F-3 and the C-3-1 dependent list differ by two items: a TB test and a return flight. A move proves you are healthy to stay; a visit proves you are leaving.
There are two dependent visa routes from Nepal to Korea, their document lists are almost identical, and picking the wrong one wastes everything.
The F-3 route — F-3-17 and F-3-74 — is for the family of an E-7 visa holder, and it is a long stay: more than ninety days. The other route is a C-3-1 for the family of an E-7-4R or F-2-R holder, capped at ninety days.
Set the two lists side by side and they differ by exactly two items:
| F-3 (dependent of E-7) | C-3-1 (dependent of E-7-4R / F-2-R) | |
|---|---|---|
| Tuberculosis report from a designated hospital | Required, age 6 and above | Not listed |
| Two-way flight booking, departure ≥15 business days out | Not listed | Required |
Everything else — the form, the photograph, the inviter's residence card and seal certificate, the family and marriage certificates, the birth certificate for a minor, the employment and income documents, the lease, the invitation and guarantee letters, the Korean bank documents — is the same on both.
Those two differences are not administrative noise. They are the entire logic of the distinction. A visit has to prove you are leaving, so it requires a return flight. A move has to prove you are healthy enough to stay, so it requires a tuberculosis test. Read that way, the two lists stop being confusingly similar and start telling you which one you are on.
This guide covers the F-3 route. For the requirements shared across all twelve routes — the Class A bank rule, validity windows, translation and notarisation — see Korean visa documents from Nepal.
Before anything else: confirm the sponsor's exact code
The requirements for the dependent routes carry an instruction that appears nowhere else, and it exists because this mistake is common and expensive:
Confirm the exact visa code your spouse holds — E-7-4, E-7-4R, F-2-R or F-2-99 — as recorded in their official Korean immigration status.
Not as they remember it. Not as the employer described it when they were hired. As it appears in their immigration record.
The reason is that these codes look nearly identical and lead to different applications with different lengths of stay. An E-7 holder's family applies on F-3-17 or F-3-74 for a long stay. An E-7-4R or F-2-R holder's family applies on a C-3-1 for ninety days. A file assembled on the wrong list is not a borderline submission; it is the wrong application.
Ask your sponsor to check their residence card and, if there is any doubt, to confirm at their immigration office. One question now, or a wasted cycle later. Related: employer-sponsored work visas explains how the E-7 category works, and family and dependant visas covers this family of routes.
Routes people confuse with this one
- Sponsor holds E-7-4R or F-2-R → a C-3-1 dependent application, ninety days
- Sponsor is an F-5 permanent resident and you are their spouse or child → the F-2-3 residence route, which is considerably more demanding
- A relative is inviting you for a short visit, not a move → the family visit route, C-3-9
- You are the parent or family of an F-6 marriage migrant coming to help with childcare → the F-1-5 route
- Your sponsor is on an EPS employment permit rather than E-7 → dependants are generally not provided for on that track; check before planning. See EPS: applying from Nepal
What the sponsor in Korea provides
This is most of the application, and it depends on their employer, their bank and their landlord. Start it first.
- Invitation letter and guarantee letter, on the specific forms published for download by the embassy — from the embassy's own site, not a forwarded copy
- Certificate of foreign resident registration
- A copy of their residence card, front and back. The expiry must be more than six months after your application date. If it is closer than that, their renewal comes before your application — see getting your Alien Registration Card in Korea
- Certificate of seal
- Employment certificate or employment contract
- Business registration certificate
- Confirmation of residence or accommodation, or a lease contract
- Certificate of income for the recent two years
- A photocopy of their passport
- Korean bank balance certificate
- Korean bank statement for the recent six months, issued showing deposit records only
Two notes. "Deposits only" describes how the statement must be generated, not a filter you apply afterwards — ask them to request it that way. And the one-month window that governs bank statements applies in practice here too, so they should not obtain them months early.
What you provide from Nepal
- Visa application form, with your original signature on page 5 matching your passport signature
- Passport photograph, 35 × 45 mm, recent
- Family relationship certificate, original and photocopy
- Marriage certificate, original and photocopy
- Birth certificate, original and photocopy — for a minor applicant
- Tuberculosis medical examination report from one of the four hospitals designated by the embassy — required for applicants aged six and above
- Visa cover letter — purpose, tentative itinerary, and who covers expenses
- Your original passport and a photocopy
All Nepali-language documents translated into English and notarised by an authorised notary public. Validity: Nepali ward documents six months, general documents three months, bank statements one month.
Notice how short your half is. On this route the applicant is very nearly a passenger in their own application: your documents establish identity and relationship, and the sponsor's documents establish everything else. That is worth knowing because it tells you where delays will come from, and it is not from you.
The tuberculosis test, and the age rule
Accepted from only four hospitals, named by the embassy:
- Patan Hospital, Patan
- Civil Service Hospital, New Baneshwor
- Korea Nepal Friendship Hospital — also known as Korea Thimi Hospital — Bhaktapur
- Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku
The requirement applies to applicants aged six and above, which on a family move means it usually applies to more than one person. A couple relocating with two school-age children and a four-year-old needs four tests, not one — and four appointments at four facilities serving every long-stay applicant in the country.
Book these as early as you can and together. This is the most commonly underestimated item on a family relocation, because people think of it as one test rather than as one test per qualifying family member.
