Can foreign residents join Korea's national health insurance?

Foreign residents become eligible for national health insurance once they meet the requirements, and local enrollment is automatic rather than optional.

Two routes

Route	Requirement	Coverage starts
Employee-insured	Working at a covered workplace + alien registration (or domestic residence report)	The day you start work
Locally insured	Not employee-insured, six months of residence + a visa status on Schedule 9	The day after the six months complete

Employment carries no duration requirement. Article 109(2) of the National Health Insurance Act contains neither the time condition nor the visa restriction that apply to local enrollment. Start work on a status that permits it, complete alien registration, and you are covered that day. Day laborers on contracts under one month are excluded.

The six-month rule for local enrollment

Article 61-2 of the Enforcement Rule sets “six months or more”, and the counting has some quirks.

• It runs from your first entry into Korea
• Time abroad totaling 30 days or less within those six months still counts as residence
• Leave and stay abroad more than one month, and your re-entry date becomes the new start date

Some statuses qualify on arrival, without the six months.

Exempt status
Permanent resident (F-5)
Non-professional employment (E-9)
Marriage migrant (F-6)
Designated study (D-2), general training (D-4) for primary or secondary school, and overseas Korean (F-4) studying under those terms

Which visa statuses qualify

Eligible statuses are listed in Schedule 9 of the Enforcement Rule: D-1 through D-10, E-1 through E-10, F-1 through F-6, H-1 and H-2, and G-1 for those granted humanitarian stay under the Refugee Act.

Anything not listed is out. That covers the short-stay statuses — visa exemption (B-1), tourist transit (B-2), short-term visit (C-3) and short-term employment (C-4). Tourism or a short visit does not get you enrolled.

Separately, enrollment is excluded if you are out of status, or if you have applied for exclusion because foreign law, foreign insurance or your employment contract already provides equivalent medical coverage (Article 109(5)).

Premiums are calculated differently

The biggest difference is a floor.

• If your calculated premium comes in below the average premium, you pay the average. Low income and few assets do not take you below it
• Permanent resident (F-5) and marriage migrant (F-6) households are exempt from this floor and are assessed like Korean nationals
• NHIS set the 2026 average premium at 158,630 won
• Each person is treated as their own household by default. On request you may add a foreign spouse and children under 19
• Study (D-2) and general training (D-4) get a 50 percent reduction; religion (D-6) and G-1 get 30 percent

Payment and arrears work differently too. Premiums are paid in advance by the 25th of the preceding month, and falling into arrears suspends benefits from the date of non-payment until the balance is cleared — without the installment and retroactive-recognition relief available to Korean nationals.

Dependents also face the six-month rule

Since 3 April 2024, a foreign dependent must also meet the six-month residence requirement to be registered. A spouse and children under 19 are exempt and can be added immediately.

The rule applies only to those who entered Korea on or after that date — it is not retroactive for anyone who arrived earlier.

Sources: National Health Insurance Act Article 109; Enforcement Decree Articles 76-2 and 76-4; Enforcement Rule Article 61-2 and Schedule 9; MOHW Notice on Health Insurance for Long-term Resident Nationals Abroad and Foreigners. Last checked 2026-08-30.