{"schemaVersion":1,"passportCode":"KR","passportUrl":"https://multipassrank.com/passport/south-korea","scope":"Selected country-topic summaries; not a complete account of citizenship law or personal tax liability. These facts do not change mobility scores.","review":{"decision":"approved","reviewer":"/root/review_pass412","reviewedAt":"2026-09-17","recheckBy":"2026-12-16","candidateSha256":"590b251138606d4e36688ef85c65fbc9780a9174a72d7151657c06b2979952fa","notes":"Independent source review approved four bounded topics, 26 facts and 23 sources. Every cited authority was opened and the relevant actual text read, including KLRI bodies via their content endpoints and current Korean national-law article bodies. The original mixed-edition KLRI two-column provenance was rejected: corrected sources identify the available December 2025 Act and February 2026 Decree English reference editions, while Korean Act Articles 1-2 and 3 and Decree Articles 2 and 4 effective 1 July 2026 support current residence, counting and income-scope propositions. The newest English version menus/history-only shells were not accepted as substantive proof. Korean naturalisation retains separate five-year qualifying residence and permanent-status conditions, assessment and interview exceptions, ministerial decision, acquisition formalities and qualified renunciation duties. Korean tax residence is not a nationality or calendar-year day-count shortcut; the five-in-ten foreign-source remittance proviso remains limited to foreign nationals, and nonresident source obligations and treaty scope remain qualified. Finland retains eight-year default versus five-year language-compliant residence, permit credits and absence conditions, expressly sourced YKI grade 3/B1 proof, decision-date livelihood assessment, transition and exemption qualifications, and the future 2027 civic-knowledge cohort rather than a current test. Finnish home/stay residence, citizenship-linked departure presumption, foreign-income relief and the separate foreign-wage six-month rule are not conflated. This approves the exact candidate bytes and stated ordinary-route/personal-tax baseline only, not comprehensive legal coverage, individual eligibility, visa evidence, integration or deployment."},"reviewScope":"A common review is provided only when all topics share one approval. Otherwise consult each topic's review; no collection means no review.","reviews":[{"decision":"approved","reviewer":"/root/review_pass412","reviewedAt":"2026-09-17","recheckBy":"2026-12-16","candidateSha256":"590b251138606d4e36688ef85c65fbc9780a9174a72d7151657c06b2979952fa","notes":"Independent source review approved four bounded topics, 26 facts and 23 sources. Every cited authority was opened and the relevant actual text read, including KLRI bodies via their content endpoints and current Korean national-law article bodies. The original mixed-edition KLRI two-column provenance was rejected: corrected sources identify the available December 2025 Act and February 2026 Decree English reference editions, while Korean Act Articles 1-2 and 3 and Decree Articles 2 and 4 effective 1 July 2026 support current residence, counting and income-scope propositions. The newest English version menus/history-only shells were not accepted as substantive proof. Korean naturalisation retains separate five-year qualifying residence and permanent-status conditions, assessment and interview exceptions, ministerial decision, acquisition formalities and qualified renunciation duties. Korean tax residence is not a nationality or calendar-year day-count shortcut; the five-in-ten foreign-source remittance proviso remains limited to foreign nationals, and nonresident source obligations and treaty scope remain qualified. Finland retains eight-year default versus five-year language-compliant residence, permit credits and absence conditions, expressly sourced YKI grade 3/B1 proof, decision-date livelihood assessment, transition and exemption qualifications, and the future 2027 civic-knowledge cohort rather than a current test. Finnish home/stay residence, citizenship-linked departure presumption, foreign-income relief and the separate foreign-wage six-month rule are not conflated. This approves the exact candidate bytes and stated ordinary-route/personal-tax baseline only, not comprehensive legal coverage, individual eligibility, visa evidence, integration or deployment."}],"coverage":{"citizenship":"reviewed_scope","taxes":"reviewed_scope"},"topics":[{"code":"KR","topic":"citizenship","title":"South Korean citizenship by naturalisation","summary":"General naturalisation requires five consecutive years of qualifying residence and a status permitting permanent residence, alongside personal, livelihood and integration conditions. The ordinary route generally requires renouncing an existing foreign nationality after acquisition.","scope":"Ordinary adult general naturalisation under Nationality Act Article 5; facilitated marriage or family routes, special naturalisation and restoration are not the baseline.","jurisdiction":"Republic of Korea","routeId":"top20-kr-general-naturalisation","routeType":"naturalisation","facts":[{"id":"top20-kr-residence-and-status","label":"Five-year residence and permanent-status