Yes, you need a permit, and you need it before your first shift. D-2 and D-4 students may not take a part-time job unless the Ministry of Justice has already approved a part-time work permit (시간제취업 허가). The permit is free, it takes a few documents, and your Korean level decides how many hours you can work.
This guide covers the permit steps, the weekly hour limits (as of the HiKorea manual dated September 18, 2026; verify at HiKorea), the jobs you cannot take, and what changes after graduation.
Do you need a permit? Yes, before your first shift
Under the Immigration Act, a D-2 or D-4 student can take a paid job only with the Minister of Justice's prior permission.
The permit covers ordinary student side jobs, such as simple labor. It does not cover professional work, and private tutoring is tightly restricted.
Three rules to remember:
- Apply before you start. The permit comes first, then the job.
- Apply again before you change employers. A new workplace under a different employer needs a new permit first.
- The permit is free. The fee is waived for D-2 and D-4 students.
Who can apply
The permit is for students who have enough Korean to work, are focused on their studies, and have confirmation from their university's international student staff.
- Degree and exchange students (D-2-1 to D-2-4, D-2-6, D-2-7): You can apply right away. The manual lists no waiting period.
- Language students (D-4-1, D-4-7) and visiting students (D-2-8): You must wait 6 months from the date you changed status. If you entered Korea on a visa, count from your entry date.
- Research students (D-2-5): The manual does not list this group. Ask your international office.
- Students who finished their program without meeting graduation requirements and received an exceptional stay are excluded.
- Master's and doctoral students at the thesis stage may be allowed, but capped at 30 hours per week with no unlimited weekends or vacations.
Your application can be restricted if your average grade last term was below a C (2.0) and the office judges that work and study do not fit together. For language students, an average attendance below 90 percent across all completed terms restricts the permit. Anyone punished in the past 3 months for working without a permit or breaking permit conditions is also restricted.
The permit checklist
Use these five steps.
- Sign a standard labor contract (표준근로계약서). It must state your hourly wage, your duties, and your hours. The employer must hire you directly. A contract through a staffing or dispatch agency, where the hiring company and the working company differ, is not accepted.
- Ask your university to complete the confirmation form. The form is the part-time work confirmation (외국인 유학생 시간제 취업 확인서), and the university's international student staff fill it in.
- Gather your documents. Application form, passport, Alien Registration Card (외국인등록증), and your transcript or attendance record (not needed if the school system can verify it). Add your Korean ability proof, the confirmation form, a copy of the employer's business registration and ID, and a copy of the labor contract.
- Apply online or by visit. You can apply on HiKorea or in person at an immigration office. The fee is waived.
- Wait for the permit. You receive either a permit sticker in your passport or an online permit printout. Do not work until you have it.
Two extra notes:
- If the employer's business registration includes manufacturing or construction, you also submit the confirmation that you will follow the part-time work conditions (외국인 유학생 시간제취업 요건 준수 확인서).
- Students who study in an English-track program can use an English test score in place of Korean proof, for example TOEFL iBT 71, IELTS 5.5, or CEFR B2.
How long the permit lasts
| D-2 (degree) | D-4 (language) | |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum permit length | Up to 1 year, within your stay period | Up to 6 months |
| Workplaces | Up to 2 at once, within the hour limit | 1 only |
| Wait before applying | None listed in the manual | 6 months |
| Fee | Free | Free |
Weekly hour limits for degree students
The limits below are weekday hours per week. Meeting the Korean requirement means any one of the options in the second column.
| Program | Korean requirement (any one) | Requirement not met | Requirement met | Met, plus a 5-hour bonus condition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Associate degree (전문학사) | TOPIK 3, or KIIP step 3 completed (or pre-test 61+), or King Sejong Institute intermediate 1 | 10 | 25 | 30 |
| Bachelor's, years 1 to 2 | TOPIK 3, or KIIP step 3 completed (or pre-test 61+), or King Sejong Institute intermediate 1 | 10 | 25 | 30 |
| Bachelor's, years 3 to 4 | TOPIK 4, or KIIP step 4 completed (or pre-test 81+), or King Sejong Institute intermediate 2 | 10 | 25 | 30 |
| Master's and doctoral | TOPIK 4 or equivalent (confirm with your international office) | 15 | 30 | 35 |
Weekends, holidays, and vacations. If you meet the Korean requirement, you can work without an hour limit on weekends, holidays, and school vacations. If you do not meet it, the same weekly cap applies on weekends and during vacations too: 10 hours for associate and bachelor's students and 15 hours for master's and doctoral students.
The 5-hour bonus. If you meet the Korean requirement, you get 5 more weekday hours when you meet any one of these:
- You attend a certified university (인증대학).
- Your grades count as excellent (성적우수). Ask your international office how your school measures this.
- Your Korean counts as excellent (한국어우수). Ask your international office which test level qualifies.
The bonus does not help you if you miss the Korean requirement. In that case the cap stays at 10 hours for associate and bachelor's students and 15 hours for master's and doctoral students.
