Check when a criminal record stops blocking your licence before you retrain
When older workers in Korea look for a second career as a real estate agent, apartment security guard, care worker or taxi driver, an old fine or suspended sentence often turns out to be the obstacle.
Each licence law sets its own starting point and length for the disqualification, so the same judgment may already be cleared for one job and still block another for years.
This calculator turns the disqualification provisions of eight Korean licence laws in force in 2026 into date arithmetic and shows, licence by licence, the first day you become eligible.
It is based on Korean rules verified on 2026-10-31 and is a planning aid, not legal advice.
Who this is for
- People in their 50s and 60s who passed the licensed real estate agent exam and are about to register an office or join one as an affiliated agent
- Retirees preparing for apartment security or security instructor work who want to know the guard disqualification rules
- Anyone who wants to confirm eligibility before paying for care worker or social worker training
- Applicants for the bus, taxi or trucking qualification exam who worry about an old drunk-driving licence revocation or a criminal penalty
- Spouses and adult children helping a family member register as an insurance agent or obtain a housing manager licence
What the calculator does and does not cover
- Enter the most recent final sentence — imprisonment served, suspended sentence, fine or deferred sentence — and its dates, and it lists the first eligible day and days left for 10 licences.
- It applies offence groups such as sexual offences, theft, robbery, specified violent crimes, hit-and-run, drugs and licence-law offences, which change periods like 10 or 5 years for guards and 2 to 20 years for taxis.
- It works out when you may sit the bus, taxi or trucking qualification exam after a drunk-driving revocation or suspension, unlicensed driving, or a revocation for group dangerous or reckless driving.
- It also checks earlier revocations of the same licence, the age limit of 60 for special security guards, and whether a planned exam or registration date works.
- It computes the lapse date under the Act on the Lapse of Criminal Sentences and separates licences for which you need not wait for the lapse from those that stay blocked afterwards.
Only the statutory disqualification dates are calculated.
Employment-restriction orders imposed by a court in the judgment, medical treatment and custody, pardons and restoration of rights, sentences in other cases and a registry office’s discretionary review are not reflected.
Public service appointments, professions such as medicine or law, and the good-conduct test for naturalisation are outside the scope.
Disqualification periods by licence at a glance
The table summarises the current provisions checked against the Korean National Law Information OPEN API on 2026-10-31.
“Imprisonment” covers both imprisonment with and without labour, and a 0 in the years column means the bar lasts only until the sentence has been served.
Disqualification periods for imprisonment, suspended sentences and fines by licence, with legal basis| Licence | Offences covered for imprisonment | After release (years) | Suspended imprisonment | Fine | Basis |
|---|
| Real estate office registration, affiliated agent and assistant | Any imprisonment | 3 | 2 years after the suspension ends | Large fine under the Agents Act (threshold below): 3 years from finality | Licensed Real Estate Agents Act Article 10 |
| Housing manager (and assistant) | Any imprisonment | 2 | During the suspension | No bar | Multi-Family Housing Management Act Article 67(4) |
| Security guard and security instructor | Any imprisonment (10 years for sexual or organised crime) | 5·10 | During the suspension; 10 years for sexual offences, 5 years for theft or robbery | 10 years for sexual or organised crime, 5 for theft or robbery, 5 for Security Act offences | Security Services Industry Act Article 10(1) |
| Care worker | Any imprisonment (until served) | 0 | During the suspension | No bar | Welfare of Older Persons Act Article 39-13 |
| Social worker | Any imprisonment (until served) | 0 | During the suspension | No bar | Social Welfare Services Act Article 11-2 |
| Bus and other passenger driving (not taxis) | Listed offences only | 2 | Listed offences only, during the suspension | Unlicensed-driving fine within 5 years before the exam | Passenger Transport Service Act Article 24(3) |
| Corporate and individual taxi driving | Listed offences only (by offence) | 2~20 | Listed offences only, during the suspension | Unlicensed-driving fine within 5 years before the exam | Same Act Article 24(4), Enforcement Decree Article 16 |
| Trucking transport qualification | Imprisonment for Trucking Act offences only | 2 | Trucking Act imprisonment, during the suspension | 5 years from finality of an unlicensed-driving fine | Trucking Transport Business Act Article 9 |
| Insurance agent | Insurance Business Act or Financial Consumer Protection Act offences only | 2 | Same offences, during the suspension | Same offences: 2 years after payment | Insurance Business Act Article 84(2) |
The large-fine threshold for real estate agents is 3,000,000 KRW or more; smaller fines and fines under other laws do not bar office registration.
