E-7-1 Business Support Manager Visa (1212)

Overview

E-7-1 Business Support Manager (code 1212) is for a foreign national who will manage a department such as general affairs and HR, planning, PR and advertising, finance, or materials and purchasing. The person must meet the general degree and career standard and the wage requirement.

The occupation is described like this. Under the broad direction of the chief executive, and in consultation with managers of other departments, the person plans, directs and coordinates management support work such as administration and personnel, along with work that backs up production.

One condition is attached. This occupation is for managers in lines of business outside the separate manager occupations numbered 1312 through 1522. If the workplace is a school or a financial institution, for example, check that occupation first.

No special degree or career requirement is set here, so the general standard applies as it is. The review follows the criteria shared by manager occupations: it looks at the company's operating department, how independent it is, how many regular staff it has, the foreign manager's pay level and other factors, and in principle only managers of head-office operating departments qualify.

At a Glance

Scope of Activity

• Planning, directing and coordinating management support work such as general affairs and personnel
• Planning the work that backs up production and lining it up across departments
• Leading a department under the broad direction of the chief executive while consulting managers of other departments
• Managers of planning, public relations and advertising, of finance, and of materials and purchasing are in the same list of examples.
• In principle the post is limited to managers of the company's head-office operating departments. A workplace change or addition is outside the prior-permission list, so it is filed afterward: the deadline is 15 days from the date the reason arises, and the filing goes to the immigration office with jurisdiction. Qualification requirements for the activity at the changed or added workplace must be in place. Persons dismissed or leaving midway because of their own fault, who could not secure transfer consent from the original employer, are excluded even if those requirements are met.

Who Qualifies

• A foreign national about to be hired to lead a management department such as general affairs, HR, finance, purchasing or planning and public relations
• A person with a master's degree or higher in a field related to the occupation, or a related bachelor's degree with 1 year or more of experience in the field, or 5 years or more of work in a related field. Only experience gained after earning the degree or certificate counts, except that people working in advanced-technology fields (IT, bio, nano and the like) may also count internship experience in the field from before graduation.
• A person with a bachelor's degree or higher who has graduated, or is about to graduate, from a Korean university under the Higher Education Act (university, industrial university, university of education or junior college). When taking a job in an admitted occupation, the major does not matter if the need to hire and other factors are recognized, and the 1-year experience requirement is waived for a bachelor's degree or higher. Distance universities (broadcasting, correspondence, broadcast-correspondence and cyber universities), technical universities and miscellaneous schools are excluded.
• A person with 1 year or more in a professional job at one of the world's 500 largest companies may be allowed even without meeting the degree, career and other requirements set for the occupation, if the need to hire and other factors are recognized.

Required Documents

• Your own file starts with a passport copy, one half-size color ID photo and the employment contract, plus whatever shows your degree or career, such as a diploma, a work history certificate or a license.
• Each paper issued abroad needs a Korean or English translation behind it; only the main key papers also carry consular notarization or an apostille certificate.
• The inviting company brings the establishment papers of the employing organization or the like, a statement of reasons for invitation that spells out the need to employ a foreigner, the plan for using the foreigner and the expected effect and the like, a national tax payment certificate and a local tax payment certificate.
• No recommendation letter is collected for a manager at a large company, whether in general affairs, HR, finance, planning, public relations, materials or purchasing. Code 1212 names no recommending body, so even a small company has no particular letter to line up.
• The review weighs the company's operating department status, its independence, the department's number of regular staff, the foreign manager's pay level and other points. Which materials should show this is not specified.

Application Process

1. Check eligibility — confirm your current status, career, degree and contract type match the requirements.
2. Prepare documents — foreign public documents need a translator's certification plus an apostille (or consular confirmation for non-member states).
3. Book a visit — reserve a slot at your Immigration Office via HiKorea (www.hikorea.go.kr), or file online where e-Application is available.
4. File and pay — submit the Integrated Application Form (Form No. 34) and pay the screening fee.
5. Review — respond to any request for supplementary documents within the deadline.
6. Result — on approval, the period of stay and status are granted; reissue your ARC if required.

Key Points

• The pay floor is the professional-level figure announced yearly, KRW 31.12 million or more. No separate wage standard is written for code 1212, and the review also considers the foreign manager's pay level.
• There is also a wage exception to know about. It covers firms confirmed by a small and medium-sized enterprise (small business owner) certificate, venture firms confirmed by a venture business certificate, and mid-sized firms located outside the capital region confirmed by a mid-sized enterprise certificate. The person must expect to work in an occupation to which the wage requirement of 80% or more of last year's per-capita GNI applies, and must have no E-7 work history in Korea or 3 years or less. For up to 3 years the review can use 70% or more instead of 80%, and after 3 full years 80% or more applies again. When the exception amount differs from the amount announced for the year, the more favorable figure is used.
• Small or medium-sized enterprise refers to a company set apart from large companies under the Enforcement Decree of the Framework Act on Small and Medium Enterprises. Where an occupation names a recommending body, a recommendation letter can be collected only from managers at small or medium-sized firms, not large companies.
• Employment recommendation letter means a document that proves the need to employ a foreign worker; who it is issued for, which ministry issues it and so on are set in each occupation's review standard. No recommending body is named for business support managers, and collection is waived for managers at large companies.
• Job code means the number given to each occupation on the basis of the Korean Standard Classification of Occupations. Business support manager is 1212, and managers in lines of business with their own codes from 1312 to 1522 fall outside it.
• The work that VISAS KOREA (Vision Administrative Office) helps with is as follows. For a company hiring a manager in a function such as general affairs, HR or finance, the points review compares, such as department independence, regular staff numbers and the manager's pay, are checked before filing.
• Visa issuance certificate request under Specific Activities (E-7-1)
• Change of status application
• Extension of stay application
• Notice and permission for changing or adding a workplace
• Nothing here replaces a decision on your own file. The immigration office with jurisdiction rules on each application separately.
• Related job articles: E-7-1 Corporate Senior Executive visa, E-7-1 ICT Manager visa, E-7-1 Professional Services Manager visa. The full job list is in All E-7 job categories.
• Documents issued in Korea must normally be dated within 3 months unless another validity period applies.
• Documents already on file in your alien registration record need not be resubmitted.
• Health certificates, drug test results and pre-employment medical reports must be submitted sealed by the issuing hospital (do not open).
• You must be in Korea when applying; leaving the country after filing may result in refusal.
• Screening fees are non-refundable once the application is accepted.
• The head of the Immigration Office may add or waive documents where necessary for review.

Frequently Asked Questions

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