Yeosu Hwayang District 'Real Estate Investment Immigration Program' Extended Until 2024

Permanent Residency Granted to Foreigners Investing Over 700 Million Won and Residing for More Than 5 Years

[Yeosu=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Sim Kyung-taek] The real estate investment immigration program in Yeosu Hwayang District, which was set to expire at the end of this month, has been extended.

On the 12th, Yeosu City announced that the Ministry of Justice extended the real estate investment immigration program in Hwayang District until 2024 to promote foreign investment attraction.

The real estate investment immigration program grants residency qualifications to foreigners who invest above a certain amount in designated areas announced by the Minister of Justice, and grants permanent residency if maintained for more than five years. Seven locations nationwide, including Yeosu’s Hwayang District and Gyeongdo, are designated.

With the three-year extension of the real estate investment immigration program, the investment amount threshold was also raised from 500 million KRW to 700 million KRW.

The Yeosu Hwayang District project is a plan to develop the area into a tourism hub of the southern coast and a Northeast Asian marine tourism hub by 2024, with an investment of 1.2813 trillion KRW.

The plan is to create a complex tourism zone on 8.97 million square meters (approximately 2.71 million pyeong) in Jangsu-ri, Hwayang-myeon, consisting of Maehwa Arboretum, a resort, and a marine healing park.

Currently, an 18-hole The Ocean Golf Course is in operation, and construction of 274 units of Hill Terrace Condos is scheduled to begin at the end of October.

The project implementer, HJ Magnolia Yongpyeong The Ocean Hotel & Resort, has been accelerating the project by reestablishing the development plan last year and signing an investment agreement for the beach condo development project with Jeonnam Province, Yeosu City, and MBC’s three companies to promote investment. However, the project has faced difficulties due to overlapping adverse effects on overseas investment caused by COVID-19.

A Yeosu City official said, “We will do our best to make this extension of the real estate investment immigration program a turning point for the stagnant Hwayang complex tourism zone development and to revitalize the local economy.”

Yeosu=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Sim Kyung-taek simkt7@asiae.co.kr