E9 Insurance in Korea (2026): Departure, Return, Accident & Guarantee Explained
Most E-9 (Non-Professional Employment) workers don’t realize two things: some of these insurances are money that belongs to you (you claim it when you leave Korea), and some you must sign up for yourself. Miss them and you can lose thousands of won — including what is effectively your severance pay.
This guide explains the four dedicated foreign-worker insurances under the Employment Permit System — who pays, what each covers, and how to claim your money — plus how they differ from Korea’s regular social insurance (including 고용보험).
There are four dedicated E9 insurances. Your employer pays two: Departure Guarantee Insurance (your severance) and Guarantee Insurance (protects your unpaid wages). You pay two: Return Cost Insurance (your flight home — sign up within 3 months) and Accident Insurance (non-work injury — sign up within 15 days). Departure Guarantee is the big one — it’s your money, and you claim it when you leave. Note: 고용보험 (Employment Insurance) is a separate social insurance, not one of these four.
1. The four dedicated insurances at a glance
| Insurance | Who pays | What it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Departure Guarantee 출국만기보험·신탁 |
Employer | Acts as your severance pay. Paid to you in connection with leaving Korea. |
| Guarantee Insurance 보증보험 |
Employer | Protects you if the employer fails to pay your wages. |
| Return Cost 귀국비용보험·신탁 |
You (worker) | Covers the cost of your flight home when your stay ends. |
| Accident 상해보험 |
You (worker) | Covers death or injury from non-work causes (work injuries are covered by 산재보험). |
Employer pays for the two that protect your earnings (severance + unpaid-wage cover). You pay for the two tied to you personally (getting home + personal injury).
2. Departure Guarantee Insurance (출국만기보험) — your severance
This is the most important one to understand, because it is your money. Your employer contributes to it during your employment, and it functions as your severance pay (퇴직금) for contracts of one year or longer.
Under Korean labor law, statutory severance equals about one month’s average wage for each year worked. The Departure Guarantee Insurance is designed to cover this. Importantly:
- It is normally paid out in connection with your departure from Korea, not while you’re still working.
- If the insurance payout is less than the statutory severance you’re owed, your employer must pay the difference.
- Subscribing is a legal duty of the employer; an employer who doesn’t can be fined up to ₩5 million.
Many workers go home without claiming their departure/severance money. Before you leave, make sure you know how to receive it (see the claim section below and our departure checklist).
3. Return Cost Insurance (귀국비용보험)
You (the worker) pay into this after you start working. Its purpose is to guarantee you can afford your flight back home at the end of your stay. You must subscribe within 3 months of your contract taking effect (for a first-time E-9 worker, that clock starts on your entry date). You can pay it as a lump sum or in up to 3 installments.
The amount is fixed by your nationality:
| Group | Country (worker’s nationality) | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | China, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam | ₩400,000 |
| Group 2 | Mongolia | ₩500,000 |
| Group 3 | Sri Lanka | ₩600,000 |
| Other | All other countries | ₩500,000 |
You can claim the lump sum when you leave for good, leave early for personal reasons, or are deported after leaving a workplace. Claim within 3 years of the triggering event — unclaimed money after 3 years is transferred to HRD Korea. Not subscribing can bring an administrative fine of up to ₩5 million.
For policies where your work start date is on or after 16 December 2024, the return-cost insurance is now paid out automatically on a complete departure from Korea, with no separate claim needed. For the change-of-visa-status case, automatic payout was scheduled to begin in the first half of 2025 (system upgrade) — confirm it is now in effect for your situation. If your policy started on or before 15 December 2024, you can still receive it, but you may need to apply separately. (In a death case, payout still follows a claim by direct family.)
4. Accident Insurance (상해보험)
You (the worker) also sign up for this — within 15 days of your contract taking effect. It covers death or permanent after-effects (후유장해) from non-work injury or illness. Injuries and illness caused by your job are instead covered by Industrial Accident Insurance (산재보험), which is mandatory and paid by the employer.
This insurance pays out only for death or a permanent-disability ruling from a non-work cause. It does not reimburse ordinary outpatient or hospital treatment costs. And you can’t double-claim with 산재보험: if it’s a work injury, you’re compensated through 산재, not this. Not subscribing can bring a fine of up to ₩5 million.
