Not covered by National Pension? You cannot join on your own

If your country is in the group the National Pension Service (NPS) does not cover, you may think: "I will just join on my own." The NPS page on voluntary membership (임의가입) says no.

Who can join voluntarily
Korean nationals living in Korea, aged 18 to under 60, who cannot be workplace or regional members. The NPS page gives examples: a spouse with no income of an insured person or a pension recipient, people aged 18 to 26 with no income such as students or those doing military service, and some benefit recipients.

Who is excluded
The page's exclusion list ends with: workplace members, regional members, and foreigners (외국인). The eligibility sentence itself says 국민, meaning Korean nationals.

What this means

• A foreigner excluded by nationality cannot buy into the National Pension privately.
• A foreigner who is covered (group A or B on the NPS country list) is already a workplace or regional member and does not need voluntary membership.

Other ways to save for retirement exist outside the National Pension, such as pension savings (연금저축) and an IRP account. We cover them in a separate post.

It depends on your nationality and your employment.

Next step: if you are not covered, do not wait for the NPS. Look at private retirement savings and ordinary savings instead.

Source: NPS, voluntary membership. Checked 11 October 2026.