How can you change your G1 visa? This is the Question my clients ask the most,so I figured I might as well save everyone’s time and put the answer out there.

Short answer – if you have G1,which for most people who ask me these questions mean that you are a refugee applicant, you probably can’t change your visa.

Why,you ask? Well,let’s face it. For most of the people who apply for refugee status,are you really a refugee? Are you really afraid to face serious harm or threat if you go back home?

If you say yes,then there is a chance that your refugee application can get accepted,and you get the F2 refugee visa. If you are one of those people,you really should seek out professional legal assistance as soon as possible,because even if you have a serious case,it’s very hard to get accepted.

But for the majority of the people I’ve seen,they just applied for G1 so they can work in Korea. So there’s no chance you would get accepted as F2,since their cases either lack evidence/credibility,or are not serious enough. And for people like that, there are not a lot of opportunities to change their visa. Refugee Applicant visa is not supposed to be for people who just want to stay in Korea,so if you abuse the system for that purpose,even if you are someone who may be eligible to get a different visa,having a G1 will block you from those opportunities.

So you can only get a different visa,under very exceptional circumstances.

The most common such cases are F6,where you marry a Korean person. If you marry a foreigner who visa that allows a dependent person,you may get F1.

If you invest more than 100,000,000 KRW in a Korean company,you can get D8,but for people who have a history of applying for a G1,realistically you would need a lot more than just 100,000,000 KRW.

If you are in need of medical treatment that you can’t get in your country,you may get the G1 medical visa,but then this is not a working visa,and you have to show that you can pay for the medical bills.

And that’s it. As of 2025,these are the visas that you can get if you have a G1 refugee applicant visa.

I’ve seen people who got scammed by other people who claimed that they can help change their visas,even though they’re not eligible for a new visa. If you have a g1 refugee applicant visa,it’s safe to assume that you can’t change your visa into anything.​