If you’re currently living in South Korea and planning to move into another apartment address, there are things to settle first before completely moving out of your old apartment. This includes reporting to the immigration office and advising them that you will be moving into a new home.
Online Application
- Go to the website: https://www.hikorea.go.kr/resv/ResvIntroR.pt
- Apply for a visit reservation to process your change of address/residency.
As soon as your scheduled date and time have been approved and confirmed, you can go to the immigration or branch office.
On-site process:
- Prepare the required documents. Submit the following documents to the office
- Valid passport
- Signed lease agreement and/or other documents proving your place of residence
- Alien Registration Card(ARC)
- Fill out the application form given by the office and submit once done, this can be completed within the day.
- Wait for the process to be completed.
- You can wait for the confirmation of your application on the HiKorea website
Fines & deadlines
All foreign residents are given 14 days to report their change of address/residency if needed, so you have more than enough time to prepare the documents you need, apply for a report, and wait for confirmation from the immigration office or its branches. If the resident or one of the residents has not been able to file, submit documents, and get a confirmation, you will be fined more than 100,000 Won and will keep on increasing when it is prolonged(up to 1,000,000+ Won).
Notes to remember:
- Filing for a change of address/residency will be within 14 days from the day of moving.
- The processing time for the application takes about 3 days to complete.
- If the period for recording the change of residency has ended, you can no longer apply online but you can go straight to the immigration or branch office to apply for a change of address or residency.
- You are obligated to declare each resident’s name in your new residency.
- If it is a shared lease, your name must also be included in the contract.
- If you are below the age of 17, you can apply for a change of address on behalf of your parents
- If you cannot make it to the main immigration office, you can also go to your district branch office and apply there.
- You can inquire directly at your district’s office about scheduling a fixed date for filing a report on changing your address.
Immigration office hours:
Weekdays: 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM
Closed on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays