In January 2011, the Ministry of Justice enacted and enforced the ‘Guidelines for the Management of Immigration Service Members’. These guidelines are appropriately managed so that agencies that handle various applications and reports related to immigration can perform their duties in good faith in order to improve civil complaints at local immigration offices and provide administrative convenience to foreigners staying in the country. ​ 'Immigration agency' is registered with the Ministry of Justice to perform various immigration-related applications and reports recognized by the Minister of Justice, such as lawyers registered with local immigration offices, administrators, or foreigner-related affairs refers to a corporation. Immigration agency work refers to immigration-related applications or reports performed by an agency or its staff for foreigners staying in the country. For your reference, if you go to the Hi Korea website on the Internet, you can see various information at a glance, such as the electronic civil application, visit reservation, civil application form, application result check, visa issuance certificate application result confirmation, information manual for each visa and residence status, and the local immigration office in your jurisdiction.


According to Article 34 of the Enforcement Rules of the Immigration Control Act (application and receipt of various permits, etc.), “various applications or receipts related to immigration may be made by the person himself or herself or by a person designated by the Minister of Justice.” The Immigration Service Management Guidelines stipulate that Article 34 of the Enforcement Rules of the Immigration Control Act be applied mutatis mutandis to the scope of agency work. However, applications for reissuance of an alien registration card, change of residence status for married immigrants (F-6), and permission for an extension of stay are excluded from agency work.
To act as an agent for immigration affairs, you must first be a lawyer or administrator with business registration. Second, you must register at the local immigration office. Third, receipt of applications for various permits, etc., may be performed by the applicant himself or by an attorney or administrator. However, the head of a regional immigration office may restrict the application of an agent if it is deemed necessary for the applicant to attend in order to examine the reasons for the application for various permits and the status of the applicant's sojourn. In the case of restricting the application by the agent, the person in charge shall notify the agent or principal without delay of the reason and the fact that the principal must apply in person.
Immigration agencies must conduct their duties fairly in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and actively cooperate with the implementation of various foreigner-related policies by the Ministry of Justice. In addition, in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act, personal information acquired in the course of business must not be leaked to others, and improper or unfair solicitation of agency work or misrepresentation of application documents must not be committed.
For your reference, when a lawyer or administrator is acting as an immigration officer, you should consider the following holistically:whether the client is an illegal resident or a person with a mismatched identity, such as someone who has used a forged (false name) passport in the past; whether you are a deferred departure period, a criminal, or an immigration offender; whether you are a visa-free entry (B-1, B-2 holder), whether you can change your Residence Status in Korea for humanitarian reasons; and whether you can apply for nationality and permanent residency, etc.

■ Points to Note When Applying for Visas and Various Residence Permits Refer to the published by the Immigration and Foreigner Policy Headquarters of the Ministry of Justice



□ The validity period of documents issued and submitted in Korea, such as a copy of resident registration, shall be within 3 months from the issuance date unless there is a separate period of validity.
□ The head of a regional immigration office may add or subtract documents to be submitted if deemed necessary for visa and stay review.
□ When an applicant applies for a visa issuance certificate or change of Residence Status, documents that have already been submitted and are being stored in the registered alien record may be omitted.
□ Among the submitted documents, the person in charge extracts and uses the large amount of documents, so unnecessary documents do not need to be submitted.
□ The guarantee period of the identity guarantee is up to 4 years, so if it is more than 4 years, that is recognized as a maximum of 4 years, and the permission period when granting various permits cannot exceed the guarantee period of the identity guarantee.
□ If the content of the information can be confirmed through shared use of administrative information such as a copy of resident registration, certificate of family relation records, business registration certificate, and the certificate of tax payment, the submission of the relevant documents is omitted. However, if the relevant authority does not agree to this, the relevant documents shall be attached.
□ Documents such as health checkup, drug test confirmation, employment physical examination, etc. must be submitted in a sealed envelope by the issuing medical institution.
□ Foreigners who wish to apply for various residence permits must be staying in Korea at the time of application. Therefore, if they have departed the country and staying abroad, they cannot apply for proxy.