conditions","text":"General applicants need a domicile in Korea for at least five consecutive years and a status of stay permitting permanent residence. These are separate conditions; the statute does not describe the entire five years as time holding permanent residence.","state":"documented","sourceIds":["top20-kr-naturalisation-types"],"locator":"General naturalisation: acquisition requirements; Nationality Act Article 5(1) and (1-2)","constraint":{"value":5,"unit":"years","basis":"legal_residence","cohort":"Ordinary general naturalisation; consecutive qualifying domicile, plus a separate permanent-residence status condition"}},{"id":"top20-kr-residence-counting","label":"Lawful residence and departures","text":"The clock covers lawful residence after lawful entry and alien registration. Qualifying re-entry within an authorised re-entry period, specified temporary departure followed by re-entry within one month with a visa, or an analogous case accepted by the Minister can combine the periods before and after departure. This is not an unrestricted absence allowance.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-kr-naturalisation-procedure"],"locator":"Domestic residence requirement for naturalization applicants; Enforcement Rule of the Nationality Act Article 5"},{"id":"top20-kr-adult-conduct-support","label":"Adult, conduct, livelihood and public-interest assessment","text":"Applicants must be adults under Korean civil law, meet the prescribed good-conduct requirements and sustain themselves through their assets or abilities or family sharing their livelihood. The Minister must also find naturalisation compatible with national security, public order and public welfare.","state":"documented","sourceIds":["top20-kr-naturalisation-types"],"locator":"General naturalisation: acquisition requirements; Nationality Act Article 5(2), (3), (4) and (6)"},{"id":"top20-kr-language-and-integration","label":"Korean language and integration assessment","text":"Basic national qualifications include Korean language ability and understanding Korean customs. Applicants ordinarily undergo a comprehensive assessment and an interview; statutory exemptions include specified age and social-integration-programme cases. The comprehensive assessment normally requires at least 60 out of 100 and the interview must be satisfactory. No CEFR equivalence is established here.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-kr-naturalisation-types","top20-kr-naturalisation-procedure"],"locator":"Nationality Act Article 5(5); Comprehensive assessment for naturalization and interviews; restrictions on permission; Decree Articles 4-2 and 4-3, Enforcement Rule Article 4"},{"id":"top20-kr-acquisition-formalities","label":"Permission and acquisition formalities","text":"Naturalisation requires ministerial permission. A permitted applicant normally acquires nationality by taking the national oath and receiving the naturalisation certificate; specified age or disability cases may be exempt from the oath. Completing the residence period alone does not grant citizenship.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-kr-naturalisation-procedure"],"locator":"What is naturalization?; National oath and certificate; Nationality Act Article 4(1) and (3), Decree Article 4-5"},{"id":"top20-kr-renunciation-condition","label":"Renunciation is the ordinary rule","text":"A naturalised person retaining a foreign nationality generally must renounce it within one year of acquiring Korean nationality. Only statutory exception categories may instead pledge not to exercise it in Korea, including certain marriage, special-contribution, restoration and inability-to-renounce cases. Failure to meet the applicable obligation in time causes loss of Korean nationality.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-kr-renunciation"],"locator":"Foreign-nationality renunciation card, principle, exceptions and warning; Nationality Act Article 10(1)–(3); source states information as at 15 August 2026"}],"limits":["This is the general adult route, not a complete account of facilitated, special, restoration or military-service rules.","No general physical-presence day total, CEFR level, fee or processing guarantee is asserted. Departure handling and supporting evidence require individual confirmation with the immigration authority.","The cited Ministry of Government Legislation guidance is official explanatory material, not a binding determination of an individual application; the original nationality's retention rules also matter."],"review":{"decision":"approved","reviewer":"/root/review_pass412","reviewedAt":"2026-09-17","recheckBy":"2026-12-16","candidateSha256":"590b251138606d4e36688ef85c65fbc9780a9174a72d7151657c06b2979952fa","notes":"Independent source review approved four bounded topics, 26 facts and 23 sources. Every cited authority was opened and the relevant actual text read, including KLRI bodies via their content endpoints and current Korean national-law article bodies. The original mixed-edition KLRI two-column provenance was rejected: corrected sources identify the available December 2025 Act and February 2026 Decree English reference editions, while Korean Act Articles 1-2 and 3 and Decree Articles 2 and 4 effective 1 July 