Collect your departure insurance and severance, even if you stay

If you work in Korea on an E-9 visa, your employer does not set aside severance pay the ordinary way. It pays a monthly premium into 출국만기보험, departure guarantee insurance, and that policy is where your severance sits. Most workers hear it described as money you collect at the airport. That is the usual case, not the only one: a change of visa status is also a payout trigger, and I have watched an employee collect it by fax while staying in the same job.

Three pots, three claims

The most common confusion I see is treating everything a departing E-9 worker is owed as one payment. It is three, from three different places:

• Departure guarantee insurance (출국만기보험). Paid for by the employer, held by the insurer the employer chose. This is your severance.
• Return cost insurance (귀국비용보험). Paid for by you when you started work, meant to cover the flight home.
• National Pension lump-sum refund (반환일시금). Held by the National Pension Service, available only to some nationalities. See the pension refund guide.

Collecting one does nothing to the other two. Each has its own form, its own office, and its own deadline.

Why a visa change counts as a payout

The Enforcement Decree lists the events that let a worker with at least a year of continuous service claim the accumulated amount as a lump sum: departure from Korea (a temporary trip does not count), death, and a change of visa status. The last one is the part almost nobody mentions in English.

It matters because more E-9 workers are now moving to the skilled-worker E-7 route instead of going home when their E-9 time runs out. When that change is granted, the E-9 employment arrangement that the insurance was built around has ended, even if the person keeps working at the same company. The insurance does not wait for a flight that is never going to happen.

How the claim actually went

This is the sequence for one of my employees in 2026, from E-9 to E-7 with our company. The order is what I would plan around if I did it again.

1. Finish the status change first. The insurer treats the change as the payout event, so nothing moves until immigration has actually granted E-7. In our case that meant a visit to Daejeon Immigration Office and a second stop before the change was complete. Do not call the insurer on the strength of an application that is still pending.
2. Phone the insurer. Our policy was with Samsung Fire. We told them the worker's status had changed to E-7 and that we wanted to claim the departure insurance.
3. They send a claim form by fax. Not an app, not an email link. A fax, to the company.
4. The worker signs, with identity confirmation. The claim is personal to the worker. The employer can arrange the paperwork but cannot sign for them.
5. Fax it back. Once the signed form was received and checked, the insurer paid the money into the worker's Korean bank account.

No plane ticket, no airport counter. Compare that with the departure case, where the worker normally shows a flight ticket and collects the money at the airport on the way out.

Where people get sent home — or lose money

• Assuming you have to leave Korea to get it. If your visa status changed after a year or more of service, you can claim now. Waiting for a departure that is years away just delays your own money.
• Calling the insurer before the change is granted. The payout event is the change itself, not the application.
• Closing the Korean bank account too early. In our case the money went to the worker's Korean account. Keep it open until the payment lands. The bank account guide covers what that account needs.
• Taking the insurer's figure as the final number. The insurance pays what has accumulated. Whether that equals your statutory severance is a separate question, and the difference is the employer's to pay.
• Letting it sit. Three years after the payout reason arises, the claim lapses and the money moves to HRD Korea.

Common questions

I changed from E-9 to E-7 but I am staying at the same company. Can I still claim?

Yes. The trigger in the Decree is the change of visa status, not leaving the employer. That was exactly our situation.

Which insurer holds my policy?

The employer chose it when you were hired. Ours is Samsung Fire, but you should not assume yours is. Ask your employer or check the annual statement the insurer is required to send you.

I worked less than a year. Is there anything to claim?

The insurance lump-sum claim requires at least one year of continuous service. Under one year, statutory severance does not arise either.

Is this the same as my return flight insurance?

No. Return cost insurance is a separate policy you paid for yourself. If you are staying in Korea on a new visa, ask that insurer separately what it allows.