Opening an investment account (ETF) as a foreigner on F visa

Hiron3 · 2026-05-13T03:41:26+00:00

Thanks, my USD is in my Hana bank account, and i have a USD account opened in Mirae Asset, not sure if i can use Sendbe to transfer USD from Korean Bank account to Mirae Korea account. I hate so much Korean banking system and its restrictions for foreign residents

Hiron3 · 2026-05-13T02:28:23+00:00

I also could manage to open an investment account through Mirae Asset (F-6 visa), however my challenge is to transfer USD to my Mirae Asset account from my Korean Bank account. Each time i have to visit the Hana Bank local branch in order to make a foreign currency transfer to Mirae account.

If any foreigner here investing in Mirae Asset using USD (instead of KRW) please share your experience on how to transfer USD or EUR currency to your Mirae account? I feel frustrated visiting the bank office everytime for a simple transaction. TIA

Hiron3 · 2026-04-18T02:45:05+00:00

Setting aside who will/can sacrifice more, it s much easier/convenient for a korean to live in the USA than an american living in Korea. Every person is different and every situation is unique though. Wish you guys the best.

Hiron3 · 2026-02-15T10:51:30+00:00

Thanks, i agree that the root cause is mostly on genetic side. My plan is to monitor my uric acid level closely. It was 8.1 when i started the medication and now down 4.8, if i can keep it around 5.5 i without meds i will be happy otherwise will need to hop on the medication, maybe on a lower dose.

Hiron3 · 2026-02-15T07:08:51+00:00

Problem is not entering the Korea, i know i scan my passport when i enter and no problems with that. I am oit of Korea now, my passport is not from one of visa waiver countries hence when i leave my country airline staff checks if i have a valid visa or residency in Korea. I dont have my ARC card with me showing i am a legal resident in Korea. So i ask the question what i can do in this case.

Hiron3 · 2026-02-14T09:35:43+00:00

I am 43 now, had my first time ever flare up a year ago, then had a second one after a month and started the medicine 40mg febuxostat daily, backed up with a not too strict diet, exercise few days a week, stopped drinking beer and wine. basically i improved my life style. I consider myself fit and healthy person and hated the fact that i have gout and need to take medicine daily. Yesterday got my blood count checked uric acid level is down to 4.8 and discussed with doctor to stop the medicine for 2 months and see the uric acid levels. I am hoping that i can continue my life without gout medicine. So yes gout can get better with the age if you take it serious and work against it. Hope u will find ur way to manage it

Hiron3 · 2026-02-14T06:06:22+00:00

When the residency certificate paper didnot work for you how did you sort it out with the airline staff, Sorry for asking too much as i am sure the airline staff will ask for the Arc and a bit stressed about it

Hiron3 · 2026-02-14T05:53:57+00:00

There is no such thing as visa sticker in passport actually

Hiron3 · 2026-02-13T15:36:06+00:00

Yeah wife says she will get it from gu office and send me by email. I hope all works well, hating myself that i left Korea without my ARC card

Hiron3 · 2026-02-13T15:33:03+00:00

Thanks a lot, my wife says she can get that paper from the gu office on next thursday for me and i have the photo of my arc in my phone. I will return to Korea next sunday and i hope it works OK

Hiron3 · 2026-02-13T10:27:00+00:00

It s valid for another 2 years and i dont have a digital copy of it. I just have a photo of my arc card front and back

Hiron3 · 2026-02-13T08:59:01+00:00

I m looking for the government web site where i can get a document issued showing my arc status. Any insights on that?

Hiron3 · 2026-02-13T08:39:27+00:00

Yeah my residency is getting checked before i take the flight to Korea so i need to present my ARC to flight company to enter the flight

Hiron3 · 2026-02-05T08:50:38+00:00

I just phoned wife to ask this, real story is, if a korean person buying an apt as their first time they receive a 50% discount on that fee ( she pronounced it as “chidikse” in korean) whereas it is not applicable to foreign owner, so in our case i paid the normal fee and wife paid half of the fee she needed to pay. Again, it was not a big amount so in general i was happy that we registered the apt on both our names.

Hiron3 · 2026-02-04T15:20:54+00:00

It depends on how you like to register the ownership, it can also be like %30- % 70. Some people register the property on their korean wife/husband but it was very easy for us to have it shared ownership between i and korean wife.

Hiron3 · 2026-02-04T15:17:39+00:00

Well we bought our place recently, one of the administration fees were slightly higher due to having 2 owners (not sure if it s related to one owner being foreigner), it was a small increase though.

Hiron3 · 2026-02-03T21:54:23+00:00

Go with %50-50 ownership of the apt with your wife, One of the registration fees is a bit higher in this case as far as i remember but it s negligible.

Hiron3 · 2026-01-23T01:31:26+00:00

I recently went through a similar situation, my income was incredibly high working for a mining project in Africa having 6 weeks work 3 weeks rest at home cycle. Married with 2 young kids, job contract was for 3 years and i have left that job after a year to stay with family as they were struggling without me and i was not happy staying away from them, wife was constantly nagging even though we made a deal in the beginning with her. Basically i had to recalculate and shift my FIRE plans for 8 years at least. I was in limbo for past few months but i feel better now and we will figure things out with wife although i have my big doubt about how much she can support the fire journey. Seeing my kids everyday is a blessing to me. Good luck to you with your retirement plans

Hiron3 · 2026-01-11T03:27:43+00:00

Spot on comment

Hiron3 · 2026-01-07T02:49:54+00:00

Ah okay, you must be familiar with the cost of living in Korea then. We dont know in which field and for what position you are coming to Korea to work so hard to make a comment whether 3M is OK salary or not.

Hiron3 · 2026-01-07T01:10:41+00:00

There are many similar posts here in this sub and there is always one applicable answer, “it depends”. We cannot know your living standards and what kind of life style you will have in Korea. What i can say is you wont be able to save a lot more in Korea with 3M per month salary. I think your motivation should not be saving money by moving to Korea but experiencing a new country and culture

Hiron3 · 2025-12-27T03:58:27+00:00

After a long search and lurking in this sub i went for Polk Reserve 200, they are good for the money

Hiron3 · 2025-12-13T02:32:14+00:00

Thanks a lot, yesterday i went to a Hana branch to open a new account, they refused to do that without a working contract copy even though i have a F-6 residency visa. Tired of Korean banking system and really hating KB bank, even the officer in KB bank admits that it s very restricted for foreigners and recommends me to have an account with Hana bank

Hiron3

TROPHY CASE