Care workers and social workers are cleared the day after release from prison or the day after the suspension ends, and fines are not a ground at all.
By contrast, a fine for a sexual offence alone bars security work for 10 years, and imprisonment for a specified violent crime bars taxi driving for 20 years.
That is why splitting the dates by licence is more useful than a vague fear that any record ends a second career.
How the end date is counted
A period such as “a person for whom three years have not passed since the sentence was served” is counted from the next day under Article 157 of the Korean Civil Act, excluding the first day.
Under Article 160 the period ends on the day before the corresponding day in the final year, so the same calendar date N years after the release or finality date is the last barred day and the following day is the first eligible day.
Last barred day = the day before the same date N years after the day following the event (release, finality and so on), or the last day of that month if the date does not exist
First eligible day = last barred day + 1 day
Last day of a suspended sentence = the day before the same date N years after the finality date (the finality date itself counts)
If the finality date is unknown = sentencing date + 8 days (the day after the 7-day appeal period), with a warning
For example, release on 2023-03-10 makes 2026-03-10 the last day of a 3-year bar, and registration is possible from 2026-03-11.
If the day after the event is February 29, as with release on 2024-02-28, that date does not exist three years later, so 2027-02-28 is the last barred day and 2027-03-01 is the first eligible day.
If a 2-year suspended sentence became final on 2024-05-14, the suspension ends on 2026-05-13, and the real estate agent bar runs a further 2 years to 2028-05-13.
The lapse date and the licence end date are different
Article 7 of the Act on the Lapse of Criminal Sentences provides that a sentence lapses after 2 years for a fine, 5 years for imprisonment of 3 years or less and 10 years for imprisonment over 3 years.
Many people time applications by this lapse date, but each licence law sets its own starting point and length, so the licence end date rarely matches the lapse date.
Cleared on or before the lapse
A fine for ordinary assault is not a ground for real estate agents, housing managers, guards, care workers or social workers, so there is no need to wait for the lapse 2 years after payment.
After a suspended sentence, care workers, social workers and housing managers are cleared the day after the suspension ends.
Still barred after the lapse
Real estate agents need 2 more years after the suspension ends, and guards need 10 years after a fine for a sexual offence.
Taxi drivers need 20 years after release for a hit-and-run prison term, 15 years longer than the 5-year lapse.
The lapse of a sentence cannot be assumed to shorten a licence law’s disqualification period.
The calculator lists licences whose sentence-based bar ends on or before the lapse date as “cleared on or before the lapse date,” and for licences that stay barred afterwards it tells you to confirm with the registry office.
Bars caused by driving-licence actions or earlier cancellations are unrelated to the sentence and are left out of this comparison.
For the lapse date itself and when investigation records are deleted, use the criminal record expungement calculator.
Real estate agent and housing manager disqualification
A criminal record does not stop you from sitting the licensed real estate agent exam; the exam bar is only 3 years after a licence revocation (Agents Act Article 6).
The bar applies at office registration and at registration as an affiliated agent or assistant, under Article 10(1) items 4, 5 and 11.
Real estate office registration
- Imprisonment: 3 years after it is served or remitted (item 4)
- Suspended sentence: 2 years after the suspension ends (item 5)
- Fine of 3,000,000 KRW or more under the Agents Act: 3 years (item 11)
- 3 years after licence revocation, or after a registration was cancelled on a disqualification ground (items 6 and 8)
Housing manager (and assistant)
- Imprisonment: 2 years after it is served or remitted (Article 67(4) item 3)
- Suspended sentence: during the suspension (item 4)
- 3 years after licence revocation (item 5)
- Fines are not a ground
For item 11 (“three years after a fine of 3,000,000 KRW or more was imposed”), the Ministry of Government Legislation interpretation 25-0211 (reply of 2025-05-28) placed the start of the bar at the date the judgment became final, so the calculator counts from finality.
A licensed agent who receives imprisonment (including a suspended term) for job-related fraud, embezzlement or breach of trust loses the licence (Article 35(1) item 4) and cannot become an agent again for 3 years.
