Jeju Island Halves Salary Rule, Triples Stay for Workation Visa to Lure Nomads

(JEJU ISLAND, SOUTH KOREA) – Jeju Island plans to cut the salary threshold for foreign workation visa applicants by 50% and triple the visa-free or workation stay limit from 30 days to 90 days, as the island pushes to attract more digital nomads and long-stay remote workers.

The move would make Jeju’s remote-work offer markedly easier to use than it is now. Officials are positioning the island as a place where overseas employees can stay longer and work remotely with fewer barriers tied to income and short-entry windows.

Jeju is trying to combine South Korea’s national digital nomad visa framework with its own visa-free tourism regime and workation incentives. The aim is an island-specific option that gives remote workers more flexibility than a single national framework or a short tourist stay can provide on its own.

That push comes as Jeju develops what it describes as a “Jeju-style digital nomad visa” built around longer stays and easier entry. The island already promotes a workation ecosystem that includes subsidized airfare, accommodation and leisure vouchers, along with public and private workation offices, local currency incentives for longer stays and dedicated workation infrastructure.

Under South Korea’s national F-1-D Workation (Digital Nomad) Pilot Program, applicants must meet a higher bar. The program requires annual salary of at least USD 66,000, remote work for a foreign employer, at least 1 year in the relevant industry, and documents that include employment verification, income proof, health insurance and supporting paperwork.

Jeju’s proposed cut would halve that income requirement for foreign workation visa applicants. The plan does not alter the structure of the national pilot program as described, but it points to a local effort to lower the earnings bar for people who want to base themselves on Jeju Island while continuing to work for employers abroad.

The proposed extension from 30 days to 90 days would change the rhythm of a stay as much as the price of entry. A month often fits a vacation; three months fits a remote-work stretch, a seasonal relocation or a trial run for workers who want more time than a standard short visit allows.

Jeju’s approach centers on blending two systems that usually operate separately: a national visa framework and the island’s own visitor incentives. The combination suggests a model tailored less to traditional tourism alone and more to travelers who arrive with jobs, laptops and the intention to stay long enough to work as well as travel.

Digital nomads often compare destinations on two immediate points: how hard it is to qualify and how long they can remain without repeated re-entry or a new application. Jeju’s proposed changes address both. One lowers the income threshold. The other extends the stay window.

That matters in practical terms because the current national benchmark of USD 66,000 excludes a large share of remote workers whose salaries do not meet that line even if their jobs are stable and location-independent. Cutting the requirement by half would widen the pool of eligible applicants without changing the basic emphasis on overseas employment and documented income.

The stay proposal works in the same direction. A 90 days window gives remote workers more room to settle into a routine, use local coworking or workation offices and spread travel and housing costs over a longer period, instead of compressing work and travel into 30 days.

Jeju has already built parts of the system that such visitors tend to look for. The island’s existing package includes subsidized airfare and accommodation support, leisure vouchers, local currency incentives tied to longer stays, and work-focused facilities in both public and private settings.

Those incentives place Jeju’s policy in a broader workation frame rather than a narrow visa frame. The visa element affects entry and eligibility. The island’s incentives affect whether a remote worker can actually function there day to day, with places to work and financial perks tied to spending more time on the island.

Jeju’s proposal also suggests a sharper fit between tourism policy and remote-work policy. A short-stay visitor regime is designed around transit, sightseeing and limited time. A workation regime assumes longer routines, repeat use of local services and a traveler who is not looking for a full local job but is also not visiting only for a few days.

In that sense, the island is not simply trying to draw more tourists. It is targeting a category of visitors who continue earning from abroad while spending more time locally. The policy language points directly to digital nomads and long-stay remote workers rather than a general mass-market travel push.

The national framework remains the clearest benchmark for what South Korea currently expects from this category of traveler. Employment must be with a foreign employer. Work history must reach at least 1 year in the relevant industry. Applicants must submit proof, including employment verification, income records, health insurance and supporting paperwork.

Jeju’s effort appears designed to soften some of those practical hurdles at the island level, especially the income bar and the length of stay. Lowering the salary requirement makes the destination more accessible. Extending the permitted stay makes it more usable.

Both changes speak to the same problem. A remote worker who qualifies on paper but can stay for only 30 days may not treat the island as a true work base. A worker who can remain longer but cannot meet the salary threshold never gets that far.

Jeju Island has spent several years building a reputation around the idea of work and travel happening in the same place. The policy direction laid out here ties that branding to entry rules. A workation office, a voucher and a local-currency incentive matter more once a visitor has enough time to use them.

The proposal would also give Jeju a more island-specific version of the national digital nomad structure. That is the clearest distinction in the current plan. Rather than relying solely on one nationwide program, Jeju is seeking a version that reflects the island’s separate visa-free tourism setting and its own incentive system.

No fee structure accompanies the proposal in the material released so far, and no full eligibility rulebook appears alongside the headline changes. The outline instead points to the areas that would define a complete program: official eligibility rules, fees, required documents, tax implications, visa validity and renewal options, and practical factors such as cost of living and internet or coworking quality in Jeju.

Those details will shape how far the plan goes beyond a policy signal. For now, the clearest confirmed elements are the two headline changes: the planned 50% reduction in the salary threshold for foreign workation visa applicants and the planned increase in the stay limit from 30 days to 90 days.

Even in that preliminary form, the direction is clear. Jeju wants a remote-work system that fits the island’s tourism model, extends stays, lowers the earnings barrier and uses an existing workation ecosystem to compete more aggressively for digital nomads in East Asia.

If the proposal takes effect, Jeju Island would move closer to a model built around longer, more flexible stays for people whose jobs travel with them, pairing a lighter entry threshold with an on-the-ground network of offices, incentives and vouchers meant to keep those workers on the island longer.