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Guide to Company Registration in Korea for Foreign Founders (Part 2 of 2)

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This is Part 2 of our guide to establishing a company in Korea as a foreign founder. In Part 1 of this series, we walked through the seven personal documents every foreign founder needs before filing to incorporate in Korea: your personal seal, seal certificate, foreign registration proof, passport, bank balance certificate, office lease, and the equivalent set of documents for your auditor. If you haven't read that yet, start here: [Part 1: Every Document You'll Actually Need].


With those seven documents in hand, you're at the point where most founders start looking for a legal administrator (a "beomusa") to actually file the incorporation on their behalf. Before you hand everything over, though, there's one more form to fill out, and then a clear three-stage path to actually running your company. That's what this post covers.


The OASIS-8 Application Form

Once your seven documents are close to ready, there's one more form to complete before handing everything to a legal administrator. This isn't a government form itself. It's an information-gathering document used by incorporation agencies to collect everything they need to process your registration.


When to fill it out: Complete this near the end of your document preparation, right before engaging a legal administrator to handle the actual registry filing. Company details such as your company name, capital, business purpose, and founder information can be filled in early, independent of the other paperwork. But time-sensitive documents like your seal certificate and balance certificate should still be the freshest, most recently issued versions, submitted alongside the form.


What the form covers:

  • Company name (two options each in Korean and English; you'll need to check for duplicate names in advance through Internet Registry Office (IROS )
  • Registered head office address (based on your lease agreement)
  • Phone number
  • Capital amount and par value per share
  • Business purpose and main business activities
  • Founder details: CEO/representative, co-representative if applicable, and auditor, including each person's name, Alien Registration Number or resident number, address, and
  • Ownership percentage


The Full Path: From Filing to Bank Account

Here's how everything connects, from handing off your paperwork to opening your first corporate bank account.

Step 1: Company Registration A legal administrator handles this on your behalf, including paying the registration tax, verifying documents, and producing your corporate seal.


Step 2: Business Registration Handled through the National Tax Service, free of charge, and typically completed within three days. You'll need:

  • Certified copy of the corporate registry
  • Corporate seal certificate
  • Corporate seal
  • Shareholder list
  • Office lease agreement (this time under the company's name)
  • Alien Registration Card
  • Passport


Step 3: Corporate Bank Account Opening Handled at your chosen bank, requiring:

  • Business registration certificate
  • Corporate seal certificate
  • Corporate seal
  • Shareholder list
  • Passport
  • Alien Registration Card


A Few Extra Things Worth Knowing

  • Always check for duplicate company names on iros.go.kr before settling on one, in both Korean and English.
  • Your office address needs the landlord's sign-off, or a clear agreement between the landlord and the representative director.
  • The auditor doesn't need to hold any shares in the company. They're not involved in daily management and simply oversee operations. Once the company no longer needs them, they can resign through a separate registry filing.


Putting the Whole Process Together

If you're mapping this out from day one, across both parts of this series, the full order looks like this:

  1. Lock in your company basics. Company name (in both languages), business purpose, capital, and founder structure (CEO, co-representative if any, and auditor). Check name availability on Internet Registry Office (IROS.
  2. Make personal seals for the CEO, co-representative if applicable, and the auditor. (Part 1)
  3. Register those seals and get seal certificates at the relevant community center. The auditor goes through the same process if they're a foreign national. (Part 1)
  4. Get the Certificate of Alien Registration Fact, through Government24 or in person. (Part 1)
  5. Prepare your passport, notarized if any institution requires it. (Part 1)
  6. Get your bank balance certificate, ideally with your capital amount sitting in the account, issued close to your filing date. (Part 1)
  7. Sign the office lease, making sure at least six months remain on the term as of your filing date, and confirming the landlord's consent for business use. (Part 1)
  8. Fill out the OASIS-8 form, pulling together everything above into the company and founder details needed for filing. (Part 2)
  9. Hand everything to your legal administrator to file for incorporation, including tax payment and corporate seal production. (Part 2)
  10. Register for business with the National Tax Service. (Part 2)
  11. Open your corporate bank account. (Part 2)


The one habit worth building early is thinking backward from your filing date: since seal certificates and balance certificates expire after three months, plan to request those two last, right when you're ready to hand your file to your legal administrator. Everything else can be prepared well in advance.


Starting a company in a new country always feels more complicated than it needs to be until someone lays out the actual steps. Now you have them, from your first seal all the way to your first corporate bank transfer.


If you missed the first half of this guide, covering the seven personal documents in detail, you can find it here: [Part 1: Every Document You'll Actually Need].


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