Greece vs South Korea Digital Nomad Visa Compared

Minimum income

3,500 EUR / month

Attributed to the official mfa.gr page (403 on direct fetch) and corroborated by multiple specialist sources, though at least one 2026 secondary guide states this figure as GROSS rather than NET - the net/gross distinction could not be independently re-confirmed on the official page this pass and should be treated as unresolved. Family uplift: +20% spouse, +15% per child. RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-05: multiple independent 2026 guides (remoteworkeurope.eu, globalcitizensolutions.com, lexidy.com, nomadsembassy.com) state the required bank-statement history proving this income rose from 3 to 6 consecutive months, effective 27 January 2026 - corroborated across 4 independent secondary sources but no primary decree/circular citation found, so this is added as a documentation-requirement detail, not a change to the EUR 3,500 figure itself.

source · verified 2026-09-05

105,000,000 KRW / year

Per the 2026-07-07 Ministry of Justice announcement (visa relaunched as permanent 2026-06-30, replacing the pilot's flat 2x-GNI rule with this tiered formula). The rule is denominated in WON, not dollars: it keys off the Bank of Korea's published prior-year per-capita GNI (KRW 52.41 million for 2025), so 2x = ~KRW 105 million and the relaxed tier = ~KRW 52.4 million. This resolves the USD 65,800-vs-73,926 split tracked here since 2026-07-29: both were conversions of the SAME KRW 105 million rule at different exchange rates (~1,596 and ~1,420 KRW/USD respectively), not competing thresholds - which is why neither could ever be sourced to a distinct official figure. Publishing the won amount removes that FX artifact; any dollar equivalent drifts with the rate (the site's own FX table, used only by the eligibility shortlister, was itself found stale during this same pass and refreshed - see lib/matcher.ts). RE-CHECKED 2026-08-03/05: Korea Herald's post-launch visa Q&A independently corroborates a third tier - ages 18-34 intending to live in Greater Seoul need 1.5x GNI (~KRW 78.6 million) - and notes holders who relocate into Greater Seoul after approval must meet the higher threshold at renewal or move back out within 6 months. Not marked 'official' - hikorea.go.kr, immigration.go.kr and mofa.go.kr all still 403 on direct fetch, so no primary Korean-government page has been read. The full official multiplier table for other intermediate age/region combinations remains unpublished anywhere found - treat the three tiers above as the load-bearing ones, not a complete table.

source · verified 2026-08-06

Visa duration

12 months, renewable

Type D visa: up to 12 months. Then Type I.8 residence permit: 2 years, renewable for successive 2-year periods. LAW 5275/2026 (~5 Feb 2026): the in-country conversion route was ABOLISHED - you must now obtain the Type D visa at a Greek consulate abroad BEFORE entering. RE-CHECKED 2026-07-31: the same reform also closed a second loophole - applicants who entered on a Type C (Schengen) visa or a visa-waiver could previously obtain the Type I.8 permit by showing a housing lease or property-purchase contract instead of the full consulate-first D-visa route; two independent legal-advisory sources (Bernitsas Law, siopi-law.gr) now describe this route as closed, consistent with the same law's abolition of in-country conversion. Reported/corroborated via search-indexed content, not a fetched primary source (mfa.gr/migration.gov.gr still 403).

source · verified 2026-07-05

12 months, renewable

1-year initial grant, renewable annually, extended from a 2-year to a 3-year total cap per a 2026-07-07 Ministry of Justice announcement - corroborated across 5+ independent secondary sources (incl. a EY Global tax alert and an immigration law firm), not yet read on an official Korean government page directly (hikorea.go.kr/immigration.go.kr/mofa.go.kr all 403 on direct fetch).

source · verified 2026-07-25

Tax regime

New tax residents may access a 50% income-tax exemption for up to 7 years (Art. 5C), but it is NOT automatic and generally does NOT apply to pure foreign-source remote income. Staying >183 days makes you a Greek tax resident, taxed on worldwide income at standard rates.

Art. 5C (AADE) requires 5-of-6-years prior non-residence AND historically Greek-source income; specialist tax sources flag that a nomad working purely for foreign clients may not qualify. Do NOT present the 50% cut as an automatic benefit.

source · verified 2026-07-05

Remote income earned for a non-Korean employer or client - the only kind the F-1-D visa permits - is not taxed by Korea for the common case (physical presence under 183 days/year). Employees who do qualify as tax resident can elect an optional 19% flat tax rate instead of Korea's progressive brackets; freelancers and sole proprietors are not eligible for that flat rate.

