How to Switch Your D-2 Visa for a D-10 Visa

So you have just completed your tertiary education at a Korean university, congratulations on your graduation! You are about to open a new chapter of your life in Korea and have so much to look forward to as a new graduate. But, there is one thing you must make sure after graduation -- a valid visa to stay in Korea. It is very common that new graduates form Korean universities apply for a D-10 Visa, which allows you to stay in Korea for internships and job-seeking purposes. Below is a quick guide to how you can change your D-2 Visa to a D-10 Visa. Please note that the application process and required documents vary for those who are applying for a D-10 Visa from other types of visas or from overseas. 

What is D-10 Visa

For those who are looking for jobs and internship opportunities, Seoul Global Centre occasionally posts job openings and other useful information for foreign residents in Korea. Photo: Seoul Global Centre

D-10 Visa is oftentimes referred to as ‘job-seeking’ or ‘internship’ visa. D-10 Visa is a very common option for those who have just graduated from Korean universities and are hoping to land a job in Korea. Since securing a job or position is not an easy task for new graduates, many of them apply for a D-10 Visa, which allows them to stay in Korea for a short, defined period of time. 

Ultimately, people who are applying for D-10 Visa are ones who are looking to settle down in Korea at a later stage in the following fields: 

• E-1: Professor

• E-2: Foreign Language Instructor

• E-3: Researcher

• E-4: Technical Instructor/Technician

• E-5: Professional

• E-6: Artist/Athlete (Permitted activities under E-6 status only include pure art/sports, and exclude adult entertainment businesses)

• E-7: Foreign National of Special Ability 

Under the D-10 Visa status, you are allowed to engage in job-seeking activities, on-the-job training, and short-term paid internships at a company or organisation in Korea. As such, once you successfully obtain a D-10 Visa, you have to make sure that your job-seeking activities and internship programs must align with one of the fields listed above. The duration of stay permitted under D-10 Visa is 6 months, and you can extend this later if you have valid reasons. Please note that a D-10 Visa does not allow you to be employed by a company or organisation. If you are offered a position while on a D-10 visa, you are required to apply and switch to other valid visas at least 14 days before your contract begins. 

Application Process
 

Appointments can be made by clicking on ‘Reserve Visit’ on Hi Korea website. Photo: Hi Korea

When you are applying for any types of visas to stay in Korea, the very first thing you have to do is to book an appointment at your local immigration centre. Appointments can be made via Hi Korea, and you can also search for a specific local immigration centre that administers your neighbourhood on this website by using your address in Korea. Getting the location right is extremely important as immigration centres that do not govern your neighbourhood cannot process your application, and you will be asked to find another timeslot. 

In the meanwhile, there are a few things that you need to get handy. For new graduates from Korean universities, these required documents are fairly easy to obtain. Below is a summary of what you need to prepare: 

• Passport with at least 6 months of remaining validity

• Alien Registration Card 

• 1 Photo (size 3.5 × 4.5)

• Application form (The form is available at the immigration centre or download on this page by searching ‘통합신청서 (신고서)’)

• Certificate of Graduation (The immigration does NOT accept Certificate of Completion, which can be issued before your graduation date)

• Housing contract

• Plan for Seeking Employment (Download on this page by searching ‘구직활동계획서’)

• Application fee 130,000 KRW (mailing service available at an additional cost of 4,500 KRW)

After preparing all these documents and booking an appointment, you are ready to visit the immigration centre. When your booking number is called at the immigration centre, you will be asked to pay 100,000 KRW to a window that collects application fees where you are given stamps as proof of your payment. When you pay the application fee to the officer at the window, make sure you ask for mailing options if you would like to have your new ARC sent to your address when it is ready. The remaining 30,000 KRW is a processing fee, which you have to deposit at the ATM on-site. I have heard of many stories where the ATM at immigration centres did not accept certain foreign cards to withdraw money, so please make sure you bring 130,000 KRW in cash if possible. 

Once you complete the application process, the officer will tell you a specific date when your card is ready for pickup. On average, the D-10 Visa application process only takes about 4 - 7 days, but the immigration advises potential applicants that the process could elongate to take up to 4 - 5 weeks under the current COVID-19 situation. 

How to fill out the ‘Plan for Seeking Employment’ 

For those who are transferring from D-2 Visa to D-10 Visa, all the required documents explained above are pretty straightforward. The only exception is the ‘Plan for Seeking Employment,’ which you must fill out carefully. 

In Section 3 of the Plan for Seeking Employment, you are asked to map out your schedules, plans, and any relevant information as to what you will be doing for the next 6 months. As much as I do understand how unclear your job-seeking plans might be for the next few months after graduation, writing dull sentences like ‘I will look for a job’ or ‘learn Korean’ will not work in your favour. 

There are two tips: (1) Be as specific and concrete as possible, and (2) Do not lie. For example, instead of ‘I will look for a job,’ you can write ‘I will attend the XXX international student job fair’ -- and actually do it. Search online and you will come across plenty of job fairs and other networking opportunities you can sign up for to boost your career prospect. In a similar vein, sentences like ‘learn Korean’ can be more specific by adding more information. Something like ‘in order to increase my employability, I will learn Korean and achieve TOPIK Level 6’ sounds much more promising than the original wording. 

Final Tips

Obtaining any types of visa is a very time-sensitive process, meaning meeting specified deadlines is crucial. While the D-2 Visa, in general, gives you a one-month grace period for you to stay in Korea and sort things out after graduation, don’t leave everything until the last minute. There are hundreds and thousands of other international students in Korea who are graduating with you, and immediate post-graduation times (i.e. February - March and August - September) tend to bring very tight and busy schedules to immigration centres. Therefore, planning your application and booking well ahead of time is extremely important.

When booking an appointment with your local immigration centre, I would recommend making two bookings. This is because sometimes the immigration asks you to submit additional information and documents depending on the outcome of the application process, which might take a few days to prepare. Things are very unclear during the COVID-19 pandemic, so please allow yourself sufficient time to organise your visa!