What changes financially when you move to South Korea?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules South Korea and the Netherlands apply to your situation: which country may tax you, which schemes exist and how you get insured. With the source, so you can check it yourself.
This applies to everyone who moves. Tick above what applies to you, and the rest will appear.
Health insurance
How do you get insured, and what do you pay for it?
No CAK route: your Dutch healthcare stops
South Korea isn't on the CAK's list of treaty countries. Your basic insurance ends when you emigrate, also with an AOW or pension.
The CAK route is the arrangement by which, with a Dutch AOW or pension, you're insured in a treaty country, through a contribution to the CAK. The social security treaty with Korea doesn't change that: on the Korean side it only lists the state pension. So you insure yourself in Korea, and until that's possible with a policy of your own.
Source: CAK — the treaty countries of the foreign scheme; South Korea isn't on it — checked on 2026-10-26
Read the whole storyIn Korea you're compulsorily insured with the NHIS
If you work in Korea, you're insured through your employer with the NHIS, the Korean health insurance: 7.19 percent of your wages, half of it for the employer. If you don't work there, you become a compulsory member after six months of residence.
Without work you pay a premium based on income and assets, and never less than the average premium. According to a Korean university citing the NHIS, in 2026 that's about 158,630 won a month; we didn't find that amount at the NHIS itself. You get the same cover as a Korean, with a co-payment per visit. The spouse and children under 19 of an employee don't have to wait six months.
- premium employees 2026
- 7.19% of wages, half for the employer
- without work
- compulsory after 6 months of residence
A foreign policy of your own doesn't automatically replace the NHIS
The law allows you to drop the NHIS if you're equally well insured elsewhere. The NHIS only mentions that exception for employees.
If you're retired and have an international policy, don't assume you'll stay outside the NHIS after six months. Ask the NHIS before you renew your policy.
Where this comes from: Article 109 paragraph 5 of the National Health Insurance Act mentions "the employer or insured"; the NHIS's English page limits the exclusion to "employee insured". What applies to someone without work hasn't been officially confirmed.
Read the whole storyYour Dutch basic insurance ends when you deregister
Your basic insurance stops on the day you deregister. Until the NHIS insures you, you're only covered with a policy of your own.
Without work it takes six months before the NHIS insures you. So first arrange your policy for those months, and only then take steps you can't undo.
Where this comes from: The order from the healthcare article — own policy before departure — and the fixed emigration rule that the Zvw ends on deregistration.
Read the whole storyWhat the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
Your AOW build-up stops when you leave, repairing is possible within one year
This is about building up your AOW, not about the payment. What you built up until you left stays. But as soon as you're no longer insured in the Netherlands, you build up nothing more. Every year until your AOW age then costs 2% of your later AOW.
With voluntary insurance at the SVB you close the gap, for at most ten years. That's only possible if your application is in within one year after the end of your compulsory insurance. The premium depends on your income. Whoever is posted abroad by a Dutch employer stays insured in the Netherlands for up to five years.
- reduction per uninsured year
- 2% of your AOW
- application voluntary insurance
- at the latest 1 year after the end of your insurance
An Anw benefit for your partner only with voluntary insurance
The Anw, the survivors' benefit, can go to Korea, because it's a treaty country. But there's only an entitlement if you were insured on the day of your death.
After you leave you're usually only insured with a voluntary Anw insurance at the SVB. You take it out within a year of leaving, together with or separately from the AOW.
- article
- article 32a of the Anw, and article 5 of the treaty
Your WW stops when you go to Korea
Whoever lives or stays outside the Netherlands, other than on holiday, has no right to WW. The treaty with Korea doesn't include the WW.
A WIA benefit does come along: Korea is a treaty country where an entitlement can exist, and the treaty covers disability. According to the Belastingdienst both countries may tax that WIA.
- article
- article 19 paragraph 1 under e of the WW, and article 5 of the treaty
For inheritance and gifts the Netherlands counts you in for another ten years
The Successiewet, the law on inheritance and gift tax, treats an emigrated Dutch national as living in the Netherlands for another ten years. That applies on death and on a gift.
If you die within ten years of leaving, your heirs pay Dutch inheritance tax, as if you still lived here. For a resident Korea also taxes assets anywhere in the world. We haven't found an inheritance tax treaty with Korea. Check your will and your gift plans before you leave.
- residence fiction
- 10 years
This is not tax advice
These are the rules that apply to your situation, not what they add up to. The Netherlands has two treaties with South Korea. The 2002 social security treaty makes sure you get the full AOW, also as a single person. The 1978 tax treaty divides who may tax: your AOW and your government pension go to the Netherlands, your company pension to Korea. For the first five years Korea only taxes a foreigner on foreign income he transfers to Korea. There's no healthcare treaty, so no CAK. No retirement visa either. Take this list to a tax adviser who knows both countries.
Still deciding between countries? Put the rules of two or three countries side by side
Then actually doing it
Knowing which rules apply is the first half. The second is applying them in time: in the right order, without missing a deadline, and with your documents at hand.
Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for South Korea: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for South Korea change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.