2026 support current residence, counting and income-scope propositions. The newest English version menus/history-only shells were not accepted as substantive proof. Korean naturalisation retains separate five-year qualifying residence and permanent-status conditions, assessment and interview exceptions, ministerial decision, acquisition formalities and qualified renunciation duties. Korean tax residence is not a nationality or calendar-year day-count shortcut; the five-in-ten foreign-source remittance proviso remains limited to foreign nationals, and nonresident source obligations and treaty scope remain qualified. Finland retains eight-year default versus five-year language-compliant residence, permit credits and absence conditions, expressly sourced YKI grade 3/B1 proof, decision-date livelihood assessment, transition and exemption qualifications, and the future 2027 civic-knowledge cohort rather than a current test. Finnish home/stay residence, citizenship-linked departure presumption, foreign-income relief and the separate foreign-wage six-month rule are not conflated. This approves the exact candidate bytes and stated ordinary-route/personal-tax baseline only, not comprehensive legal coverage, individual eligibility, visa evidence, integration or deployment."},"url":"https://multipassrank.com/passport/south-korea/citizenship","disclaimer":"General information, not legal advice or a finding of eligibility. Requirements depend on the route, applicant and filing date. Verify the official instructions before applying."},{"code":"KR","topic":"taxes","title":"South Korean individual tax context","summary":"Individual income-tax scope depends on residence and income source. Residents generally fall within worldwide-income taxation, but a limited remittance condition applies to qualifying short-term foreign-national residents, not to Korean nationals merely returning from abroad.","scope":"Baseline individual income-tax residence and source rules; no personal liability calculation, corporate regime, foreign-worker flat-rate election or comprehensive capital-gains analysis.","jurisdiction":"Republic of Korea","facts":[{"id":"top20-kr-tax-residence","label":"Domicile or residence, not nationality alone","text":"Residence can arise from a Korean domicile or a Korean place of residence for at least 183 days. Domicile is assessed using living relationships, including family and property; occupations requiring prolonged Korean residence and specified family circumstances can establish deemed domicile. Fewer than 183 days does not alone establish non-residence.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-kr-current-act-residence","top20-kr-current-decree-domicile","top20-kr-income-tax-act","top20-kr-income-tax-decree"],"locator":"Current Korean Income Tax Act Article 1-2 and Enforcement Decree Article 2(1)–(3), effective 1 July 2026; English editions are supporting references"},{"id":"top20-kr-tax-residence-counting","label":"Counting residence across tax years","text":"The current decree includes continuous residence of at least 183 days spanning two taxable periods. Residence is counted from the day after arrival through departure; qualifying temporary absences can count too. This is not solely a calendar-year physical-presence test, and special rules govern qualifying temporary visits by overseas Koreans.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-kr-current-decree-counting","top20-kr-income-tax-decree"],"locator":"Current Korean Enforcement Decree Article 4(1)–(4), especially Article 4(3)(2); Decree No. 36343, effective 1 July 2026"},{"id":"top20-kr-tax-worldwide-and-remittance","label":"Worldwide income and the foreign-resident exception","text":"Residents are taxed on income within the Act, including foreign income. For foreign-national residents whose Korean domicile or residence totals no more than five years in the ten years ending with the relevant tax period, foreign-source income is taxable only when paid in or remitted to Korea. This exception does not extend to Korean nationals or exempt Korean-source income.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-kr-current-act-income-scope","top20-kr-income-tax-act"],"locator":"Current Korean Income Tax Act Article 3(1), foreign-resident proviso; effective 1 July 2026"},{"id":"top20-kr-tax-nonresidents","label":"Nonresidents retain Korean-source obligations","text":"Nonresidents are taxable on Korean-source income classified in Article 119. Non-residence therefore does not mean exemption from Korean income tax; source classification and the income category remain necessary.","state":"documented","sourceIds":["top20-kr-current-act-income-scope","top20-kr-income-tax-act"],"locator":"Current Korean Income Tax Act Article 3(2), referring to Article 119 income categories; effective 1 July 2026"},{"id":"top20-kr-tax-treaty-guidance","label":"Official treaty lookup","text":"The National Tax Service provides a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction treaty directory. Cross-border cases require checking the applicable treaty and its conditions; this profile does not establish an individual's treaty residence, reduced rate or exemption.","state":"conditional","sourceIds":["top20-kr-tax-treaties"],"locator":"Tax