Once registered, there are also training deadlines; check them with the real estate agent training deadline calculator.
Security guard disqualification: general and special guards
Article 10(3) of the Security Services Industry Act forbids a security company from hiring or deploying a disqualified person, so completing new-guard training during the bar does not get you posted.
For general guards and security instructors the baseline is 5 years after imprisonment and the whole suspension period, with longer periods for certain offences.
Item 5: 10 years
Sexual offences such as rape and indecent assault, forming a criminal organisation (Criminal Act Article 114, Violence Punishment Act Article 4) and sexual offences aggravated under other laws (sub-item f) bar you for 10 years even for a fine.
The 10 years run from release for imprisonment and from the date of suspension for a suspended sentence.
Item 6: 5 years
Theft and robbery (Criminal Act Articles 329–343) and those offences aggravated under other laws, such as habitual theft or robbery under the Aggravated Punishment Act (sub-item b), bar you for 5 years from the date of the fine or the suspension.
For imprisonment the 5 years of item 3 apply.
Item 8: 5 years
A fine or suspended sentence for violating the Security Services Industry Act bars you for 5 years.
Check whether you had a violation during earlier security work.
The text says “the date a fine was imposed” and “the date the sentence was suspended,” but following interpretation 25-0211 (the bar arises at finality), the calculator uses the finality date as the start.
This usually shows a date about a week later than a sentencing-date count, a conservative choice that helps you avoid paying training fees too early.
Special security guards at airports and national key facilities face the same bars plus two more: a person within a deferred sentence of imprisonment and a person aged 60 or over cannot serve (Article 10(2)).
Care worker and social worker disqualification
Article 39-13 of the Welfare of Older Persons Act and Article 11-2 of the Social Welfare Services Act bar only “a person whose imprisonment has not been fully served or remitted” and “a person within a suspension period.”
So from the day after release or the end of the suspension you can finish care worker training and receive the licence, and fines are not a ground.
Employment-restriction orders are separate
If the court, when sentencing a sexual offence, also orders a ban on working at child- and youth-related institutions (Child Protection Act Article 56), or bans work at elder care facilities for an elder abuse offence (Welfare of Older Persons Act Article 39-17), you cannot work there for the period written in the judgment.
Because the court sets that period case by case, it is not in the calculation, and selecting a sexual offence group shows a warning.
Check the judgment first so that you are not stopped at the hiring stage after obtaining the licence.
A care worker whose licence was revoked may obtain it again only after 1 year from revocation (Article 39-13 item 6).
For training hours and fee refunds use the care worker training refund calculator, and for level-2 social worker courses and practicum use the social worker licence plan calculator.
Bus, taxi and trucking qualification bars
Article 24(3) of the Passenger Transport Service Act bars a person for 2 years after imprisonment, and during a suspended sentence, for listed offences such as specified violent crimes, parts of the Aggravated Punishment Act, drug offences and habitual theft.
For corporate and individual taxis, Article 24(4) and Enforcement Decree Article 16(2) set longer periods of 2 to 20 years by offence, and sexual offences are included.
Bus and taxi qualification bars after imprisonment, in years, by offence group| Offence group | Bus (years) | Taxi (years) | Basis |
|---|
| Specified violent crimes (homicide, kidnapping, robbery, armed rape and similar) | 2 | 20 | Decree Article 16(2) item 1(a) |
| Aggravated Punishment Act hit-and-run, retaliation, habitual robbery or theft, aggravated drugs | 2 | 20 | Same item (b) |
| Aggravated Punishment Act Article 5-9(4) | 2 | 6 | Same item (c) |
| Narcotics Control Act Articles 58–60 | 2 | 20 | Same item (d) |
| Narcotics Control Act Articles 61–64 | 2 | 2~15 | Same item (e)–(k) |
| Habitual simple theft (Criminal Act Article 332 for Article 329) | 2 | 18 | Same item (l) |
| Habitual special theft, habitual robbery, habitual handling of stolen goods | 2 | 20 | Same item (m) |
| Listed Sexual Crimes Act offences and sexual offences against minors | — | 20 | Same paragraph items 2 and 3 |
For driving history, you are barred if within 5 years before the exam date your licence was revoked for drunk driving, refusing a breath test or drugged driving, you were fined or revoked for unlicensed driving, or you were revoked after an accident killing 3 or more or injuring 20 or more; within 3 years before the exam, a drunk-driving suspension or a revocation for group dangerous or reckless driving bars you (Article 24(3) items 3 and 4).
