■ Difference Between Visa and Visa Issuance Certificate

When a consul issues a long-term visa for study abroad, employment, or marriage purposes, various matters such as domestic employment conditions and the eligibility of invitees must be considered comprehensively compared to short-term visas for tourism or visit purposes. In order to simplify the complicated visa issuance process and shorten the visa issuance period, the head of a local immigration office issues a visa issuance certificate or notifies the applicant by e-mail or text message before issuing a visa.
If the head of the regional immigration office deems the visa issuance confirmation to be valid as a result of the review of the application for issuance, the visa issuance confirmation is issued electronically and sent to the head of the diplomatic mission abroad, and the visa issuance confirmation number, including the visa issuance confirmation number, is notified to the invitee. When the foreigner or invitee applies for visa issuance to the head of a diplomatic mission abroad by writing the visa issuance confirmation number on the visa issuance application form, the head of the diplomatic mission abroad issues the visa according to the details of the visa issuance confirmation.



According to Article 9 of the Immigration Control Act, when the Minister of Justice deems it particularly necessary prior to issuing a visa for a visa that has not been delegated to the head of a diplomatic mission abroad, the Minister of Justice directs a foreigner who intends to enter the country or a person who intends to invite the foreigner to the local immigration office having jurisdiction over the place of sojourn. It is stipulated that you apply for a certificate of issuance.
The visa issuance certificate system was introduced with reference to Japan's residence qualification certificate system. However, in 2002, the Immigration Control Act was amended to make the applicant a foreigner who wants to enter the Republic of Korea, but a domestic invitee can act as a proxy for the issuance of a visa issuance certificate. The reason for this is that the effect of the visa issuance certificate directly affects the foreigner who received the visa, while the inviter in Korea believed that the benefit gained from the foreigner’s entry (employment) was not a legal benefit but only a reflective benefit. In addition, since most of the invitees are citizens, if a person who wants to invite a foreigner directly applies for a visa issuance confirmation letter, it is accepted as a right to prevent visa issuance from becoming a direct party in case of refusal. Immigration Policy Headquarters of the Ministry of Justice, 『Commentary on the Immigration Control Act』, 2011, pp. 82-83.


■ Confirmation of Visa Issuance Target


Confirmation of visa issuance is for non-established diplomatic relations (Cuba, Syria, etc.) or nationals of specific countries, culture and art (D-1), study abroad (D-2), technical training (D-3), general training (D-4), journalism (D-5), religion (D-6), presence (D-7), corporate investment (D-8), trade management (D-9), etc. Conversation instruction (E-2), research (E-3), technical instruction (E-4), professional occupation (E-5), performing arts (E-6), specific activities (E-7), non-professional employment ( E-9), crew employment (E-10), E-type residence status, visiting together (F-1), Accompanying (F-3) status of sojourn.
However, diplomacy (A-1), public affairs (A-2), agreement (A-3), temporary coverage (C-1), short-term visit (C-3), short-term employment (C-4) delegated to the head of a diplomatic mission abroad), marriage immigration (F-6), tourism employment (H-1), visiting employment (H-2), etc., must obtain a visa directly from the diplomatic mission abroad instead of issuing a visa issuance certificate. If there is no overseas diplomatic mission, a visa can be issued through the diplomatic mission of the country of the concurrent office.


■ Visa Issuance Confirmation Application Procedure and Cases of Issuance
A visa issuance certificate can be applied for by a foreigner directly or by an inviter in Korea on behalf of the foreigner. For example, in the case of international marriage, the domestic spouse, the head of the school for international students, and the employer for foreigners for the purpose of employment have the status of invitees.
To apply for a certificate of confirmation of visa issuance, the application for confirmation of visa issuance, along with the relevant documents, must be submitted to the head of the regional immigration office having jurisdiction over the address (place of stay) of the person to whom the foreigner is to be invited.
The validity period of the visa issuance certificate is 3 months, and it is valid only for one visa issuance. The visa issuance confirmation number is notified via e-mail or text message, so you must accurately enter your e-mail address or phone number when applying.
You can check whether a visa issuance certificate has been issued by calling the ARS number (02-2650-6363). In addition, after signing up as a member on the Hi Korea website, you can check whether the visa issuance certificate has been issued and the visa issuance confirmation number by entering the application date and receipt number on the ‘Visa Issuance Confirmation Result Search’ screen of the electronic civil application window.



When issuing a confirmation of visa issuance for a specific activity (E-7), ▴Principle of national substitutability ▴Contribution to national economy and national competitiveness ▴Soundness of the invited company ▴Whether the invited foreigner is a professional in the relevant field is used as criteria for judgment. For example, if company A in Korea wants to hire foreigner B as an overseas salesperson, foreigner B must be issued a specific activity (E-7) visa as he is a professional worker.
In this case, since foreigner B is abroad, an employment contract for foreigner B under the name of the representative of company A in Korea, documents proving the need for foreign employment (reason for invitation and foreign workforce utilization plan), the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (KOTRA or after preparing employment recommendation letters issued by the association), a list of continuous employment insurance subscribers for at least 5 Koreans for 3 months or more, diplomas of foreigners, diplomas, qualifications, career certificates, company-related documents, etc., can apply for a visa issuance certificate at the local immigration office having jurisdiction over the place of stay.


< Precedent of Refusal Decision on Issuance of Certificate of Recognition for Visa Issuance >


The head of the immigration office can issue a visa issuance certificate upon the application of a foreigner who wants to enter the Republic of Korea, and an inviter in Korea can only act on behalf of a foreigner and cannot apply for it independently.
Therefore, it cannot be said that a person who intends to invite a foreigner has the legal or culinary right to independently request the issuance of a visa issuance certificate for that foreigner, so the act of refusal cannot be said to be an administrative disposition subject to administrative litigation. In addition, the refusal to issue a confirmation of visa issuance is not a violation of the specific rights or legal interests of foreigners but merely a reflective benefit, so foreigners are not recognized as plaintiffs. Seoul Administrative Court 2008guhap41250