Guide to Korea Immigration & Integration Program (KIIP)

As most expats are well familiar, Korea is a country especially proud of its language and culture. Therefore, foreigners who wish to stay in the country for a longer period of time are usually required to have at least basic understanding of those two components. And even when it is not mandatory per se, it cannot be denied that knowledge of Korean culture and language is essential to improve your quality of life in the country. To encourage that, the Ministry of Justice has developed the Korea Immigration and Integration Program (KIIP) for foreigners who are interested in acquiring Korean residency, or simply want to know more about the customs of the locals. Completing the initiative brings numerous benefits to expats but the application process is rumored to be confusing and demanding. That is why, many put off that step of their residency preparation as much as possible which can be rather stressful. To help you with your application, we have listed everything you need to know about KIIP in this article.

Eligible Applicants

Essentially, KIIP is an education program that was developed as a means to provide adequate and updated information about life in Korea to foreigners. By doing so, it aims to help expats grow accustomed to the Korean society and become its functional members, thus reducing the feeling of exclusion and culture shock some non-Koreans, unfortunately, experience in the country. As mentioned above, the program is oriented toward foreigners who reside in Korea, regardless of how long their intended period of stay might be. However, those who are eligible to sign up for it must have a valid alien registration card or domestic residence card. In addition, naturalized Koreans can also apply for the program as long as they have not acquired Korean citizenship over three years ago. All classes in the program are provided free of charge but the tests at the end of each level must be paid for.

Benefits

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KIIP holds various benefits for both expats of Korean origins who wish to be naturalized and foreign residents without Korean heritage. For starters, in terms of naturalization process, completing the program until the very end (Level 5: Advanced) is equal to passing the Comprehensive Evaluation for Naturalization. In addition, those who have completed the final level of KIIP (Level 5: Advanced) and passed the Comprehensive Evaluation for Naturalization, do not need to take a naturalization interview. 

What is more, all foreign residents who have completed the full course of the program, regardless of their ethnic background, are considered to have met the basic requirements for permanent residency application. They are also provided with additional points that are taken into account during change of status of sojourn application. Also,  when changing their sojourn status or applying for a visa, holders of KIIP certificate of completion do not need to prove their proficiency in Korean anymore. It is important to underline that unlike the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) which has a limited duration of two years, the KIIP completion certificate is life long and that is a great benefit in itself when it comes to verifying Korean language comprehension. 

Levels

What classes they need to take is the most confusing part for most expats when applying for KIIP, so in the following two sections we will do our best to clarify the differences in the requirements for each level. First of all, the content of the program is divided into seven levels and two courses. The level count goes from 0 to 5, given that Level 5 has two sublevels: basic and advanced. The material taught in each stage is different but, generally, Levels 0-4 are included in the Korean Language and Culture course, while Level 5 alone belongs to the Understanding the Korean Society course. 

Secondly, levels have a different number of hours that need to be completed before moving to the next step of the program. Level 0 has only 15 hours of classes, while Levels 1-4 have 100 hours each, and Level 5 consists of 70 hours in total, 50 in its basic section and 20 in the advanced one. For participants of non-Korean origins, the program is considered completed when they are through with classes up to the basic part of Level 5, while those wishing to naturalize need to listen to the additional 20 hours of the advanced part of Level 5 as well. After that, participants must take the comprehensive evaluation test of KIIP and score more than 81% in order to finalize their completion. 

Level Assignment

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To be fair, although KIIP offers various benefits upon completion, it seems impossible to go through a total of 485 hours of classes and take exams in the course of that in order to obtain a single certificate. That is what discourages expats from considering the courses unless absolutely necessary. However, it should not be overlooked that certain factors such as marriage and language proficiency allow applicants to skip certain levels of the program from the start. 

In fact, only foreigners without any level of TOPIK are required to begin their education from Level 0. Marriage Migrant Visa automatically assigns you to Level 2 of KIIP, saving you 115 hours of class attendance. In addition, TOPIK certificate holders are assigned as follows:

• TOPIK Level 1 -> KIIP Level 2

• TOPIK Level 2 -> KIIP Level 3

• TOPIK Level 3 -> KIIP Level 4

• TOPIK Level 4-6 -> KIIP Level 5

Simply put, the higher level of Korean language proficiency you can prove, the more classes you are exempt from. Ultimately, you can reduce the number of lectures you are required to attend from 485 to 50 if your command of Korean is upper-intermediate level or higher. Lastly, prior participation in other programs might also influence your assignment. To confirm that and to apply for level assignment different than that for Level 0, candidates should refer to the Immigration & Social Integration Network or the educational institution where they plan to sign up for the program at. 

Registration

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Registration for KIIP is done on the Immigration & Social Integration Network website. Applicants are required to create their own profile on the platform. Only once they do that, they are able to see the courses available in each educational institution and their schedule. It is important to understand that KIIP classes are carried out all around the country, so one of the first things you need to consider when signing up for a course, besides its level, is mobility. Secondly, courses in each institution have different timing and duration, meaning that you should not assume that if, for example, a friend of yours took classes on weekends last year, you will be able to do the same today. 

In addition to the schedule of the program and the available venues, another important thing applicants need to pay close attention to, is the registration period. Registration opens at 00:00 on the day when it is announced to begin and it is conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. Since the number of participants per class is limited, the registration process, especially for venues with central location, is extremely competitive. Therefore, if you need to complete the program urgently because of visa or any other circumstances, we recommend you sign up as early as you can on the first day of the registration period. 

Lastly, with consideration of Korea’s busy lifestyle, there are certain situations in which participants are allowed to apply for online classes instead of attending a regular course. The first kind of people eligible for such application are those with reduced mobility. This includes pregnant women and women who have recently given birth, as well as differently-abled applicants. Amongst the candidates eligible for online participation in the program are also foreigners whose originally registered courses have been canceled, and those who cannot attend any of the offline classes due to interference with their work schedule. In most cases, additional proof is requested for verification. 

Certification

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There are three types of certificates participants in KIIP can obtain: KLCT, KIPRAT, and KINAT. KLCT stands for “Korean Language and Culture Test” and is given to participants who have completed the Korean Language and Culture course, which means that they have attended the classes up to Level 4 and passed a midterm evaluation after that. While this certificate serves as a proof of language proficiency equal to TOPIK Level 3, it does not guarantee all the benefits described above since they are only acquired after completion of the full program which includes the Understanding the Korean Society course, too. 

To receive those benefits, participants of non-Korean origins who have completed the basic Level 5 classes and passed the evaluation afterwards, receive a KIPRAT certificate, which stands for Korea Immigration and Permanent Residence Aptitude Test. Since the coursework of foreign nationals interested in naturalization includes the additional advanced part of Level 5, their respective certificate obtained after passing the evaluation test is KINAT, which stands for “Korea Immigration and Naturalization Aptitude Test”.