrased as something to be done before a date, and the Act offers no mechanism for doing it afterwards.

How permanent residence is cancelled

Permanent residence may be cancelled only in the listed cases, and in the first of them it must be cancelled.

The fallback is written into the same article. Where there is a recognised need for the person to stay on, and the requirements for a general status of stay are met, a general status may be granted on application. The word to read there is "application". It has to be made, with evidence both of the need and of the requirements, and it does not follow from the cancellation by itself.

The quieter route: cancelling the permission underneath

Separately from the permanent-residence provision, the Minister may cancel or alter a visa, a certificate of visa issuance (사증발급인정서), an entry permission or a stay permission where a guarantor withdraws the guarantee or there is no longer a guarantor, where the permission turns out to have been obtained by false or improper means, where a condition of the permission is broken, where changed circumstances create a grave reason why the permitted state cannot be maintained, or where this or another Act has been gravely breached.

One fixed window exists inside that procedure. The Minister may require the person to attend and be heard, and must give notice of the reasons and of the time and place at least 7 days before the hearing date. Seven days is enough to gather documents only if you already know which documents count: tax records, proof of where you live, employment, family in Korea, and whatever speaks directly to the ground named in the notice. Build that file on the day the notice arrives.

Keeping the status uneventful

Permanent residence is best protected by being boring: a card replaced ahead of its date, a re-entry permit or an exemption confirmed before a flight is booked rather than at check-in, and any criminal matter taken seriously from the first letter, since the cancellation grounds are written around confirmed sentences and the combined length of them. If a hearing notice or a cancellation notice has already reached you, bring it along with the card, your tax and residence records, and the dates of every sentence and fine you have received in Korea. Our advice carries a charge, and the figure is named by our staff on the first call.

법무법인 대한중앙
1533-7377

Rules applied

Immigration Act (출입국관리법) Article 10-3(1) (no limits on the scope of activity or on the stay period), (2) (the three requirements), (3) (the Presidential Decree may relax or waive the second and third requirements for a person of special merit, a person of outstanding ability in science, management, education, culture and the arts or sport, or a person who has invested a set amount) and (4) (standards and scope set by ministerial rule), Article 33(3) (the 영주증 is valid for 10 years), (4) (a reissued 영주증 must be obtained before the validity period ends) and (5) (procedure set by Presidential Decree), Article 33-2(1) (transitional deadlines for holders under the former provisions when Act No. 15492 took effect: within 2 years of the effective date where 10 years had already passed, otherwise within 2 years of the day 10 years passes), (2) (reissue notice stating the deadline, and publication in the official gazette where the person cannot be found) and (3) (the old 영주증 stays valid until the reissue), Article 30(1) (re-entry permit for a registered foreigner, from which a holder of 영주자격 may be exempted, as may others set by ministerial rule), (2) (single or multiple), (3) (extension obtained before the permitted period ends where illness or another unavoidable reason prevents return) and (4) (the Minister may delegate the extension to the head of a diplomatic mission abroad), Article 89-2(1) (the listed cancellation grounds, the first of which is mandatory) and (2) (a general status of stay may be granted on application where there is a recognised need to stay on and the requirements are met), Article 89(1) (cancellation or alteration of a visa, a 사증발급인정서, an entry permission or a stay permission under Articles 20, 21 and 23 to 25), (2) (attendance and hearing) and (3) (notice of the reasons and of the time and place at least 7 days before the hearing date). Enforcement Rule (출입국관리법 시행규칙) Article 72 items 7 to 9 (single re-entry permit 30,000 won, multiple permit 50,000 won, extension of a re-entry permit the equivalent of 20 US dollars) and item 10-2 with item 10 (a reissued 영주증 costs 35,000 won, the same as a residence card).

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