Treating or recruiting foreign patients?

As K-beauty and K-medicine's global reputation grows, more Korean clinics and hospitals — plastic surgery, dermatology, dental, oriental medicine, and general hospitals alike — want to treat foreign patients. Under the Act on Support for Overseas Expansion of Medical System and Overseas Patients Attraction (의료해외진출법), a medical institution or agency cannot legally recruit or treat foreign patients without first completing foreign-patient recruitment business registration (외국인환자 유치사업 등록). Treating an overseas patient without it — even at a small clinic that assumed the rule was only for large hospitals — can mean up to 3 years' imprisonment or a fine of up to 30 million won.

What this covers

• Medical institution registration — at least one specialist physician per treated specialty, plus medical-accident liability insurance or co-op coverage
• Recruitment agency (유치업자, non-medical) registration — capital or asset valuation of at least 100 million won, an office, and liability insurance tiered by the partner institution's level: 100 million won for a clinic-level (의원급) partner, 200 million won when the partner is a general hospital (종합병원)
• Corporate applicants: the company's articles of incorporation must explicitly list "외국인환자 유치업" or "의료관광업" as a business purpose — if it's missing, the articles have to be amended and re-registered with the corporate registry before the application can proceed
• Travel agencies and tour operators — a common trap: holding a general travel agency (종합여행업) registration does not cover foreign-patient referral; introducing or promoting a hospital to an overseas patient, even informally (a guide recommending a clinic, an SNS post), counts as 알선 (brokering) and needs its own registration under the Medical Service Act, separate from the Tourism Promotion Act registration
• Visa support — a registered institution (not only "excellent" 우수 유치기관-tier institutions) can apply for a Certificate of Confirmation of Visa Issuance (사증발급인정서) through the Ministry of Justice's visa portal for C-3-3 (short-term medical tourism) and G-1-10 (treatment/recuperation) visas, which has a higher approval rate than applying directly at an overseas consulate
• "우수 유치기관" (excellent recruitment institution) designation — a higher tier requiring at least 1 year of registration plus either 30+ visa invitations or 500+ treated foreign patients in the prior year, opened periodically for application
• Annual performance reporting (매년 실적 보고, due by the end of February for the prior year, filed through the 외국인환자유치 정보시스템) — a recurring legal obligation, not optional
• Consequences of an invited patient overstaying — a registered institution with an outsized rate of visa-holders who overstay can face visa-application restrictions, loss of "excellent institution" status, and administrative penalties

What we handle

• Confirming which registration category applies — medical institution vs. recruitment agency — and the specific capital/insurance/personnel requirements for each
• Corporate applicants: confirming the articles of incorporation list the correct business purpose before filing, to avoid a rejected application
• Preparing the business operation plan and full application package
• Certificate of Confirmation of Visa Issuance applications for C-3-3/G-1-10 patients, and guidance on "excellent institution" designation eligibility
• Annual performance reporting to keep the registration in good standing
• Advising on the criminal-penalty exposure of operating without registration, and getting a small clinic or travel agency correctly registered before it starts advertising to overseas patients

How the process works

1. We confirm whether your registration falls under the medical-institution or recruitment-agency category and the applicable capital/insurance/personnel requirements — and for a corporation, whether the articles of incorporation already list the right business purpose.
2. We prepare the business operation plan and supporting documents, reviewed against the reasons applications typically get returned.
3. We file the registration and handle the annual performance report that follows each year.

Who typically needs this

Clinics and hospitals of any size — including smaller clinics that assume the requirement only applies to large hospitals — planning to treat foreign patients; travel agencies and tour operators already promoting or referring patients to Korean hospitals under a general travel agency registration alone; and businesses or individuals acting as a dedicated recruitment agency matching overseas patients to Korean providers.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a small clinic is exempt from registration — the requirement applies regardless of institution size
• Assuming a general travel agency (종합여행업) registration already covers referring patients to a hospital — it doesn't; foreign-patient brokering needs its own registration under the Medical Service Act
• A corporation applying without first confirming its articles of incorporation list the correct business purpose, which forces a restart through articles amendment and corporate registry update
• Missing the annual performance report, which is a recurring requirement, not a one-time step
• Not managing the overstay rate among invited patients, which can restrict future visa applications and cost an institution its "excellent institution" status

Timeline

Registration processing time depends on the completeness of the business operation plan on first submission; the annual performance report is due by the end of February each year for the prior year's activity, filed through the 외국인환자유치 정보시스템.

Setting up a company to operate this business first? See our nonprofit & entity setup service — or if it's a foreign-invested company, our FDI company setup & D-8 investor visa service. Already have a general travel agency registration and need the foreign-patient add-on? See our general travel agency registration service.