What can and can't I do with an E-1 professor visa?

With an E-1 visa, you can only do teaching and research guidance at a college or higher institution (or an equivalent institution). As a rule, work outside your permitted activities needs prior permission.

What you can do

• Work as a professor at an academic institution such as the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
• Work as an assistant professor or higher at a college or higher educational institution.
• Work as a research professor in a special field at a university or a research institute attached to a university.
• You can give temporary lectures, classes, or research at another university related to your major without reporting an additional workplace.
• You can teach foreign language conversation to your work colleagues without separate permission.
• You can also teach conversation as volunteer work, not for profit or pay, at schools, social welfare facilities, community centers (주민센터), and similar places.
• You can receive education at a regular educational institution, such as an elementary, middle, or high school or a university, without permission, as long as it does not harm your original purpose of stay.

What needs permission

• If conversation teaching becomes your main activity or goes beyond the scope above, you can't do it without permission.
• For any work not listed above (such as a side job paid by another place), you must first get permission for activities outside your status of stay (체류자격 외 활동허가). The fee is 120,000 KRW.
• To move to another university or research institution, or to add a workplace, file a report of workplace change or addition (근무처 변경·추가 신고). File it with the competent immigration office within 15 days of the date the reason for the report arises. There is no fee. A sticker must be attached to your passport, so reporting in person is the rule.
• When you report, submit the workplace change/addition report form, the business registration certificate, the consent form from the head of your original workplace, and the employment contract.
• If you were dismissed through your own fault or left your job midway and could not get your former employer's consent to transfer, you are excluded from this report.

⚠️ Points to note

• If you do other work without permission, you may be punished for violating your stay conditions or be subject to departure from Korea.
• If your work within the same university changes a lot, check with immigration first.

Your situation may differ, so please check once more with HiKorea (hikorea.go.kr) or the Immigration Contact Center (외국인종합안내센터, 1345).