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

1. What C-4-4 Is

How it worked: C-4-4 (계절근로, 어업) was a single-entry (단수) short-term employment status with a maximum stay of 90 days, for foreign nationals doing seasonal fishery work. It was applied for by the local municipality, not by the worker or the farm directly: the head of the 시·군·구 (city/county/district) applied for a Certificate of Visa Eligibility (사증발급인정서) through the Visa Portal on behalf of workers the municipality had allocated to a specific employer. The issuance manual still prints this procedure, but the same manual states that C-4-1 to C-4-4 have not been issued since 2025. New seasonal workers are invited under E-8 instead, again through the local government.

2. Eligibility Checklist

• Not open to new applicants: C-4-4 has not been issued since 2025, and seasonal work now goes through E-8. The points below record the conditions that applied while it was issued.
• Work was seasonal fishery (어업) under a municipality-run seasonal worker program.
• The worker was a relative within the 4th degree of kinship (4촌 이내, spouse included) of a marriage migrant residing in Korea, and the family relationship could be documented.
• The municipality had allocated the worker to a specific employer before the application was filed.
• Workdays in the standard labour contract (표준근로계약서) matched the stay period the visa granted.
• The employer could evidence genuine prior effort to recruit Korean workers.
• Accommodation for the worker was arranged before arrival.

3. Criteria Summary

• C-4-4 is retired: it has not been issued since 2025. Seasonal work now goes through E-8 (up to 8 months; total stay cannot exceed 8 months).
• C-4-4 was not points-based — it was allocation-based, run by the municipality.
• The worker did not self-apply; the 시·군·구 head filed the Certificate of Visa Eligibility.
• The recommending body was the Korea-resident marriage migrant sponsoring the relative.
• A marriage migrant's or overseas Korean's family member ALREADY in Korea was not a CoA case at all — that was an activity-outside-status permission (체류자격외활동허가) application instead.

4. Salary and Contract Rules

• Employment ran on the programme's standard labour contract (표준근로계약서).
• Contract workdays had to line up with the visa's stay period.
• The employer had to show prior Korean-worker recruitment effort (job ad copy and final recruitment record).
• Terms were set by the municipality's programme rather than negotiated case by case.

5. Employer and Workplace Change Rules

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

6. Required Documents

• No longer filed: C-4-4 has not been issued since 2025. The list below is the document set the issuance manual prints for the former C-4-1~4 procedure.
• 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

• C-4-4 applications are no longer made: the visa has not been issued since 2025. For current seasonal work the local government applies for an E-8 Certificate of Visa Eligibility through the Visa Portal.
• It was filed through the Visa Portal (비자포털) by the 시·군·구 head, not at a mission by the worker.
• Filing was timed against the farming/fishing season, allowing for both CoA processing and the worker's own exit formalities at home.
• Inaccurate Visa Portal entries got the application returned and could mean workers were not invited in time for the season, so the recommender and permitted sector had to be checked and the correct visa type requested.

8. Common Rejection Reasons

• Historical: C-4-4 has not been issued since 2025, so the points below apply to past applications only.
• 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