Treaty: Treaties with Foreign Jurisdictions"}],"limits":["General information only, not personalised tax advice. Income source, residence facts, remittances and the applicable treaty must be assessed together.","The cited KLRI English editions are older reference translations, not the latest consolidated law. Current Korean article text effective 1 July 2026 was separately checked for the residence and income-scope claims; the Korean text controls.","This baseline does not quantify remittances or cover every separate capital-gains, departure-tax, filing, withholding, social-contribution or special-regime rule."],"review":{"decision":"approved","reviewer":"/root/review_pass412","reviewedAt":"2026-09-17","recheckBy":"2026-12-16","candidateSha256":"590b251138606d4e36688ef85c65fbc9780a9174a72d7151657c06b2979952fa","notes":"Independent source review approved four bounded topics, 26 facts and 23 sources. Every cited authority was opened and the relevant actual text read, including KLRI bodies via their content endpoints and current Korean national-law article bodies. The original mixed-edition KLRI two-column provenance was rejected: corrected sources identify the available December 2025 Act and February 2026 Decree English reference editions, while Korean Act Articles 1-2 and 3 and Decree Articles 2 and 4 effective 1 July 2026 support current residence, counting and income-scope propositions. The newest English version menus/history-only shells were not accepted as substantive proof. Korean naturalisation retains separate five-year qualifying residence and permanent-status conditions, assessment and interview exceptions, ministerial decision, acquisition formalities and qualified renunciation duties. Korean tax residence is not a nationality or calendar-year day-count shortcut; the five-in-ten foreign-source remittance proviso remains limited to foreign nationals, and nonresident source obligations and treaty scope remain qualified. Finland retains eight-year default versus five-year language-compliant residence, permit credits and absence conditions, expressly sourced YKI grade 3/B1 proof, decision-date livelihood assessment, transition and exemption qualifications, and the future 2027 civic-knowledge cohort rather than a current test. Finnish home/stay residence, citizenship-linked departure presumption, foreign-income relief and the separate foreign-wage six-month rule are not conflated. This approves the exact candidate bytes and stated ordinary-route/personal-tax baseline only, not comprehensive legal coverage, individual eligibility, visa evidence, integration or deployment."},"url":"https://multipassrank.com/passport/south-korea/taxes","disclaimer":"General information, not personal tax advice. Nationality, tax residence and source of income are different questions. Consult the tax authority or a qualified adviser for your circumstances."}],"sources":[{"id":"top20-kr-naturalisation-types","publisher":"Republic of Korea Ministry of Government Legislation","title":"Nationality: types of naturalisation (Korean)","url":"https://www.easylaw.go.kr/CSP/CnpClsMainBtr.laf?ccfNo=2&cciNo=2&cnpClsNo=1&csmSeq=1770","language":"ko","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-kr-naturalisation-procedure","publisher":"Republic of Korea Ministry of Government Legislation","title":"Acquisition of Nationality by Naturalization","url":"https://m.easylaw.go.kr/MOM/SubCsmOvRetrieve.laf?ccfNo=1&cciNo=1&cnpClsNo=1&csmSeq=2799&langCd=700101","language":"en","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-kr-renunciation","publisher":"Republic of Korea Ministry of Government Legislation","title":"Foreign-nationality renunciation after naturalisation (Korean)","url":"https://easylaw.go.kr/CSP/EasyLawInfoR.laf?csmSeq=1770&easySeq=2509","language":"ko","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-kr-income-tax-act","publisher":"Korea Legislation Research Institute","title":"Income Tax Act: English reference edition with December 2025 amendments","url":"https://elaw.klri.re.kr/eng_service/lawView.do?hseq=72668&lang=ENG","language":"en","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-kr-income-tax-decree","publisher":"Korea Legislation Research Institute","title":"Enforcement Decree of the Income Tax Act: English reference edition, Decree No. 36129 of 27 February 2026","url":"https://elaw.klri.re.kr/eng_service/lawView.do?hseq=73814&lang=ENG","language":"en","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-kr-current-act-residence","publisher":"Republic of Korea Ministry of Government Legislation","title":"Income Tax Act Article 1-2: Korean text effective 1 July 2026","url":"https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsLinkCommonInfo.do?chrClsCd=010202&lsJoLnkSeq=1032228107","language":"ko","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-kr-current-act-income-scope","publisher":"Republic of Korea Ministry of Government Legislation","title":"Income Tax Act Article 3: Korean text effective 1 July 2026","url":"https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsLinkCommonInfo.do?chrClsCd=010202&lsJoLnkSeq=1031127999","language":"ko","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-kr-current-decree-domicile","publisher":"Republic of