Korean social insurance system for expatriate employees

I already covered social insurance systems for Korean employees in my previous post. But what about social insurance for staff sent from headquarters to Korea? It is very difficult to find information on this question. The following is information I gathered by reading laws, browsing related organizations and doing web searches.

1. National Pension

National pension is mandatory to foreign workers who are aged 18 to 59 and working in a company located in Korea with 1 employee or more.

The exception is when national pension of the foreign country does not apply to Korean workers working there. In this case, Korean National Pension is not mandatory for the concerned foreign worker (rule of reciprocity).

Currently, Korea has social security agreements with 15 countries such as Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Germany, China, Netherlands, Japan, Italy, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Hungary, France, Australia, Czech, and Ireland.

The agreement affects application of the National Pension for foreigners.

For more information on social security agreements with individual countries, check the English page of the National Pension Service.

2. Industrial accident compensation insurance

Industrial accident compensation insurance basically applies to foreign employees hired by a company in Korea.

As for the exemption, the same principle of reciprocity as the national pension prevails here.

3. Employment Insurance

Basically, foreign workers are excluded from the application of employment insurance.

– Optional –

However, for those who have E-7 and following visas, employment insurance is optional. They may subscribe to the insurance  or not. The same principle applies to holders of the following visas: C4, E-1, E-2 ~ E7, H-2.

For details of Korean visa types, visit E-Government for Foreigners website and read “Visa Issuance Guide – status of stay”.

– Reciprocity –

Foreign employees with following visas should follow the rule of reciprocity.

D-7: Supervisory intra-company transfer
D-8: Corporate Investment
D-9: Trade Management

4. Health Insurance

Health insurance is mandatory for workplace with one or more employees. However, a foreign employee with one of the following conditions can be exempted from Korean health insurance by submitting a paper and relevant documents to National Health Insurance Corporation.

The concerned employee’s health coverage is guaranteed by:
– his/her own country’s law
– his/her own country’s foreign insurance
– his/her contract with an employer

P.S. : Searching for relevent English – even Korean language – information on social insurances  for foreigners is a frustrating experience. Not a single government agency provides practical information on this issue on their English websites.

Hence, the contents above may not be correct 100 percent. Should you, as an expatriate manager or an expert in Korean social insurances, find any mistakes, please let me know.  I will correct it.