Understanding D-4 Visa Category: Which One's Right for You?

The D-4 is the general training visa, and for most applicants from Nepal and South Asia it means one thing: a Korean-language programme at a university language institute. But the category is broader than that, and the sub-category you apply under shapes what you can do next.

The two you are most likely to need

D-4-1

University-affiliated language training

D-4-6

General trainee at a non-university institution

Why start with a language programme

1. It gives you a realistic path into a degree taught partly or wholly in Korean.
2. You arrive, settle and build local knowledge before the academic pressure starts.
3. Institutions can see a completed Korean programme on your record when you apply for the degree.

Moving from D-4 to D-2

Changing status from a language programme to a degree programme is routine, but it is a process with its own paperwork and its own timing. Start it while your current status still has comfortable time remaining — not in its final weeks.

1. 1

   Keep attendance clean

   Attendance records follow you into the status-change application. This is the requirement students most often underestimate.

2. 2

   Secure the degree admission

   You need the admission letter before you can change status, so the degree application runs on the normal intake calendar.

3. 3

   Refresh the financial evidence

   Expect to evidence capability again for the new programme. Plan the holding period backwards from the application date.