Working in Korea as a Foreigner? How the Four Insurances Apply to You
If you are a foreign national employed in Korea, the four major insurances apply at largely the same rates as for Korean employees. What differs is how enrollment works, and those differences depend heavily on your visa type and your home country. Here is what to know before you read your first Korean payslip.
- Health Insurance: Enrollment is generally mandatory. If you work at a Korean company, you are typically enrolled through your employer from your start date; foreigners staying six months or longer without workplace coverage are, as a rule, enrolled automatically as regional subscribers.
- National Pension: Whether you must contribute — and whether you can claim a lump-sum refund when you leave Korea for good — depends on the social security (totalization) agreement between Korea and your home country. Some nationalities are exempt; others are covered just like Korean nationals.
- Employment Insurance: Coverage varies by visa status. For some visas it is mandatory, for others voluntary or excluded, so do not assume the 0.9% deduction applies to you without checking.
- Industrial Accident Insurance: Foreign employees are generally covered on the same basis when the worker and workplace fall within the scheme. The employer pays the premium, but coverage still depends on the statutory scope rather than nationality alone.
These rules change often and hinge on individual circumstances, so treat the notes above as a starting point, not a ruling. Confirm your own situation with the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) and the National Pension Service (NPS) — both offer English-language support — before making decisions such as claiming a pension refund.
Understanding Korea's Four Major Insurances in Depth (2026)
Korea's "four major insurances" are the National Pension, National Health Insurance, Employment Insurance, and Industrial Accident (Workers' Comp) Insurance, plus Long-Term Care Insurance, which is levied as an add-on to health insurance. Premiums are based on the standard monthly income or monthly remuneration reported or determined under each scheme, not simply on annual salary or one generic 'taxable income' figure. This calculator uses the entered monthly remuneration as a common simplifying base; actual bills can differ because of scheme-specific reporting, reconciliation, caps, floors, and eligibility. Industrial-accident premiums are employer-paid and industry-dependent, so they are not included in this calculator's employee deduction or employer total.
2026 Rates at a Glance
The table shows the calculator's ordinary 2026 workplace-subscriber assumptions. For these basic remuneration premiums, National Pension and Health Insurance are split 50/50 between employee and employer, while Long-Term Care is calculated as a percentage of the health premium. Coverage exceptions, Health Insurance premiums on non-wage income, and later reconciliations are separate.
| Item | Employee share | Employer share | Calculation base |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Pension | 4.75% | 4.75% | Standard monthly income |
| Health Insurance | 3.595% | 3.595% | Monthly remuneration |
| Long-Term Care | 13.14% of health premium | 13.14% of health premium | Health premium amount |
| Employment Insurance | 0.9% | 0.9% + employer levy (by size) | Monthly remuneration |
The employee's employment-insurance share is a flat 0.9%, but employers pay an extra employment-stability/skills-development levy (roughly 0.25–0.85% depending on company size). So an employer's total employment-insurance burden lands around 1.15–1.75%.
Pension Income Caps and Monthly Remuneration
To keep premiums from rising indefinitely, the National Pension sets an upper and lower bound on standard monthly income. For the period July 2026–June 2027 the cap is 6.59 million KRW and the floor 410,000 KRW. Even if you earn 7 million a month, your pension premium stops at 6.59 million × 4.75% (about 313,000 KRW). These bounds are adjusted every July based on the change in average insured income, so always check the National Pension Service's annual notice for the exact bands.
Health insurance also has premium floors and ceilings, but its structure differs from the National Pension's standard-income bands; employment insurance uses its own remuneration rules as well. Non-taxable employment income is generally excluded from reported social-insurance income or remuneration, but labels such as meal or self-driving allowance do not make an amount non-taxable by themselves — each statutory condition and limit must be met. For the closest result, use the standard monthly income or remuneration actually reported by the workplace.
Worked Example: An Employee Earning 3 Million KRW/Month
Under this calculator's simplified assumption that each scheme uses the same 3,000,000 KRW base, the monthly deductions break down as follows. Actual bills can differ with scheme-specific reporting and rounding.
- National Pension: 3,000,000 × 4.75% = 142,500 KRW
- Health Insurance: 3,000,000 × 3.595% = 107,850 KRW
- Long-Term Care: 107,850 × 13.14%, truncated to the nearest 10 KRW = 14,170 KRW (charged on the health premium)
- Employment Insurance: 3,000,000 × 0.9% = 27,000 KRW
- Total employee deduction: about 291,520 KRW (roughly 9.7% of pay)
Under that assumption, the employee share is about 290,000 KRW before income and local income tax. The employer share is not an exact match: it varies with company-size employment-insurance rates and industry-specific workers' compensation premiums. Because this calculator does not compute workers' compensation, it does not show the employer's complete labor cost.
Workplace vs. Regional Subscribers, and the Duru-nuri Subsidy
Health-insurance assessment differs between workplace and regional subscribers. This calculator only estimates payroll deductions from an employee's monthly remuneration; it does not calculate regional premiums or dependent eligibility for freelancers and the self-employed. The Freelancer Tax Calculator likewise only handles 3.3% withholding net and gross amounts, so verify actual status and bills with the relevant agencies.
In addition, low-wage workers at small workplaces (fewer than 10 regular employees) may receive the Duru-nuri social insurance subsidy, with the government covering part (up to 80%) of National Pension and Employment Insurance premiums. It targets newly enrolled workers, and the eligible wage threshold changes yearly, so verify it at the Social Insurance Information Center.
Common Mistakes and Year-End Reconciliation
- Health insurance reconciliation: Each April, premiums are recalculated against your actual prior-year remuneration — you get a refund if you overpaid or a bill if you underpaid. In a year your salary rose, the April settlement can be a nasty surprise, so plan ahead.
- Excluding an item by label alone: Meal and self-driving allowances are excluded only to the extent they satisfy the applicable non-taxable conditions and limits. Check the bases reported by the workplace.
- Treating Long-Term Care as a separate rate: Remember it is 13.14% of the health-insurance premium amount, not of monthly remuneration.
- Ignoring the cap: High earners have a lower effective burden because of the pension cap (6.59 million KRW).
- Salary Take-Home Calculator — net pay after the four insurances and income tax
- Freelancer Tax Calculator — 3.3% withholding net amount and gross reverse calculation
- Severance Pay Calculator — view alongside end-of-employment settlements