Starting a company in Korea?

Registering a company in Korea as a foreign national involves the same corporate registry filing a Korean founder would make — articles of incorporation, capital deposit, a registered address — plus a set of foreign-specific steps: apostilled and translated personal documents, and, if applicable, the FDI notification that qualifies the company as foreign-invested.

What Korean incorporation requires

Every Korean company needs a corporate registry filing (법인등기) confirming its structure, capital, and registered address, followed by a business registration certificate (사업자등록증) from the tax office before it can legally operate, invoice, or hire. For a foreign founder, the underlying personal documents — passport, proof of address, sometimes a criminal background check — typically need certified translation and, depending on the destination use, apostille or notarization before the registry will accept them.

What we handle

• Corporate registry (법인등기) filing — articles of incorporation, capital deposit, registered address
• Business registration certificate (사업자등록증) filing with the tax office
• Translation, apostille, and notarization of the founder's foreign personal documents
• Coordination with FDI registration and D-8 visa filings when relevant

Who typically needs this

Foreign entrepreneurs setting up a standalone Korean company, foreign investors establishing a subsidiary of an overseas business, and founders who plan to apply for a D-8 investor visa once the company is registered.

How incorporation works

1. We confirm the company structure — business type, capital amount, shareholder makeup — and prepare the founding documents.
2. Corporate registry and business registration filings are submitted to the relevant offices.
3. You receive the registered company documents, ready to open a bank account, file an FDI notification, or apply for a visa.

Common mistakes

• Choosing a capital amount or business type that doesn't align with later FDI or visa requirements
• Submitting personal documents that haven't been properly translated or apostilled, which the registry can reject
• Not sequencing incorporation, FDI notification, and visa filing in the right order

Incorporation timeline

Corporate registration typically takes about 1–2 weeks from document submission to registration certificate, depending on how quickly supporting documents are ready.