Korea Market Entry for Chinese Companies

The Korean registration process is the same for investors from any country, but for a Chinese head office the overall schedule is usually set on the Chinese side rather than the Korean one — by the outbound investment filings and the remittance they gate. KOCATION is operated by VISION Administrative Office, a licensed administrative agency (행정사) that receives the entity registration, the assignment visas and the settlement work through one point of intake, in Chinese where preferred.

Three Entry Forms and How to Choose

A Korean presence is registered as a foreign-invested subsidiary, a Korea branch office or a liaison office. If it will contract with Korean customers, invoice them and recognise revenue, it has to be a subsidiary or a branch; a liaison office may not conduct profit-making activity and is limited to liaison, market research, advertising and R&D support.

A subsidiary can be registered as a foreign-invested company where the investment meets the Foreign Investment Promotion Act threshold of KRW 100 million or more per foreign investor. A branch or liaison office is notified to a designated foreign exchange bank under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Regulations. The form chosen also determines which visa route is open to the people you send.

Outbound Investment Filing and Remittance

This is the most substantive difference from investors in other markets. A Chinese entity investing abroad generally has to complete filing or approval with the development and reform authorities and outbound investment filing with the commerce authorities, and complete foreign exchange registration through its bank, before funds can lawfully be remitted.

The consequence is that the Korean-side foreign investment notification, the arrival of capital and the incorporation are all gated by the progress of the Chinese filings. We therefore recommend running the two in parallel — fixing the Korean entity form and capital structure while the outbound filing is underway — rather than starting the Korean conversation only once the filing is complete, which stacks the two processes end to end.

Document Notarisation and the Apostille

Since the Hague Apostille Convention entered into force for China on 7 November 2023, Chinese public documents can be used in Korea with an apostille instead of the consular legalisation previously required. This shortens document preparation, but it also means that experience based on the old consular route is no longer a reliable guide.

Two points still need care. Corporate documents such as the business licence and private documents such as powers of attorney and resolutions follow different routes, the latter typically requiring notarisation first. And Korean translations are required for filings with the registry, the tax office and the bank. We confirm the list against the receiving Korean authority before the head office starts collecting.

Visas for Chinese Assignees

Unlike nationals of visa-waiver countries, Chinese nationals generally need a visa in advance even for a short business trip, and cannot substitute a travel authorisation for it. Visa lead time therefore enters the schedule from the site-visit stage onwards, not just at the posting.

For the posting itself, essential professional personnel dispatched by a foreign company to its own establishment in Korea use D-7; essential professional personnel of a foreign-invested company use D-8. For D-7 the assignee is generally required to have worked at the foreign head office or another place of business for at least one year before the dispatch, subject to defined exceptions such as assignments in national key industries or state projects. The Korean entity applies in Korea for a certificate of confirmation of visa issuance, after which the assignee applies at a Korean embassy or consulate in China. Spouses and minor children use the F-3 dependent status and are prepared alongside the principal application.

Two points in the manual are specific to Chinese applicants and worth knowing before the schedule is set. Chinese nationals are among those for whom a visa is issued on the basis of a certificate of confirmation of visa issuance rather than at consular discretion, which puts the Korean entity at the centre of the process. And for staff of a Chinese company's Korean establishment who have been employed by that company for at least a year, the manual provides for a multiple-entry visa valid for up to two years issued at the head of mission's discretion, together with the same for accompanying family on F-3.

Social Security and Life After Arrival

Korea and China have a social security agreement under which a seconded employee who remains insured at home may be exempted from the corresponding Korean contributions for a period, on the strength of a certificate of coverage from the home-country institution. Health insurance is treated separately: an employee at a covered workplace is enrolled from employment, and a foreign resident staying six months or more is subject to mandatory enrolment. Eligibility is assessed per assignment.

After arrival there is still housing, alien registration, banking, mobile and schooling. Korean leases carry large deposits, and the steps that protect a deposit are tied to the immigration-side registration: foreign nationals have no resident registration, and alien registration together with a report of change of place of stay takes its place.

Chinese Companies — Frequently Asked Questions