Employer Keeping Your Passport or ID Card in Korea? What the Law Bans

Some workers hear, when they start a job, "The company will hold your passport so you don't run away," or "I'll keep your alien registration card until you pay back what you borrowed." Article 33-3 of the Immigration Act bans this for everyone. Here is what is banned, what happens if the rule is broken, and the steps to take to get your documents back.

Key points

• No one may receive a foreigner's passport or alien registration card as security for an employment contract or a debt, or force or arrange its handover.
• Violations are criminal offenses, and if an employee commits one in the course of business, the employer may also be fined.
• The same article bans creating fake alien registration numbers and misusing someone else's card. A foreigner who violates it may be deported.
• Foreigners have a duty to carry their passport or alien registration card at all times, so leaving it with someone else is a burden on you too.

1. What is banned?

The Immigration Act says no one may do any of the following.

1. Receive a foreigner's passport or alien registration card as security for an employment contract or for the performance of a debt, or force or arrange its handover
2. Create a false alien registration number and use it for their own or another person's property or financial gain, or arrange this
3. Pass on or distribute a program that creates false alien registration numbers or mobile alien registration cards, or arrange this
4. Misuse another person's alien registration card or mobile card, or give one's own card to another person knowing it will be misused, or arrange either of these
5. Misuse another person's alien registration number for property or financial gain, or arrange this

When a boss holds your passport, the key question is whether item 1 applies. Whether it is called "safekeeping" or "management", it is banned if it is taken as a means of keeping you from leaving or making you repay a debt. Because the rule applies to "anyone", it covers not only employers but also managers, brokers and people who provide housing.

2. What happens if the rule is broken?

• Criminal penalty: As of October 2026, a person who violates this provision faces up to 3 years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won under Article 94 of the Immigration Act.
• Joint liability: If a corporation's representative or an employee commits the item 1 act (receiving a passport or card as security) in connection with the business of a corporation or individual owner, not only the person who did it but also the corporation or owner is fined. This does not apply if they did not neglect due care and supervision to prevent the violation.
• Limits on inviting foreigners: An inviter or user employer who has been sentenced, or has paid a fine or settlement fine, for the item 1 act may be refused visa issuance certificates for foreigners for a set period depending on the outcome.

Other penalties employers of foreign workers should know about are covered in the guide to penalties for employers of unauthorized workers.

3. Can the foreigner who handed over the passport be punished or deported?

Article 46 of the Immigration Act lists foreigners who violate this provision as subject to deportation. So what the foreigner actually did matters.

• The acts banned in item 1 are receiving a passport or card as security, and forcing or arranging its handover. Handing over your passport because your boss demanded it is not itself written as a banned act in item 1.
• On the other hand, a foreigner who, as a manager or broker, receives another foreigner's passport or forces or arranges its handover violates item 1.
• Lending your own alien registration card knowing it will be misused, or using someone else's card, violates item 4. In such cases you may face criminal penalties and deportation.

Also remember that foreigners aged 17 or older must always carry their passport or alien registration card and show it when an official asks. Leaving your documents with someone else makes this duty hard to meet. For the carrying and showing duty, see the guide to carrying and replacing an alien registration card.

4. How to get it back and where to report

1. First, clearly ask for it back. A method that leaves a record, such as text or messenger, is best.
2. Collect evidence. Keep the date you handed it over, which documents you handed over, statements such as "you won't get it back if you quit" or "you'll get it when you repay", your employment contract and pay records.
3. You can report to an immigration office. Under the Immigration Act, anyone who finds a person suspected of violating the Act may report it to an immigration officer.
4. If you are a non-professional employment (E-9) worker, check whether you can change workplaces. Where the Minister of Employment and Labor has announced that you cannot reasonably keep working for reasons not your fault, such as the employer's breach of working conditions or unfair treatment, you may apply to change workplaces. You apply at a Ministry of Employment and Labor job center, then obtain a permit to change workplace from the immigration office. Ask the job center whether your case qualifies. The risks of moving jobs without permission are in the guide to changing workplaces without permission.

5. What an administrative agent can do

We draft statements setting out how your passport or card came to be held and the evidence, prepare documents for the immigration office, prepare applications for a workplace change permit after changing employers, and translate foreign documents. Acting for you in a criminal complaint or in litigation is outside the scope of an administrative agent and we do not handle it.

Your passport and alien registration card are documents you are meant to carry yourself. You can check applications related to status and workplace on HiKorea.