F-5-2 Permanent Residence (Spouse of a Korean National): Requirements and the F-6 Route

What F-5-2 is

F-5-2 (Spouse of a National) is one of the permanent residence (F-5) sub-tracks in Korea — the route for a foreign spouse of a Korean national. Unlike the general F-5-1 route, which is built on long residence and income, F-5-2 is built on the marriage relationship itself. Once granted, F-5 carries no time limit on your stay and no restriction on work, and the permanent resident card (yeongjujeung, 영주증) is reissued every 10 years rather than reviewed for extension.

The F-5 family and its other routes (general, points-based, degree and investment) are mapped in our F-5 permanent residence guide. This article covers only the spouse-of-a-national track.

The route: from F-6 to F-5-2

F-5-2 is applied for from F-6 (marriage migrant) status, as a change of status in Korea — not from abroad. The core residence requirement, per the Immigration Service’s published guidance, is that you have stayed in Korea for more than 2 years on F-6 as the spouse of a Korean national.

The qualifying F-6 cases include:

• F-6-1 — spouse of a Korean national in an ongoing marriage
• F-6-2 — rearing a minor child of the marriage even if the marital relationship has ended
• F-6-3 — discontinued marriage where the divorce or separation is attributable to the Korean spouse, or where the Korean spouse has been declared dead or missing

The F-6 status itself and its conditions are covered in our F-6 marriage visa guide.

The requirement set

Alongside the residence period, F-5-2 applications are screened on income, basic knowledge of Korean, and good conduct:

• Income — the reference is about 1x Korea’s per-capita GNI of the previous year. Your own income and your spouse’s (and in some cases cohabiting family members’) can be combined to reach the threshold, though your own income generally has to make up at least half of the combined amount. The precise standard is read from the Immigration Service’s notice for the application year.
• Korean language (basic knowledge) — completion of KIIP level 5 (the Korean Immigration and Integration Program, sahoe tonghap peurogeuraem, 사회통합프로그램) or a score of 60 or more on the comprehensive evaluation for permanent residence. Exemptions apply to some married immigrants over 60 and to applicants facing serious illness, so confirm your exemption before assuming the test is unnecessary.
• Good conduct — no disqualifying grounds under the Immigration Act, and in practice a certificate of criminal record from your country of nationality (and any country where you stayed a year or more), authenticated or translated as required.

Mitigation and application

For F-5-2, part of the standard can be mitigated to about 80% for married immigrants who are pregnant, undergoing fertility treatment, raising the spouse’s minor children, living with the spouse’s parents for at least a year, or aged 60 or over. Whether mitigation applies to your situation, and exactly which documents prove it, are case-by-case.

Applications are filed at the immigration office with jurisdiction over you, usually booked through HiKorea (hikorea.go.kr), and must be submitted before your current F-6 status expires. Expect to prepare the application, your passport and alien registration card, income evidence, language proof and the criminal record certificate.

Common mistakes: applying after F-6 expiry, assuming TOPIK replaces the current KIIP requirement, and understating the income check — the GNI reference is updated each year, so confirm the current notice before you file.