If you’re hurt at work → 산재보험 (Industrial Accident Insurance). If you’re hurt outside work → 상해보험 (this Accident Insurance). Don’t confuse the two when making a claim.
For policies where your work start date is on or after 16 December 2024, if you’re re-employed after your 3-year work period, the accident insurance now renews automatically — no re-subscription paperwork — as long as the account you registered on the auto-renewal consent form is kept open with enough balance to cover the premium. As a reference, the auto-renewal premium is about ₩12,900 for a 30-year-old man (it varies by age and sex).
5. Guarantee Insurance (보증보험)
Your employer pays for this. It exists to protect you against unpaid wages — if the employer defaults on your salary, this insurance provides a payout up to a set limit. Like the Departure Guarantee, it is a legal duty of the employer, and an employer who fails to subscribe can be fined up to ₩5 million. It works alongside your legal right to pursue wage claims.
If you’re facing unpaid wages, this insurance is one layer of protection. See our guides on employment rights and the wage-theft employer ban.
6. What about 고용보험 & the social insurances?
This is where workers get confused. The four insurances above are dedicated foreign-worker insurances. They are separate from Korea’s four social insurances (4대 보험):
| Social insurance | Applies to E-9? |
|---|---|
| Industrial Accident (산재보험) | Mandatory — employer pays. Covers work injuries. |
| Health Insurance (건강보험) | Mandatory for E-9 workers. |
| Employment Insurance (고용보험) | Two parts: the employment-stability / skill-development portion is compulsory for E-9; unemployment & parental-leave benefits are voluntary (need a joint application). See below. |
| National Pension (국민연금) | Depends on a social-security agreement with your home country (reciprocity) — verify your case. |
So 고용보험 is a social insurance, not one of the four dedicated foreign-worker insurances. Whether it (or National Pension) applies to you depends on the rules for your nationality and situation.
Since the Employment Insurance Act was amended, E-9 (and H-2) workers have been brought under Employment Insurance in two ways:
- Compulsory part — the employment-stability and job-skill-development programs apply automatically. This was phased in by workplace size: 30+ employees from 2021, 10–30 from 2022, and under 10 from 2023 (so it now covers essentially all workplaces). The employer must file the enrollment report by the 15th of the month after your contract takes effect.
- Voluntary part — to be eligible for unemployment benefits (실업급여) and parental-leave benefits (육아휴직급여), the employer and worker must agree together and file a separate foreign-worker Employment Insurance application.
7. How to claim your money when you leave
Two of these — Departure Guarantee (severance) and Return Cost — are amounts you should receive around the time you leave Korea. Claiming them is one of the most important steps in your departure process. We cover the full step-by-step (severance + insurance refunds + departure report) in our upcoming E-9 Leaving Korea Checklist.
8. FAQ
Q. Is the departure insurance the same as severance pay?
It’s designed to cover your severance (퇴직금) for contracts of a year or more. If it pays less than your legal severance, the employer must top up the difference.
Q. Which insurances do I pay for myself?
Return Cost Insurance and Accident Insurance. Your employer pays for Departure Guarantee and Guarantee Insurance.
Q. Is 고용보험 (Employment Insurance) one of the four?
No. It’s a separate social insurance. Its application to E-9 workers is limited/conditional — check your specific situation.
Q. I got injured at work — which insurance?
Work injuries are covered by Industrial Accident Insurance (산재보험), not the Accident Insurance (상해보험) you pay for.
Confirm your insurance details through the Employment Permit System (eps.go.kr) or your Employment Center, and call the 1350 labor hotline for help. Keep your policy certificates and pay slips.
The structure, deadlines, country amounts, penalties, the 2024 auto-payout/auto-renewal changes, and the Employment Insurance rules above come from official Ministry of Employment and Labor / EPS notices and Korea’s Easy Law service (as of 15 June 2026). Only two employer-side figures remain to be confirmed: the Departure Guarantee premium rate and exact payout timing, and the Guarantee Insurance coverage cap. Confirm these on eps.go.kr or with the Ministry of Employment and Labor before relying on them.