F-5-25 (Conditional High-Value Investor) Korea Visa Guide | 2026

1. What F-5-25 Is

F-5-25 is a permanent-residence route for investors who pledge, as a condition of the grant, to keep an investment above a government-set amount in place for a required minimum number of years. Practically, this is implemented as a deposit into the Korea Development Bank's principal-guaranteed, non-interest-bearing 'Public Interest Project Investment Immigration Fund' (한국산업은행 공익사업 투자이민 펀드, 원금보장 무이자형), plus a signed pledge to maintain the investment for the required period.

2. Eligibility Checklist

• Withdrawing any part of the deposited principal before the pledge period ends triggers revocation of the F-5 permanent-residence grant ('예치한 금액 중 일부 또는 전부를 중도 인출할 경우 영주자격을 취소함').
• The basic-competency/livelihood ('생계유지능력') requirement is waived for this category, unlike the general F-5-1 track.
• Required documents are specific to this subtype: an investment-deposit confirmation issued by the Korea Development Bank, foreign-currency-inflow proof (e.g. a foreign exchange purchase certificate), and a signed investment-maintenance pledge — this exact document set was matched independently in both the per-subtype document table and the detailed eligibility section, which is why the code-to-label mapping is high confidence.
• Both the minimum investment amount and the required holding period in years are digits dropped by the PDF text extraction and could not be quoted numerically.

3. Criteria Summary

• F-5-25 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