The trucking qualification counts the same licence grounds 5 years from the revocation date or fine finality date, 3 years for group dangerous or reckless driving, 2 years after imprisonment for Trucking Act offences, and 2 years after revocation of the qualification (Article 9).
For trucking a drunk-driving suspension alone is not a ground, and the bar is judged at the exam or training date (Article 8(1) proviso).
Insurance agent disqualification
Article 84(2) of the Insurance Business Act bars only violations of the Insurance Business Act or the Financial Consumer Protection Act, not every crime.
A fine or heavier sentence bars you for 2 years after execution ends, so for a fine the start is the payment date, while a suspended sentence bars you only during the suspension.
- Fine or heavier for those violations: 2 years after execution (payment) ends (item 3)
- Suspended imprisonment for the same violations: during the suspension (item 4)
- Cancelled registration as agent, agency or broker: 2 years after cancellation, or 3 years after the last cancellation if cancelled twice or more (items 5 and 6)
- Misappropriating premiums or claims in connection with sales: 3 years (item 10, not calculated)
Fines for ordinary assault or drunk driving are not grounds for insurance agents.
To understand commission clawbacks before signing an agent contract, also see the insurance agent clawback and net income calculator.
Step-by-step use
- Sentence: choose the most recent final sentence — imprisonment served, suspended, fine, deferred or no criminal penalty — and enter the dates from the judgment.
- Offence groups: read the applied provisions in the judgment and tick every matching group, such as sexual offences, theft, robbery, hit-and-run, drugs or licence-law offences.
- Licence history: if you are considering driving work, enter up to 4 revocation or suspension dates or unlicensed-driving fine finality dates.
- Revocations and age: enter earlier revocations of the same licence and your age in full years for the special guard limit.
- Results: review the eligible date, days left, legal basis, planned-date check and lapse comparison for each licence, then save as TXT or print.
Changing an input hides the previous result, so recalculate with confirmed dates.
No name, resident registration number or case number is collected, and inputs are not sent to or stored on a server.
Worked examples (hypothetical)
Suspended special theft + drunk-driving revocation
For a 58-year-old whose 10-month prison term suspended for 2 years became final on 2024-05-14 and whose licence was revoked for drunk driving on 2023-08-20, the suspension ends on 2026-05-13.
Housing manager, care worker, social worker and insurance agent are open now; real estate agent opens on 2028-05-14, bus, taxi and trucking on 2028-08-21, and security guard on 2029-05-15.
Real estate agent and guard come later than the 2026-05-14 lapse date, while bus, taxi and trucking are delayed by the 2023-08-20 revocation, not by the sentence.
Assault fine versus indecent assault fine
A 5,000,000 KRW fine for ordinary assault final on 2023-03-10 bars none of the 10 licences, and the lapse date is 2025-03-11.
If the same fine was for indecent assault, general and special guard work is barred until 2033-03-10 and opens on 2033-03-11.
Taxis are barred only by imprisonment or suspended sentences, so a fine does not block them.
Hit-and-run prison term
After serving 1 year 6 months for hit-and-run causing injury under the Aggravated Punishment Act and being released on 2019-06-30, bus opens on 2021-07-01, real estate agent on 2022-07-01 and guard on 2024-07-01.
Taxi takes 20 years and opens on 2039-07-01, 15 years after the 2024-07-01 lapse date.
The dates in these examples are hypothetical values for illustrating the features and do not describe any real case.
Use the dates on your certificate of finality, sentence completion certificate or fine receipt for the real calculation.
Easy-to-miss cautions
The wrong offence group gives the wrong result
For the same fine, ordinary assault and indecent assault split the guard bar into 0 and 10 years.
Check which Criminal Act, Aggravated Punishment Act, Sexual Crimes Act or Narcotics Control Act article the judgment applied, and if unsure tick several groups and prepare for the latest date.
For a specified violent crime such as armed rape also tick the sexual-offence group, and for aggravated habitual theft or robbery also tick a theft or robbery group, so the guard bar comes out right; the calculator warns you about both.
