This photo taken on Oct. 20, 2022, shows an apartment complex in southern Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has extended its real estate investment immigration system by three years and doubled the minimum investment required of foreign investors to 1 billion won (about US$745,700) or more, the Ministry of Justice said Monday.
Under the real estate investment immigration system, foreigners who invest 500 million won or more in condominiums or other resort facilities in some designated areas nationwide were eligible to receive an F-2 resident visa.
The visa can be upgraded to a permanent F-5 residence visa after five years.
The government first introduced the program on the southern resort island of Jeju in 2010 to promote the domestic investment of foreign capital and revitalize the local economy.
According to the ministry and local governments, the implementation period of the property investment immigration system in four regions — Jeju; Incheon’s Songdo, Yeongjong and Cheongna districts; Pyeongchang’s Alpensia; and Yeosu’s Gyeongdo — has been extended to April 30, 2026, following its expiry on Sunday.
The same system set to expire in Busan’s Haeundae and other eastern parts of the port city on May 19 will also be extended by three years, the ministry said.
But the minimum investment volume will be raised to 1 billion won or more and the name of the program will be changed to the “tourism and leisure facility investment immigration system,” it noted.
On Jeju, for instance, the provincial government had attracted 1,909 cases of foreign investments worth 1.26 trillion won under the program from 2010 to last year.
(Yonhap)