Korea Ministry of Government Legislation","title":"Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree Article 2: Korean text effective 1 July 2026","url":"https://www.law.go.kr/lsLinkCommonInfo.do?chrClsCd=010202&lsJoLnkSeq=1027964563","language":"ko","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-kr-current-decree-counting","publisher":"Republic of Korea Ministry of Government Legislation","title":"Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree Article 4: Korean text effective 1 July 2026","url":"https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsSideInfoP.do?lsiSeq=286211&joNo=0004&joBrNo=00&docCls=jo&urlMode=lsScJoRltInfoR","language":"ko","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"},{"id":"top20-kr-tax-treaties","publisher":"Republic of Korea National Tax Service","title":"Tax Treaty: treaties with foreign jurisdictions","url":"https://www.nts.go.kr/english/cm/cntnts/cntntsView.do?cntntsId=8810&mi=20251","language":"en","retrievedAt":"2026-09-17"}],"indicators":{"scope":"These describe the publisher's statistical geography, not benefits acquired by holding its passport. Values from different years are not a like-for-like ranking. No combined quality-of-life score is calculated.","review":{"decision":"approved","reviewer":"/root/review_pass412","reviewedAt":"2026-09-22","recheckBy":"2026-12-21","candidateSha256":"39a387a50a2aabd1d22f731ee6cac6f5c5ca947272add45f874774511443a18c","notes":"Independently fetched the exact UNDP CSV, complete World Bank series and geography-registry responses, and parsed them using Ruby standard CSV/JSON rather than the author's parser. All 146 outcomes across 73 geographies match: 140 exact native values with provider names and years, and six explicit source-specific nulls (MC/MO HDI; VA/TW both). All ISO mappings and non-aggregate scopes checked, with absent registry entities explicitly qualified. Verified HDR2025/2023 latest HDI, WDI2024 observations and 2026-07-13 update, source licences, attribution, rounding disclosures and no endorsement. The initial candidate's decoded-text UNDP hash was held; this replacement preserves all independently checked observations, records explicit encodings and matches the independently downloaded original bytes: UNDP 61ed82e5b66c88dfca8ff9fac775c63981ecab6a254862af97acacc41c143117, WDI 19be3c9b22cbba7a453233aa0f98f86f0ca1437667a57e91e899d9d43e8a5784, registry d29d57f8adf954c5e2a1520a02fb2c7b45575d8db3bd327a9dff47d66914231c. Approval binds only these replacement candidate bytes; historic approvals remain unchanged."},"coverage":"reviewed_scope","observations":[{"code":"KR","providerEntityCode":"KOR","providerEntityName":"Korea (Republic of)","geographicScope":"Publisher-reported national statistical geography; not every overseas territory or citizen abroad","metric":"hdi","sourceId":"undp-hdr2025","period":"2023","value":0.937,"availability":"available","definition":{"label":"Human Development Index","unit":"0–1","precision":3,"description":"UNDP's development measure; not a passport or relocation score."},"source":{"id":"undp-hdr2025","publisher":"UNDP","attribution":"UNDP Human Development Report 2025, composite indices time series. Selected observations; display rounded to three decimals. No endorsement implied.","title":"Human Development Index","url":"https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/documentation-and-downloads","dataUrl":"https://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2025_HDR/HDR25_Composite_indices_complete_time_series.csv","licenceUrl":"https://hdr.undp.org/terms-use","licence":"CC BY 3.0 IGO","edition":"Human Development Report 2025","sourceSha256":"61ed82e5b66c88dfca8ff9fac775c63981ecab6a254862af97acacc41c143117","dataEncoding":"windows-1252"}},{"code":"KR","providerEntityCode":"KOR","providerEntityName":"Korea, Rep.","geographicScope":"Publisher-reported national statistical geography; not every overseas territory or citizen abroad","metric":"life_expectancy","sourceId":"wb-life","period":"2024","value":83.6292682926829,"availability":"available","definition":{"label":"Life expectancy at birth","unit":"years","precision":1,"description":"Population-level period estimate; not an individual prediction or healthcare-access rating."},"source":{"id":"wb-life","publisher":"World Bank","attribution":"World Bank: World Development Indicators, SP.DYN.LE00.IN; UN World Population Prospects, national statistical offices and Eurostat. Selected observations; display rounded to one decimal. No endorsement implied.","title":"Life expectancy at birth, total","url":"https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN","dataUrl":"https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/all/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?format=json&date=2020:2026&per_page=20000","licenceUrl":"https://data.worldbank.org/summary-terms-of-use","licence":"CC BY 4.0 with World Bank additional terms","edition":"World Development Indicators, updated 2026-07-13","sourceSha256":"19be3c9b22cbba7a453233aa0f98f86f0ca1437667a57e91e899d9d43e8a5784","dataEncoding":"utf-8","geographyUrl":"https://api.worldbank.org/v2/country/all?format=json&per_page=400","geographySha256":"d29d57f8adf954c5e2a1520a02fb2c7b45575d8db3bd327a9dff47d66914231c"}}]}}