D-9-4 (Trade Management: Individual Business Owner) Korea Visa Guide | 2026

1. What D-9-4 Is

The manual explicitly ties the term 개인사업자 (individual business owner) to code D-9-4 in a footnote under a regional-visa (지역특화형 비자/F-2-R) section, drawing a parallel: for corporate entities the parallel investment-capital rule is 법인투자(D-8-1), for individual-entity applicants it is 개인사업자(D-9-4). Independently, two other places in the manual (visa-2.txt ~3711-3728 and visa-3.txt ~4376-4390) describe the substantive '외국인 개인사업자' status requirements under the 무역경영(D-9) parent category without repeating the D-9-4 code, but the content matches: (1) a foreigner who has brought in foreign capital above a prescribed threshold under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and completed VAT-law business registration to run a company or for-profit business; (2) a foreigner who registered a foreign-invested individual business under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act with capital above a prescribed threshold; (3) a Korean-university master's degree holder or expected graduate holding D-2 or D-10 status who invests 1억원 이상 (of which up to 5,000만원 may be domestically raised, with the remainder required to be genuine imported foreign capital under FETA) and completes VAT-law business registration; a carve-out allows bachelor's-only graduates to qualify instead by earning 총30점 이상 in the '창업이민종합지원시스템(OASIS-1부터 8)' program.

2. Eligibility Checklist

• The exact digit figures for the FETA-capital-import threshold and the FIPA foreign-invested-individual-business capital threshold are blanked out in the extracted text (only ' 억원 이상' remains) — do not assert a specific amount for those two routes.
• The master's-degree investor route figures ARE literally present in the text: 1억원 이상 total investment, of which up to 5,000만원 may be domestically raised, remainder must be genuine imported foreign capital.
• The bachelor's-only alternate route requires 총30점 이상 via 창업이민종합지원시스템 (OASIS, courses 1 through 8) — this figure is also literally present in the text.
• D-9 parent category is labeled 무역경영 (Trade Management) throughout the manual; D-9-1 is separately and explicitly labeled 무역업 (Trade Business) in visa-3.txt (~line 4351, 4546), confirming D-9 has multiple lettered/numbered subtypes even though a single consolidated D-9-1~4 table naming all four side by side was not found in either file.

3. Criteria Summary

• D-9-4 is not a points-based category.
• The definition above is taken from the manual's own wording for this code.
• Numeric thresholds, stay periods and fees are set in the manual's tables and annexes and are deliberately not reproduced here — confirm the current figures before filing.
• Where a rule depends on another status, check that status's own criteria too; several of these codes take their conditions from a principal holder.

4. Salary and Contract Rules

• The manual does not attach a salary or contract framework to this code specifically.
• Where income or financial capacity is assessed, it is evidenced with the documents named under that requirement rather than against a published floor.
• If your circumstances involve employment, verify separately whether this status authorises it — several of these categories do not.
• Do not assume the salary rules of a neighbouring code apply; they are set per status.

5. Employer and Workplace Change Rules

• Employer sponsorship is not the organising basis of this code.
• Any economic activity must fall within what the status authorises; where it does not, activity-outside-status permission is the mechanism.
• Report changes of circumstance that bear on the ground for the status.
• Keep the evidence that established eligibility available for extension reviews.

6. Required Documents

• Application form, passport, standard photograph and the fee.
• Evidence establishing the ground on which this status is claimed, as described above.
• Residence and identity documents as required at the counter.
• Any further documents the reviewing office considers necessary.

7. Fees and Processing

• Fees follow the published schedule for the application type rather than the subtype.
• Processing time varies by office workload and by how clearly the qualifying ground is evidenced.
• Where a principal holder's status governs the period granted, the principal's expiry date is the practical constraint.
• Apply with margin before any existing permission expires.

8. Common Rejection Reasons

• The qualifying ground for this specific code is not established by the evidence.
• The circumstances fit a neighbouring code better, making this a category mismatch.
• Supporting documents are incomplete, inconsistent, or out of date.
• An underlying condition the status depends on has ceased to apply.
• Unresolved immigration compliance history.

9. FAQ