Guide
The D-10 Job-Seeker Visa in Korea
When your degree ends but your job has not started yet, the D-10 buys you time to find work in Korea. Here is who qualifies, the graduate exemption, how long you get, and how it becomes a work visa.
Graduation creates a gap. Your student visa is ending, but you may not have signed a contract yet. The D-10 job-seeker visa exists to fill that gap: it lets you stay legally in Korea to search for work and do internships, instead of leaving and applying from abroad. For graduates of Korean universities, it is usually the natural next step, and Korea has made it friendlier in recent years.
- The D-10 is for job-seeking and internships, not full-time employment. Once you are hired, you switch to a work visa like the E-7.
- Recent Korean-university graduates often get a points exemption for the first issuance, typically valid within a few years of graduating.
- It is time-limited but extendable. The initial grant is commonly six months, extendable in increments up to a maximum total stay (around two years).
- Points apply at renewal. Even if you were exempt at first, the points system generally applies when you extend.
- Apply before your student status ends so you never fall out of legal status.
What the D-10 is for
The D-10 (job-seeker, sometimes called D-10-1) is a bridge visa. It authorizes you to remain in Korea while you look for a job, attend interviews, and take internships that support your search. It is not a work visa: it does not let you take up full-time salaried employment. The moment you have an offer, you convert to the appropriate work visa, most often the E-7.
Who qualifies, and the graduate exemption
The D-10 uses a points-based assessment covering things like your education, age, Korean ability, and other factors. However, there is an important shortcut for graduates: recent graduates of Korean universities (with sufficient Korean ability) are frequently exempt from meeting the points threshold for their first D-10 issuance. This exemption typically applies for a limited window after graduation (on the order of a few years), which is one more reason to make the move promptly.
How long it lasts
The D-10 is deliberately time-limited to keep it a genuine job-search window, but it is renewable:
- The initial period is commonly around six months.
- You can extend in increments, up to a maximum total stay (around two years).
- Extensions usually require you to show you are genuinely searching (applications, interviews, internships) and to meet the points criteria.
Treat that window as finite. The students who succeed use the early months hard rather than waiting.
Turning the D-10 into a job
The D-10 is step one; the goal is the work visa. When an employer decides to hire you, they sponsor your change of status to an E-7 work visa (or another appropriate work category). An internship during your D-10 is one of the most effective ways to reach that offer, because it puts you inside a company that can then sponsor you.
What to do next
- Plan the D-10 application before your student visa ends.
- Line up an internship to strengthen your search.
- Understand the destination: read the E-7 work visa guide and the working in Korea overview.