Money & banking
When your foreign card is declined
Work out where it failed before you switch cards, because a shop terminal, a delivery app and a shopping site each have a different fix. Most Korean shops take Visa, Mastercard and Amex, and two delivery apps now register overseas cards, so the card is often not the problem. A Korean debit card from your own bank account is the longer-term route.
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Opening a bank account
Call the bank's foreigner line before you go, because what you need depends on the bank and the branch. Woori Bank's line is 1599-2288 (press 1 for English), and KB Kookmin's Global Customer Center is 1599-4477. A mobile Alien Registration Card is accepted for account opening at six banks, but when the Financial Services Commission announced it, only one of them let you skip the branch.
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Getting your National Pension contributions back when you leave Korea
If you live and work in Korea, National Pension contributions come out of your pay. The lump-sum refund is how you get that money back when you leave. Not every foreign national qualifies, though. You need one of three things: a home country whose own law gives Korean nationals an equivalent benefit, a home country that has a social security agreement with Korea covering lump-sum refunds, or enrollment under the Training Employment (E-8), Non-professional Employment (E-9), or Working Visit (H-2) status. You can claim at any National Pension Service branch in the country, and the right disappears five years after it arises. There is also a way to collect it in foreign currency at Incheon Airport on the day you fly.
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Compare transfers by what actually arrives
The place advertising the lowest fee does not always send the most money. Pick by the number that lands in the other person's account for the same amount sent. Holders of the Overseas Korean (F-4) and Working Visit (H-2) statuses, and the family living with them, get a preferential exchange rate on post office transfers from 1 September 2026.
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