Statutory Social Insurances Tips

● Statutory social insurance participation obligations by visa type 

Statutory social insurance participation requirements for foreigners (non-Koreans) working in Korea may vary depending on the type of visa held. The most common visa categories for foreigners in Korea and their corresponding obligations are summarized below.

(Notes)

* As an exception, foreign workers (non-Korean) from the US, France, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Spain, Turkey, Luxembourg, and Norway may be eligible for a waiver from mandatory IACI participation, provided they submit a Certificate of Coverage issued by the social security authority of their home country.

** Inbound foreign workers entering Korea with a C-4 (short-term employment) visa are required to enroll in the Korean National Health Insurance and Long-Term Care Insurance programs if they have not been issued an Alien Registration Card (ARC) by the Korean Immigration Office. However, in rare cases where an ARC is issued to C-4 visa holders, those foreign workers must enroll as employees under the business-based NHI plan if they are employed in Korea. This enrollment enables them to receive health insurance benefits in Korea.

Unless a foreign (non-Korean) employee is eligible for a waiver of statutory social insurance and submits the required waiver applications along with the appropriate supporting documents to the Korean social insurance agencies, the employee is mandatorily required to participate in Korea’s statutory social insurance programs as summarized above.

● Gradual increase in national pension contribution rate starting 2026 

As part of the National Pension Reform, the government announced that the current national pension contribution rate of 9% will gradually increase to 13% over the next eight-year period starting from 2026. 

Currently, the pension contribution is equally shared between the employer and the employee, with each party contributing 4.5%. Under the new policy, once the total rate reaches 13%, both employers and employees will be required to contribute 6.5% each, as summarized in the table below.