Technical Training / Industrial Trainee Visa

Who can apply

• ✓Foreign nationals who come to Korea to receive industrial/technical training (not general employment) at a Korean industrial company that qualifies as a training-invitation host.
• ✓Under the Immigration Act Enforcement Decree (별표1), the host must be one of: a company that has made a direct overseas investment under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act; a company that exports technology recognized by the Minister of Justice as requiring technical training; or a company that exports industrial plants overseas.
• ✓The main sub-code is D-3-1 (해외투자기업 기술연수 / overseas-invested enterprise technical training).
• ✓Per the official invitation guidance, individual trainees under D-3-1 must generally be 18-40 years old and in good health, have at least about 3 months of work experience at the overseas local company (with exceptions for essential/key personnel), and if they previously stayed as a trainee they must have been outside Korea for at least 1 year.
• ✓Applicants who have a criminal record in Korea or abroad, who received a deportation order from Korea, who overstayed illegally for 6+ months, or who are suspected of intending illegal employment cannot be invited.

Documents you'll need

• Passport
• visa application form with photo
• certificate of visa issuance confirmation (사증발급인정서) obtained by the inviting Korean company
• documents proving the host company qualifies (e.g. foreign direct investment report / evidence of overseas investment, technology-export or plant-export contracts)
• training plan and training agreement/contract
• proof of the trainee’s work experience at the overseas local company
• and documents on the training allowance/insurance and departure guarantee. (A complete official document checklist per sub-code should be confirmed on hikorea.go.kr and with the competent immigration office — unverified for a full itemized list.)

How to apply

• Overseas embassy visa via a Certificate of Visa Issuance (사증발급인정서) obtained by the inviting/sponsoring Korean company or Korean-invested overseas enterprise; industrial technical-trainee program.
• D-3 is applied for through the Certificate of Visa Issuance Confirmation (사증발급인정서) route: the inviting Korean company applies at the competent immigration office in Korea, and once approved the certificate is sent to the trainee to apply for the actual visa at a Korean embassy/consulate abroad.
• D-3 industrial training (산업연수) is one of the statuses that generally require a direct visit to an immigration office and cannot be fully processed through the HiKorea online e-civil-petition system.
• A single invitation is limited to a maximum of 30 trainees per company; more requires a justification letter and supporting documents.
• Companies with a history of illegal stay among prior trainees, or with trainees already present in Korea, may be excluded.
• Trainees staying 91+ days must complete foreigner (alien) registration within 90 days of entry.

Working on this visa

• No general employment is permitted.
• D-3 is a training status, not a work status — holders may only carry out the approved technical/industrial training.
• Instead of wages they receive a training allowance (연수수당) / living support paid by the inviting company under the applicable training-management rules; this is not general paid employment and working outside the approved training is prohibited.
• (Exact allowance amounts are set by the host/program and are not fixed by a single public figure — unverified.)

D-3-1 = industrial/technical trainee dispatched via a Korean-invested overseas enterprise or trade partner (해외투자(현지법인) 기업체 등 기술연수); single technical-training track with no student-style sub-codes. Specific numeric sub-codes beyond D-3-1 (unverified).

Distinct from D-4 general training.

2025–2026 policy updates

• No confirmed 2025-2026 amendment specific to the D-3 status was located in official sources during this research.
• The D-3-1 (overseas-invested enterprise technical training) program continues to be governed by a Ministry of Justice management rule/directive (referenced as established-rule/directive (예규/훈령) No. 1414, revised 2022.04.14).
• Re-verify current requirements, stay caps, and fees on hikorea.go.kr / immigration.go.kr before relying on them.
• (No dated 2025-2026 official notice found.)

Common mistakes

• Treating D-3 as a work visa — it is training-only and pays a training allowance, not employment wages.
• Assuming the trainee applies directly abroad — the inviting Korean company must first obtain the Certificate of Visa Issuance (사증발급인정서) in Korea.
• Exceeding the 30-trainee-per-invitation limit without justification.
• Confusing D-3 (technical training, 기술연수 — non-employment training) with E-9 (non-professional employment, 비전문취업 — actual employment) or D-4 (general training, 일반연수 — general/language training).
• Inviting an applicant who overstayed 6+ months previously or already has 2+ prior Korean training records.

Official source ↗  Official manual ↗