Visa, jobs and healthcare help in one place: how Busan's international-student support network changed

International students in Busan gained more ways to find help outside their universities in 2026. An integrated support hub opened in February. In March, about 300 new international students had their fingerprints registered there. In April, the number of designated hospitals for international students rose to three, and a Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam job fair for international students was held.

The changes are intended to connect daily-life, visa and employment support that had been dispersed across university international offices. The main location is the Study Busan Hub on the second floor of the National Pension Service Busan Office in Yeonje-gu. The Busan Global Center, operated by the Busan Global City Foundation, is on the 13th floor of the same building. Student-specific services and counseling for foreign residents more broadly are provided separately in one building.

A dedicated international-student hub opens on the second floor

The Study Busan Hub opened on February 10, 2026. At the time, the city put Busan's international-student population at about 22,000 and said it would build an integrated system covering preparation for study, arrival, academics and daily life, employment and settlement.

The hub covers 380 square meters. It has six consultation booths, a community lounge, two classrooms and three offices. Four full-time staff members can provide counseling in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian and Uzbek. Its main functions are advice on daily life, healthcare, finance and visas, as well as Korean-language education, cultural exchange, employment and startup support.

No single organization runs every part of the system. Busan's May 2026 population-policy document identifies the Busan Global City Foundation as the comprehensive hub, Silla University as the four-year university hub, and Dong-Eui Institute of Technology as the junior-college hub. The Busan RISE Integrated Platform and 20 local universities also participate as partners.

About 300 new students registered fingerprints at the hub in March

The new space was used for immigration work within a month of opening. On March 20, the city and the Busan Immigration Office held group fingerprint registration at the hub for about 300 new international students from Pusan National University, Dong-Eui Institute of Technology and Busan Women's University. Instead of visiting the immigration office in Jung-gu individually, students came to the hub at reserved times assigned to their universities.

This was a scheduled group service for new students at the three institutions. It is not a permanent counter where every international student can register fingerprints at any time. Students should check the next schedule through their university international office or notices from the hub.

The group registration matters because it connected a counseling space to an actual administrative procedure. Rather than only explaining visa information, the hub worked with the Busan Immigration Office to reduce students' travel and waiting time.

Three hospitals offer interpretation, fee discounts and insurance-claim support

Healthcare support also expanded in April. On April 16, Busan signed agreements with Good Gang-An Hospital, Dong-Eui Medical Center and Daedong Hospital, increasing the number of designated hospitals for international students to three. The hospitals provide one-stop services that include medical interpretation, discounted treatment fees and support with overseas insurance claims.

For international students, using a hospital involves more than seeing a doctor. Language and administrative barriers can arise when describing symptoms, checking insurance coverage and preparing documents for an overseas insurer. Under the agreements, the hospitals and the hub divide support across those three stages.

Employment support moved from counseling to on-site interviews

The 2026 Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Mega-Regional Job Fair for International Students was held at BEXCO on April 30. It offered on-site interviews and recruitment consultations, resume advice, lectures by corporate human-resources managers and talks with employees for international students in the three regions. The organizers included Busan, the Busan RISE Innovation Institute, the Busan Global City Foundation, the Study Busan Hub and the National Institute for International Education.

The current responsibilities of the Busan Global City Foundation's Global Citizen Team include career counseling for international students, job fairs, company visits, internships at small and medium-sized companies, the Overall Assistance for Startup Immigration System program known as OASIS, and an employment database. Its role is to connect counseling at the hub with company interviews and internships.

The former Busan Foundation for International Cooperation is now the Busan Global City Foundation

Searches for foreign-resident support in Busan may still return the institution's former name. The Busan Foundation for International Cooperation and the Busan English Broadcasting Foundation merged in July 2023. The current name is the Busan Global City Foundation, which brings international exchange, foreign-resident support and English-language broadcasting under one organization.

For international students, it helps to distinguish between the Study Busan Hub and the Busan Global Center. They are in the same National Pension Service building, but serve different groups and functions.

The Busan Global City Foundation's current responsibilities include Korean-language courses and programs for international students. Course schedules and application status are available through the Busan Global Center and foundation notices.

In 2026, Busan's international-student support network moved beyond directing students to other organizations and began handling practical services. Within a month of the hub's opening, it was being used for immigration-related procedures; two months later, the network had expanded to hospitals and a job fair. The biggest change is that students now have a clear second place to turn in Busan when their university's international office cannot resolve a problem.

Sources and methods

Information on the hub's opening, facilities and counseling languages came from Busan's opening announcement and Study Busan Hub guide. Group foreigner registration was checked against the city's March 24 announcement. The designated hospitals came from Busan's April 16 announcement, and the job fair from the city's event notice and the Busan RISE Innovation Institute's post-event record. Institution names and counseling scope were compared with Busan's global city policy, guide to support organizations for foreign residents, and the Busan Global City Foundation's current responsibilities.