C-4-2 (Seasonal Work — agriculture) Korea Visa Guide | 2026

1. What C-4-2 Is

C-4-2 (계절근로, 농업) is a single-entry (단수) short-term employment status with a maximum stay of 90 days, for foreign nationals doing seasonal agriculture work. It is applied for by the local municipality, not by the worker or the farm directly: the head of the 시·군·구 (city/county/district) applies for a Certificate of Visa Eligibility (사증발급인정서) through the Visa Portal on behalf of workers the municipality has allocated to a specific employer.

2. Eligibility Checklist

• Work is seasonal agriculture (농업) under a municipality-run seasonal worker program.
• Worker is a relative within the 4th degree of kinship (4촌 이내, spouse included) of a marriage migrant residing in Korea, and the family relationship can be documented.
• The municipality has allocated the worker to a specific employer before the application is filed.
• Workdays in the standard labour contract (표준근로계약서) match the stay period the visa grants.
• The employer can evidence genuine prior effort to recruit Korean workers.
• Accommodation meeting the programme's standards is arranged before arrival.

3. Criteria Summary

• C-4-2 is not points-based — it is allocation-based, run by the municipality.
• The worker does not self-apply; the 시·군·구 head files the Certificate of Visa Eligibility.
• The recommending body is the Korea-resident marriage migrant sponsoring the relative.
• A marriage migrant's or overseas Korean's family member ALREADY in Korea is not a CoA case at all — that is an activity-outside-status permission (체류자격외활동허가) application instead.

4. Salary and Contract Rules

• Employment runs on the programme's standard labour contract (표준근로계약서).
• Contract workdays must line up with the visa's stay period — a mismatch is a documented rejection cause.
• The employer must show prior Korean-worker recruitment effort (job ad copy and final recruitment record).
• Terms are set by the municipality's programme, not negotiated case by case as with E-series work visas.

5. Employer and Workplace Change Rules

• The employer is the one the municipality allocated the worker to; this is not an open labour-market visa.
• The municipality must have concluded an MOU (업무협약) and file its result document with the application.
• An accommodation facility table (숙소시설표) for the housing to be provided must be submitted.
• The municipality submits the accommodation inspection confirmation collectively right after workers arrive.
• Simple-labour work outside the seasonal programme does not qualify under the C-4 short-term employment status.

6. Required Documents

• Standard labour contract (표준근로계약서).
• Evidence of effort to recruit Korean workers — copy of the job advertisement and the final recruitment record.
• Copy of the seasonal worker's passport.
• Marriage migrant's ID, Korean marriage/family relation certificate, basic certificate, a kinship diagram, and a family relation certificate issued in the country of residence. Non-English documents need a translator's confirmation and translation (notarisation not required).
• Accommodation documents — the accommodation facility table for the housing to be provided.
• The MOU (업무협약) conclusion result document.

7. Fees and Processing

• Filed through the Visa Portal (비자포털) by the 시·군·구 head, not at a mission by the worker.
• Time the filing against the farming/fishing season, allowing for both CoA processing and the worker's own exit formalities at home.
• Inaccurate Visa Portal entries get the application returned, which is the common reason workers fail to arrive for the season — confirm the recommender and permitted sector so the correct visa type is requested.
• Nationals of designated countries (특정국가) are, as a rule, issued on a Certificate of Visa Eligibility.

8. Common Rejection Reasons

• Wrong C-4 subtype requested for the actual recommender/sector combination.
• Inaccurate or incomplete Visa Portal entry, returning the application.
• Contract workdays inconsistent with the stay period granted by the visa.
• Kinship to the marriage migrant is outside the 4th degree, or cannot be documented.
• Korean-worker recruitment effort not evidenced by the employer.
• Accommodation documentation missing or below programme standard.

9. FAQ