Certified status changes. In February 2026, the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Education announced 181 certified degree-program universities for March 2026 to February 2030. Ask your international office whether your university is on the list.
For how to reach each TOPIK level, see the TOPIK guide. To earn KIIP steps instead, see the KIIP guide.
What about D-4 language students?
The official hours table covers degree programs only. It has no row for D-4 language students, so Seoulstart does not publish a D-4 weekly hour number. Ask your language institute, and call the immigration help line (외국인종합안내센터) at 1345 before you apply.
These D-4 conditions are published:
- You must wait 6 months from your entry date or status change date.
- The permit lasts up to 6 months and covers 1 workplace.
- Your average attendance over completed terms must be at least 90 percent.
The Korean language school guide covers attendance rules in more detail.
Jobs you can and cannot take
Take only ordinary student side jobs. The permit does not turn a banned job into an allowed one.
Banned for D-2 and D-4 students:
- Work that goes against public morals
- Professional work in the E-1 to E-7 categories, such as teaching conversation to minors at a language facility (E-2 work)
- Construction work and seafaring (E-10)
- Manufacturing, unless your Korean is at TOPIK Level 4 or equivalent
- Delivery-agency riders, courier drivers, substitute drivers, insurance agents, home-study tutors (학습지 교사), and door-to-door sales
- Work through dispatch, subcontracting, or broker arrangements. Regional universities designated by the Ministry of Justice can arrange industry-linked internships as an exception.
- Work at a distant workplace (원거리 근무)
- Work for an employer who has been barred for past illegal hiring
- Private tutoring, which is strictly restricted because of the place and the people involved
Allowed as exceptions:
- Manufacturing with TOPIK Level 4 or equivalent
- Safety or play assistant at English kids cafes and camps
- Seasonal work, part-time or full-time
- Assistant work in professional E-1 to E-7 fields (not entertainment work in the E-6-2 category)
- Professional-field (E-1 to E-7) internships for students in a work-study-linked (일-학습연계) program, and professional-field internships during school vacation
If a job needs a license or qualification, you must hold it.
Before you accept a job, run it through HiKorea's employment eligibility check or call 1345. Check the wage too: the minimum wage guide shows what you are owed per hour.
To see what employers are posting, browse jobs on Seoulstart at /jobs. Check each listing against the rules above: direct employment, a written hourly contract, a nearby workplace, and no staffing agency.
Internships, practicums, and research pay
- Vacation internships. A degree student can do an internship in an E-1 to E-7 professional field during school vacation. You need the part-time work permit.
- Credit-linked practicum. The standard practicum semester (현장실습학기제) needs no permit. The autonomous practicum semester (자율 현장실습학기제), which your university runs outside the standard rules, does.
- Research pay inside your university. Pay linked to your studies needs no permit. Pay unrelated to your studies does.
- Research pay outside your university. If it is linked to your studies, you need the permit. If it is unrelated, you need a separate activity permit (E-3).
- One-off payments. A single honorarium or prize, or other payment tied to daily life, falls outside the permit.
Find internship listings at /jobs/internships, and read the internships guide for which visa fits which internship.
Mistakes that cost you
- Starting work while the permit is still pending
- Changing employer without a new permit
- Working more hours than your cap
- Taking a banned job because the pay is good
- Letting your grade average fall below 2.0
- Letting D-4 attendance fall below 90 percent
Penalties
According to Easy Law, working without permission can bring up to 3 years in prison or a fine of up to ₩30 million, an advice to leave Korea, or deportation. These come from the Immigration Act.
Ministry of Justice enforcement guidance, as written in the manual, sets harsher steps for each repeat. Outcomes vary by case.
Working without a permit:
- First detection: if the violation is minor, you receive a fine notice (통고처분) and can keep your stay. Construction work gets a departure order with no exception.
- Second detection: deportation.
Holding a permit but breaking its conditions:
- First time: a serious warning.
- Second time: no part-time work permitted for the rest of your studies.
- Third time: your student status can be cancelled.
After graduation: the D-10-1 part-time permit
Your student permit ends with your student status. If you move to the D-10-1 job-seeker visa, you can apply for a separate D-10 part-time permit only if you meet every condition:
- You hold a Korean degree (associate or higher) earned less than 3 years ago.
- You hold TOPIK Level 4 or have completed KIIP step 4 or higher.
- You have never held an E-1 to E-7 status.
What the D-10-1 permit allows:
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Fields | Fields open to student part-timers, plus farming (no language requirement). Manufacturing needs KIIP step 4 or higher; TOPIK is not accepted for manufacturing. |
| Weekday hours | 25 per week. 30 if you completed KIIP step 5 or higher. |
| Weekends and holidays | No hour limit |
| Fee | ₩120,000 (the student permit is free) |
You also need the D-10 part-time confirmation form (구직(D-10) 시간제 취업 확인서). Unpermitted work can lead to punishment for both the job seeker and the employer. The Ministry of Justice revised the scope of this permit in March 2026, so confirm the current scope at HiKorea.
The D-10 visa guide covers everything else about the job-seeker visa. For the rest of the D-2 rules, see the D-2 visa guide.