Registered Foreigners Can Conduct Non-Face-to-Face Mobile Financial Transactions Starting from the 18th

Ministry of Justice Launches Foreign Registration Card Authenticity Verification Service

Registered foreigners will be able to conduct various financial transactions non-face-to-face using mobile phones just like Korean nationals.

On the 15th, the Ministry of Justice announced that, in cooperation with the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Financial Telecommunications & Clearings Institute, it will start the 'Foreigner Registration Card Authenticity Verification Service' from the 18th.

Provided by the Ministry of Justice.

The Foreigner Registration Card Authenticity Verification Service is a service that, when registered foreigners attempt to conduct financial tasks requiring verification of their foreigner registration card (including permanent resident cards and domestic residence report cards for overseas Koreans) non-face-to-face via mobile apps, compares the personal and photo information of the foreigner registration card sent by financial companies with the information held by the Ministry of Justice to determine authenticity, and provides the results to the financial companies in real time.

Until now, only authenticity verification services for identification cards such as resident registration cards, driver’s licenses, and passports were provided. There was no system or institution to verify the authenticity of foreigner registration cards, causing inconvenience for foreigners residing in Korea who had to visit financial companies in person every time they needed to verify their ID for financial tasks such as opening bank accounts.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Justice amended the Immigration Control Act in December last year and has been working on building a system to provide the foreigner registration card authenticity verification service.

Starting from the 18th, with the implementation of this service, registered foreigners will be able to use non-face-to-face financial services via mobile devices without visiting banks in person.

The Ministry of Justice said it will first implement the service targeting the primary financial sector, and after stabilizing the system and assessing the demand from financial companies, plans to expand the service to the secondary financial sector. Financial companies providing the service will be listed on the Immigration and Foreigners Policy Headquarters website and the HiKorea portal for foreigner-related civil services.

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon stated, "It is important to align the domestic living environment with global standards to attract outstanding talent, and the foreigner registration card authenticity verification service is part of that effort," adding, "We expect that inconveniences in foreigner financial transactions will be resolved going forward."

Meanwhile, to coincide with the launch of the foreigner registration card authenticity verification service, the Ministry of Justice also announced the start of a 24-hour online lost card reporting service on HiKorea to prevent misuse of lost foreigner registration cards.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.