South Korea's D-10 Job-Seeking Visa Explained (2026)

South Korea names its post-graduation job-search status more clearly than most countries do, D-10, but the actual mechanics around duration, point requirements, and what happens next are described inconsistently across the guides that cover it. Most of what's published is secondary, consultancy blog posts and university career pages rather than a single authoritative Korea Immigration Service explainer, so this guide is upfront about where the sourcing is solid and where it genuinely isn't.

What D-10 is, and what it isn't

D-10 is a job-seeking status, distinct from an actual work visa. It lets a graduate who held a D-2 student visa switch over after finishing a degree specifically to search for employment inside Korea, attend interviews, and in some descriptions pursue a defined trial internship, without yet having secured the job offer that would authorize working outright. One source draws the distinction plainly: D-10 is a job-search status without an employer sponsor, which is exactly what separates it from E-7, the standard work visa that does require a sponsoring employer and a qualifying job offer already in hand.

When and how to apply

The consistent guidance across university international-office pages is to apply for the D-2-to-D-10 switch before your student visa expires, with common requirements including a graduation certificate or certificate of expected graduation, proof of enrollment, and some form of employment-seeking plan documenting your intended job search. At least one source notes that graduates can generally remain in Korea until their existing D-2 visa's own expiration date even before the D-10 switch is finalized, which gives some practical breathing room, though it isn't a substitute for filing the actual change of status application in time.

Duration: where the sources genuinely disagree

This is the part of D-10 that's hardest to pin down from public information. One detailed guide describes an initial grant of up to six months, extendable through additional renewals, with some graduates reaching a cumulative one to two years of job-seeking status across those extensions. A separate source instead describes the status more simply as a transitional stay of up to two years. We could not locate an official Korea Immigration Service (or Hi Korea) page in the research for this guide that settles the discrepancy directly, so plan around the more conservative six-months-plus-extensions framing and confirm your own actual authorized period on your passport sticker or your most recent notice from immigration, rather than assuming either figure applies automatically to your case.

The points system: a real possibility, but unconfirmed here

At least one source describes D-10 eligibility running partly through a points system, citing a minimum threshold around 60 out of a possible 190 points, scored across factors that commonly include degree level, field of study, Korean language proficiency, and prior work or internship experience inside Korea. We were not able to confirm this points framework, or its exact scoring weights, against an official government source in the research for this guide. If a points threshold genuinely applies to your application, your university's international office or a licensed immigration consultant in Korea is a more reliable source for the current scoring sheet than any aggregator site, several of which appear to be repeating the same unverified figure from each other.

A GPA threshold that shows up in at least one official-style source

One Korean government-adjacent employment portal describes D-10 eligibility as available to a foreign student or recent graduate holding a D-2 visa whose cumulative GPA is above 3.0, alongside a separate eligibility track for foreign nationals more broadly seeking work or planning to start a business in Korea. That GPA figure is more specific than most of what's circulating in secondary consultancy content, but we found it in only one source and couldn't cross-confirm it against a second independent official page, so treat 3.0 as a number worth checking against your own current eligibility documentation rather than a universally confirmed cutoff.

It's also worth knowing that some Korean regional governments run their own incentive programs layered on top of the national D-10 and E-7 framework, aimed specifically at retaining international graduates locally. Busan is a documented example: the city has pushed to raise the share of its international graduates converting to a work or job-seeking visa, runs dedicated job fairs for international students with visa-conversion guidance built in, and offers a separate regional F-2-R residence visa tied to employment in specific designated districts outside the main metro area. These regional programs don't replace the national D-10 process, but they're worth checking if you're specifically weighing where in Korea to focus your job search, since the support and visa options on offer can genuinely differ by city.

An October 2025 reform may have resolved some of this confusion

Several more recent sources describe a reform that took effect around October 2025, raising the maximum D-10 stay from a previous two-year cap to up to three years, though at least one of these sources notes the longer duration is granted based on your individual effort and qualifications rather than handed out automatically to every applicant. This would explain some of why older and newer sources disagree on D-10's duration, they may simply be describing the rules from before and after this change. Extensions under the current framework are generally filed in six-month blocks, and you can apply for one starting as early as four months before your current period expires. If this reform is confirmed current by the time you're reading this, it meaningfully changes the planning math in your favor compared to the shorter figures described above, but confirm the current cap directly with Hi Korea rather than assuming either the old two-year or the newer three-year figure automatically applies to your own case.

What's consistent across sources is what an extension actually requires: real evidence of an active job search, commonly described as job-application history from Korean job portals, interview confirmations, and a written plan covering your search activity over roughly the past six months. An extension can be denied if that documentation looks thin, or if unreported income turns up in your bank account during the review. Unpaid national health insurance premiums during your job search are a separate, genuinely documented risk, sources describe them as capable of causing an extension denial or restricting your ability to re-enter Korea later, so keep insurance payments current even while you have no employer covering them.

What comes after D-10: switching to a real work status

D-10 is designed as a bridge, not an end state. Once you have an actual job offer, the standard next step is applying to switch into E-7, Korea's general foreign-worker visa, which requires the sponsoring employer and the specific role to meet E-7's own eligibility criteria, including a minimum salary threshold that Korean authorities set and periodically adjust. A graduate moving into a formally structured research position, rather than a standard corporate role, might instead fall under the E-3 research visa category depending on how the position and host institution are set up. Which status actually applies depends on how your specific offer is structured, not simply on the fact that you've found a job, so confirm the right category with your prospective employer's HR team or a Korean immigration consultant before assuming your new role automatically authorizes work under whichever status sounds closest.

If you're actually chasing a research position, not an industry job

D-10's whole framework assumes you're searching broadly for employment. If what you actually want after a Korean PhD is to continue as a researcher, a postdoctoral position inside a professor's own grant-funded project, the more direct route runs through that professor's current funding and a research-tied visa category, not through D-10's general job-seeking status. Our guide to finding a funded Masters in South Korea covers how Korean professors fund students directly through NRF grants and BK21 at the Masters level, and the same underlying check, confirming a professor currently holds active funding before reaching out, is just as relevant to a postdoctoral inquiry made from inside D-10 status as it is to an initial funding search.

What to actually verify before relying on this guide

The basic shape of D-10, a job-seeking status distinct from a work visa, applied for before your D-2 visa expires, switched out of once you have a qualifying offer, is consistent across every source we found. The exact duration figure, the points system and its thresholds, and the current E-7 minimum salary are each places where sources disagreed or where we couldn't confirm a figure against an official page. Check Hi Korea's own site or speak with your university's international student office before planning your timeline around any single number quoted here or elsewhere.

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