Getting your Korean pension back — three routes, and only one is about your visa

Every payslip in Korea takes national pension (국민연금) out of your pay. Whether you get it back when you leave depends on three tests — and if any one of them is satisfied, you are paid.

Short answer

National Pension Act, Article 126(4)
   Rule: the lump-sum refund provisions do NOT apply to foreign subscribers.
   Three exceptions. ANY ONE is enough:

   1  RECIPROCITY — your country's law pays an equivalent lump sum to Koreans  → 26 countries
   2  TREATY — a social security agreement covers lump-sum refunds              → 24 countries
   3  STATUS OF STAY — you subscribed while holding E-9 or H-2                  → any nationality

Route 1 — reciprocity, 26 countries

Article 126(4)1. The NPS publishes the list grouped by the minimum contribution period:

6 months or more    Belize
1 year or more      Grenada · Jordan · Saint Vincent and the Grenadines · Zimbabwe
                    Cameroon · Thailand · Bhutan · Laos
No minimum          Ghana · Sri Lanka · Bermuda · Malaysia · El Salvador · Indonesia
                    Kenya · Kazakhstan · Hong Kong · Trinidad and Tobago · Sudan
                    Colombia · Vanuatu · Tunisia · Uganda · Cambodia · Solomon Islands

For Thai nationals the group matters: under a year of contributions, this route is closed — but route 3 has no minimum period.

Route 2 — social security agreements, 24 countries

Article 127. Germany, the United States, Canada (including Quebec), Czechia, Hungary, Australia, France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, India, Türkiye, Switzerland, Brazil, Peru, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Croatia, Uruguay, the Philippines, Argentina.

(The NPS page summarises this as 22 countries while its own table header says 24. We copied the 24 actually listed.)

Route 3 — your status of stay, regardless of nationality

Article 126(4)2 pays subscribers who joined while holding E-9 (non-professional employment) or H-2 (working visit), from 11 May 2007, whatever their nationality.

This is the route that carries most workers from countries on neither list — Vietnam, mainland China, Russia, Uzbekistan. If you are from one of those and not on E-9 or H-2, none of the three routes is open. Find that out before you build it into your plans, not at the counter.

Among Chinese speakers there is one nuance: Hong Kong is on the reciprocity list (no minimum period); mainland China is not.

The E-8 trap

The NPS list includes "E-8", but that refers to the old industrial trainee-to-employment status (연수취업). The code E-8 was later reassigned to seasonal work (계절근로), created on 24 December 2019 — a different scheme entirely.

The NPS states directly beneath its table that E-8 (seasonal work), created after 24 December 2019, is not eligible for the lump-sum refund. The statutes agree: Enforcement Decree Article 2(1) of the Act on the Employment of Foreign Workers expressly excludes "20-2. Seasonal work (E-8)" from the definition of a foreign worker, and it is that definition Article 126(4)2 relies on.

E-10 (seafarer) — we do not know

E-10 is absent from the NPS list. It is not excluded by the Decree's definition either, but the proviso to Article 3(1) of the same Act excludes foreign seafarers on vessels covered by the Seafarers Act. Two provisions point different ways, so we will not guess. Call 1355.

Interest and deadlines

Interest rate     the 3-year term deposit rate — the NPS states 2.2% for 2026
How it is applied from the month after each contribution to the month you lose
                  subscriber status, MONTH BY MONTH, then summed
                  (not one multiplication on the total)
Time limit        5 YEARS from when the entitlement arises
                  (10 years where the ground is reaching pensionable age, since 2018-01-25)

Since 29 August 2007, a claim made on the ground of returning home is paid only once departure is confirmed. You can still file before flying if you show proof of departure within one month — a ticket, for example.

Collecting cash at Incheon Airport

You can receive the refund in foreign currency, in cash, at Incheon Airport on the day you fly. Not in won. About 16 currencies are available — USD, EUR, JPY, CNY and others.

1  Within 1 month of departure
   Visit an NPS branch, claim the refund and register for airport payment, get a RECEIPT
   Bring: passport · alien registration card · ticket within 1 month · bank account copy

2  On the day — Terminal 1, 1st floor, booths 7–8 between exits 1 and 2 (09:00–18:00)
   Collect the payment decision notice and payment order (passport + receipt)

3  Before immigration — Woori Bank inside the terminal, for the exchange receipt
   USD 10,000 or more: Airport Finance Centre, B1 (09:00–16:00)
   Under USD 10,000: exchange counter, 3rd floor (09:00–21:00)
   T1 in front of counter H · T2 in front of counter A

4  After immigration — Woori Bank in the duty-free area, collect the cash
   T1 near gate 11 · T2 near gate 250 (09:00–21:00)

When it does not work

· your employer has not filed your loss of subscriber status by the day before departure
· you fly on a Saturday, Sunday, public holiday, or the last business day of December
· your departure time falls outside T1 weekdays 10:30–24:00 / T2 weekdays 11:00–24:00

The first one is not in your hands — only the employer can file it. Ask them to do it on your last day, not "sometime this week".

Frequently asked questions

I am Vietnamese and worked on an E-7. Vietnam is on neither list, and route 3 covers only E-9 and H-2. Call 1355 with your own record before planning around the money.

I switched from E-9 to another visa before leaving. Exactly the kind of case not to guess at — eligibility looks at the status when you subscribed and when you lost status. Let the NPS check your record: 1355.

How many months do I need? Route 3 sets no minimum. The 6-month and 1-year thresholds belong to specific countries on route 1.

I already went home and forgot. You have five years. Contact the NPS from abroad and have a home-country account ready.

Sources

National Pension Service — benefits for foreigners (as of May 2026)
   https://www.nps.or.kr/pnsinfo/ntpsklg/getOHAF0084M0.do
   Country lists copied as published. THE LISTS CHANGE — check the page before filing.

National Pension Act (국민연금법)
   Art. 77 (lump-sum refund) · Art. 126(4) (special provisions for foreigners)
   Art. 127 (social security agreements)
   https://www.law.go.kr/법령/국민연금법

Act on the Employment of Foreign Workers (외국인근로자의 고용 등에 관한 법률)
   Art. 2 and Enforcement Decree Art. 2(1) — seasonal work (E-8) excluded
   Art. 3(1) proviso — foreign seafarers under the Seafarers Act

NPS: 1355