Multiple independent tax-focused outlets (Greenback Tax Services, Bright!Tax, krinsider, Nomad Tax Guide) converge on Korea not taxing foreign-sourced remote income while the visa's own ban on Korean employers holds. Several of the same sources flag that guidance on the >183-day resident-status threshold is still evolving/unsettled - noted here rather than presented as resolved. Not marked 'official': hikorea.go.kr/immigration.go.kr/mofa.go.kr still unreachable on direct fetch, so this is search-result-synthesized secondary reporting, not a primary Korean-government page read.

source · verified 2026-08-16

Family (spouse / children)

Spouse + children admitted (+20% spouse (approx EUR 4,200/mo total), +15% per child (approx +EUR 525/mo))

source · verified 2026-07-05

Spouse + children admitted

Independent secondary coverage (Y-Axis, Bright!Tax, VisasUpdate, SharedHomies, Trenity Consultants) consistently reports that a spouse and minor children may accompany the primary F-1-D applicant as dependents, that only the primary applicant must meet the income threshold (dependents are not separately income-tested), that dependents cannot work in Korea, and that each dependent needs their own private health insurance. No source reports a distinct per-dependent income uplift for this program, so upliftPerDependent is left unset rather than guessed. Not marked 'official' - hikorea.go.kr/immigration.go.kr/mofa.go.kr still unreachable on direct fetch.

source · verified 2026-08-16

Application fees

75 EUR

This EUR 75 is the Type D VISA fee (+ EUR 150 per accompanying family member). SEPARATE and much larger: the Type I.8 RESIDENCE PERMIT fee, ~EUR 1,000 (+ EUR 150/family member). Guides routinely conflate the two stages. RE-VERIFIED 2026-09-07: the post-Law-5275/2026 re-verification flag carried since 2026-07-05 is now resolved - the EUR 1,000 + EUR 150/family-member Type I.8 figure is independently reconfirmed unchanged post-reform by multiple current 2026 sources (Karabatsoulegal and GSL.org since 2026-07-29; consiliojus.com added this pass), with no competing post-reform figure surfacing across any pass since. Still not read on migration.gov.gr directly (403/EGRESS_BLOCKED every pass), so confidence stays "reported," not "official."

source · verified 2026-09-07

90 USD

USD 90 for the initial 1-year multiple-entry visa application, plus 60,000 KRW (~USD 41) per annual extension up to the 3-year total cap. Three independent secondary sources converge on this figure (Korea Herald's post-launch visa Q&A, an EY Global tax alert, an Envoy Global news alert), replacing the previously-scattered range (~USD 45-100 depending on nationality/fee type) - a materially more specific and better-corroborated figure than before. Not marked 'official' - hikorea.go.kr/immigration.go.kr/mofa.go.kr still 403 on direct fetch, so no primary Korean-government page has been read; by-nationality fee variance may still apply and is not ruled out. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-19: no comprehensive by-nationality fee table found this pass either - the general pattern (USD 90 default; USD 45 flat reciprocity fee applying to ALL Korean visa categories for US nationals, not F-1-D-specific; CAD 121.50 via the Canada consulate's F-1-D page) is reconfirmed, not contradicted. No material change.

source · verified 2026-08-06

Health insurance

Required - Mandatory private health insurance covering care/hospitalization in Greece for applicant + family; minimum coverage amount not stated officially.

source · verified 2026-07-05

Required - Private health insurance covering medical treatment AND repatriation, minimum KRW 100,000,000 (~USD 75,000-76,000) coverage, for the full duration of stay.

Graduates out of TBD this pass: the KRW 100,000,000 figure, previously only a search-snippet-level lead, is now traceable to a consulate-level MOFA page (Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Seattle, F-1-D program page) plus 5+ independent secondary guides (Seoulstart, HaniSeoul, krinsider, koreaplus-lifes, americanvisitorinsurance.com) converging on the same figure for medical treatment AND repatriation - several sources warn 'repatriation' must be explicitly named on the policy or the application is rejected. Not marked 'official' - hikorea.go.kr/immigration.go.kr/mofa.go.kr root pages remain 403 on direct fetch, so this rests on a consulate sub-page plus secondary corroboration, not a primary ministry page read.

source · verified 2026-08-19

Processing time

~10 days consular decision target (2-6 weeks in practice; longer since the 2026 consulate-only route)

source · verified 2026-07-05

TBD

🇬🇷 Greece vs 🇰🇷 South Korea: Digital Nomad Visa Compared

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