The taxi list does not include Sexual Crimes Act Articles 10 and 11, so an offence against an adult may not bar taxi driving, but the calculator conservatively shows 20 years.
Multiple cases, parole and pardons
With several sentences, calculate each case and use the latest date.
For parole, the end of the parole period is the date the sentence is served (Criminal Act Article 76), and special pardons and restoration of rights can change the effect, so they are not calculated.
If you also received medical treatment and custody, item 7 of Security Services Industry Act Article 10(1) sets a separate period.
The final word is the criminal record check
Registry offices, public corporations and associations decide by checking criminal records for disqualification purposes under Article 6(1) item 9 of the Act on the Lapse of Criminal Sentences.
The result is a planning estimate, so ask the relevant office about your eligibility before spending money that is hard to recover, such as tuition, training fees or a vehicle deposit.
Frequently asked questions
Can I become a real estate agent with a fine on my record?
You can sit the exam and obtain the licence.
Office registration is barred only after a fine of 3,000,000 KRW or more under the Licensed Real Estate Agents Act, for 3 years from finality.
Fines for ordinary assault or drunk driving are not grounds.
Can I open a real estate office as soon as my suspended sentence ends?
No.
Office registration and registration as an affiliated agent or assistant require a further 2 years after the suspension ends.
Housing managers, care workers and social workers are cleared as soon as the suspension ends.
How long does a fine for a sexual offence bar security guard work?
Offences under item 5 of Security Services Industry Act Article 10(1), such as rape and indecent assault, bar you for 10 years even for a fine.
The calculator conservatively counts 10 years from the finality date.
A fine for theft or robbery bars you for 5 years.
Does a criminal record stop me from becoming a care worker?
After imprisonment you are cleared once the sentence is served, and after a suspended sentence once the suspension ends.
Fines are not a ground.
But an employment-restriction order for a sexual or elder abuse offence bars facility work for the period in the judgment.
Does the lapse of a sentence remove every licence bar?
Each licence law sets its own start and length, so the lapse date and licence end dates differ.
Some bars outlast the lapse, such as 10 years for guards after a sexual offence or 20 years for taxis, so confirm with the registry office.
Does an old drunk-driving revocation affect the taxi qualification exam?
If your licence was revoked for drunk driving within 5 years before the exam date, you cannot sit it.
For a drunk-driving suspension the window is 3 years before the exam.
The calculator shows the first exam date counted from the action date.
Why are taxi and bus periods different?
Article 24(4) of the Passenger Transport Service Act lets the Enforcement Decree set separate periods of up to 20 years by offence for corporate and individual taxis only.
For buses, the same offence bars you for 2 years after imprisonment.
Which records disqualify insurance agents?
Only violations of the Insurance Business Act or the Financial Consumer Protection Act.
A fine or heavier sentence bars you for 2 years after execution such as payment ends, and two or more registration cancellations bar you for 3 years after the last one.
Laws and interpretations checked, and update policy
Checked on 2026-10-31 against the Korean National Law Information OPEN API for current status and full text.
For Article 24 of the Passenger Transport Service Act, the text was confirmed identical across six historical versions from 2021 to 2026.
- Licensed Real Estate Agents Act Articles 6, 10 and 35, MST 283713 (effective 2026-08-28) · Ministry of Government Legislation interpretation 25-0211
- Multi-Family Housing Management Act Article 67, MST 284009 · Security Services Industry Act Article 10, MST 268091
- Welfare of Older Persons Act Articles 39-13 and 39-17, MST 290133 · Social Welfare Services Act Article 11-2, MST 270405
- Passenger Transport Service Act Article 24, MST 286391 · Enforcement Decree Article 16, MST 288007
- Trucking Transport Business Act Articles 4, 8 and 9, MST 286393 · Insurance Business Act Article 84, MST 265389
- Act on the Lapse of Criminal Sentences Articles 6 and 7, MST 290623 · Criminal Act Articles 60, 62, 65, 76, 84 and 85, MST 290185
With eight laws involved, the provisions are re-checked once a year and whenever one is amended.
Dates may change after an amendment, so recalculate just before you register.
This tool does not replace a legal opinion or an official reply from the registry office.