What the reviewer is weighing
Is the sponsor's status sound and stable? Their exact E-7 code, their residence card validity, two years of income certification and six months of Korean bank statements all answer this. A sponsor whose own position is shaky weakens the application no matter how clean your half is.
Can the household support the people joining it? Income over two years, Korean bank balance and statements, and the guarantee letter. Note this is assessed against the number of dependants — a salary that comfortably supports one person is being asked to support a family.
Is there somewhere to live? That is what the confirmation of residence or lease contract is for, and on a long-stay family route it carries more weight than on a short visit. A one-room lease and an application for four people is a visible mismatch.
Are the relationships documented exactly? Family relationship certificate, marriage certificate, and birth certificates for minors. Names must agree across your passport, your ward documents and your sponsor's Korean records. Transliteration differences between a Nepali ward certificate and a passport are a routine and entirely avoidable source of doubt — have the translator work from originals so spellings stay consistent across the whole file.
Sequencing an F-3 application
- First, before anything. Confirm the sponsor's exact visa code in their immigration record, and check their residence card is valid more than six months beyond your application date.
- Immediately after. Ask them to begin their set: invitation and guarantee letters on the downloaded forms, foreign resident registration, seal certificate, employment and income certificates, lease or residence confirmation. Employer-issued documents move at the employer's pace.
- At the same time. Book tuberculosis tests at one of the four hospitals for every family member aged six and above.
- Early and safely. Ward documents — family relationship certificate, marriage certificate, birth certificates for minors. Six-month window.
- Four to six weeks out. Notarised English translations of every Nepali-language document, worked from the originals.
- Last two weeks only. The sponsor's Korean bank balance certificate and six-month statement. One-month items.
- Finally. Cover letter, page 5 signature, file in the published order.
Full reasoning in the validity clock section of the main guide.
Where F-3 applications come apart
The sponsor's code was assumed rather than checked. E-7 against E-7-4R is the single most expensive error on this route, and the requirements warn about it explicitly.
The sponsor's residence card expires within six months, discovered too late to renew first.
Only one TB test booked when several family members are six or above.
Korean bank statements submitted as a full transaction history rather than deposits only.
No birth certificate for a minor applicant.
Names that differ in transliteration between ward documents, passports and the sponsor's Korean records.
Forms downloaded from a group chat rather than the embassy's site, and therefore out of date.
A return flight booking included, because the applicant worked from the C-3-1 dependent list. Not required here — and its presence suggests you may be on the wrong list entirely.
After you arrive
F-3 is a long-stay residence status, which means alien registration for each family member and a set of first-month tasks:
- Getting your Alien Registration Card in Korea — everything else depends on it, for every family member
- National Health Insurance in Korea — household enrolment and what dependants pay
- Jeonse, wolse and key money: Korean housing explained — if the current lease will not hold the whole family
- Sending money from Korea to Nepal
On working: a dependent status is not a work permit. Permission to work on F-3 is restricted and subject to conditions, and taking a job without the right permission puts the sponsor's status at risk as well as your own. Check before you accept anything — Korean visa types and immigration offices and overstay.
On schooling: if children are joining you, speak to the local education office early. Enrolment procedure and language support vary by district.
And for the rest of it: the Nepali community in Korea covers the support centres and associations that are most useful to a family arriving together, learning Korean for the adults and cultural exchange and differences for everyone.
Questions people actually ask
My husband says he is "on E-7". Is that enough? No. The sub-code decides which list you are on: E-7 leads to F-3-17 or F-3-74, while E-7-4R leads to a C-3-1 capped at ninety days. Ask him to read it off his residence card or confirm it at his immigration office.
What is the difference between F-3-17 and F-3-74? Both are dependent categories of the E-7 route and the document list given is the same for both. Which applies depends on the sponsor's specific E-7 sub-category, so have the embassy or the sponsor's immigration office confirm which one your application should be made under.
Do our children need the TB test? Every applicant aged six and above. Under six, it is not listed. For a family move that usually means several tests, so book them together and early.
Do I need a return flight booking? Not on this list. The C-3-1 dependent route requires one because it is a ninety-day visit; F-3 is a long stay. If you find yourself preparing a return booking for an F-3 application, check you are on the right list.
I have a job offer in Korea. Can I take it on F-3? Not automatically. Dependent status restricts employment, permission is conditional, and working without it endangers your sponsor's status too. Get the position confirmed in writing by immigration before you start.
Can we apply for the whole family at once? The documents are per applicant — each person needs a form, photograph, passport, and a TB report if aged six or above — while the sponsor's set is shared. Confirm with the embassy how they want a family group submitted.
My sponsor's income is modest. Will that fail? There is no figure stated in the list. What the two years of income certification, bank balance and statements are doing is showing the household can support the people joining it, so the relevant question is income against the number of dependants rather than income in the abstract.
Sources and accuracy
Requirements above are drawn from the trilingual visa document lists published by DAGACHI and World DAGACHI at worlddagachi.com, working from the English versions.
The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Nepal sets and changes these requirements without notice. Download the invitation and guarantee letter forms from the embassy's own website, confirm the designated hospital list is current before booking medicals, and check the date on this page. Which dependent sub-category applies to your sponsor is a determination for the embassy and their immigration office, not something this page can settle. Nothing here is legal or immigration advice.
If something here is out of date, tell us.
Stay current
Get told when these rules change
One short email a month covering visa rules, fees and new guides.
