As of October 2026, South Korea's National Tomorrow Learning Card (국민내일배움카드, often shortened to "Naeil Baeum Card") is open to almost anyone who needs job training, whether they are unemployed, employed or self-employed, unless they fall into a specific exclusion group such as public servants or people aged 75 and over. The card gives you KRW 3 million to spend on approved training courses over five years. Certain groups, including fixed-term and dispatched workers and some low-income households, can receive an extra KRW 2 million, for a maximum of KRW 5 million. You normally pay 15 to 55 percent of each course fee yourself, and any unused balance disappears when the five years end.
This guide is based on the Ministry of Employment and Labor's Work24 program page for the card, its general occupational training page and published answers from the ministry's 1350 helpline. All of these pages are in Korean. They do not set out separate rules for foreign nationals, so if you are not a Korean citizen, confirm your status with your local Job Center before you plan around the card.
Who can get the card and who is excluded
Since 1 January 2020, the separate cards for job seekers and employees have been merged into one. The easiest way to check eligibility is to work through the exclusion list on Work24. You cannot get the card if you are:
- a public servant or a private school teacher or staff member
- aged 75 or older
- working for a large company, earning KRW 3 million or more a month and under 45 years old (all three conditions together)
- a special-type worker, such as a courier, tutor or insurance agent working under a contract, earning KRW 5 million or more a month
- a corporate representative whose business is less than a year old or who earns KRW 3 million or more a month
- a self-employed person whose business is less than a year old or whose annual sales are KRW 400 million or more
- the head of a non-profit organization earning KRW 3 million or more a month
- a university or graduate student with more than two years left before graduation, or a first- or second-year high school student
- receiving livelihood benefits (conditional recipients can still apply)
- already receiving training costs from another ministry or a local government
- under a restriction period for benefit fraud, or yet to repay benefits ordered back after fraud
The large-company rule causes the most confusion. It only applies when all three conditions overlap. An employee of the same company who is 45 or older, or who earns under KRW 3 million a month, is not excluded by this rule. According to the 1350 helpline, monthly wages include every item on your pay slip, such as base pay, overtime, night and holiday allowances, meal and transport allowances. Reimbursements for actual expenses, such as business travel or fuel, are left out. Bonuses fixed annually but paid in particular months are divided by 12 and added in.
For students, what matters is the time remaining before graduation. Students, including those on leave, qualify when two years or less remain, counting the current semester. That means students at four-year universities can apply from the end of the second semester of their second year, and students at two-year colleges can apply from enrollment. Students at cyber and distance universities qualify in any year. Students apply in the "unemployed" category and submit a school document such as an expected-graduation or enrollment certificate.
The KRW 3 million limit, the extra KRW 2 million and your share of fees
The basic limit is KRW 3 million over five years. Once you have used all of it, you can apply once, within the card's validity period, for an additional KRW 2 million if you belong to an eligible group. Work24 lists fixed-term, dispatched, part-time and daily workers who are insured employees, people in designated employment-crisis regions or special employment-support industries, people released from prison, basic livelihood recipients and near-poor households, people with disabilities, young adults leaving care, single-parent families, North Korean defectors, Afghan special contributors and youth living outside the home. The total limit can never exceed KRW 5 million, and you apply for the top-up in person at a Job Center with documents proving your status.
The card does not pay the whole course fee. Your share ranges from 0 to 55 percent of the government-approved training cost and is typically 15 to 55 percent. It depends on the average employment rate for the course's occupation, whether you receive the earned income tax credit and how you take part in the National Employment Support Program. Vulnerable groups may pay nothing or very little.
You pay your own share with the card too, and the remainder is deducted from your limit. As an illustration, if a course costs KRW 1 million and your share were 30 percent, you would pay KRW 300,000 yourself and KRW 700,000 would come off your KRW 3 million limit. Rates vary by person, so check the actual amount on the enrollment screen.
Five-year validity and why unused funds vanish
The account is valid for five years from the issue date, which the 1350 helpline defines as the day the Job Center decides to issue it, not the day you applied. When the five years end, any remaining balance is cancelled. If you use up the limit early, the card stops working even though time remains.
If your card is close to expiring, look at the course start date rather than the payment date. A course that starts within the validity period is funded until it ends, even if it runs past the expiry date. A course paid for before expiry but starting afterwards is not funded.
After expiry, you can apply again following a Job Center consultation. Your eligibility is reassessed and, if you qualify, you receive a fresh five-year KRW 3 million limit. Unused money from the previous cycle does not carry over. You can check your balance and history on Work24 under My Page, then Training Management.
How to apply on Work24, step by step
The whole process can be done online through the Work24 website or app.
- Register as a job seeker if you are not working. Employees, including those on parental leave, self-employed people and special-type workers usually do not need to. If you already registered when claiming unemployment benefits or joining the National Employment Support Program, you do not need to do it again.
- Apply for the card. Log in to Work24, open Vocational Skills Development, choose the Tomorrow Learning Card and submit the application. You can also visit the Job Center for your area. Most applicants need no documents, but self-employed people with a business registration and special-type workers may be asked for some.
- Receive the card. After the Job Center approves your application, the card arrives by post or is collected at a bank. Bring your ID and the issuance confirmation from the Job Center if you collect it at a bank.
- Enroll in a course. Search courses on Work24 and pay with the card. Courses of 140 hours or more require a training diagnosis and consultation first, which you can complete online or at a Job Center.
- Finish the satisfaction survey. Complete it on Work24 within 30 days of the course ending, or the final month's training allowance will not be paid.
If your application is refused, you can file an objection. If you are unsure which course to take, Work24's diagnostic consultation can suggest training and certifications, and around 30,000 general occupational courses are available.
Training allowance and penalties for dropping out
If you do not have a stable job and take a course of 140 hours or more, you may also receive a monthly training allowance. Eligible people include those who are unemployed and insured workers working under 15 hours. You receive KRW 2,500 per day attended when daily training is under five hours (up to KRW 50,000 a month), or KRW 5,800 per day for five hours or more (up to KRW 116,000 a month). Insured self-employed people can receive up to KRW 360,000 a month. It is paid automatically, but not if attendance falls below 80 percent or while you are receiving unemployment benefits.
Dropping out has a cost. Without an unavoidable reason such as illness, an accident or a problem at the training provider, your limit is reduced by KRW 200,000 the first time, KRW 500,000 the second time and KRW 1 million the third time, on top of the fees already spent. Fraud stops all payments, can require repayment of up to five times the amount received and ends future funding.
Checklist before you apply
- Compare your job, age, employer size, monthly pay, business age and sales, or year of study with the exclusion list.
- Register as a job seeker first if you are not working.
- Check whether your target course is 140 hours or longer and book the consultation early.
- Look at your actual fee share on the enrollment screen.
- Compare the course start date with your card's expiry date.
- Make sure you can attend until the end so that you avoid limit deductions.
The 1350 helpline cannot look up individual records, so questions about employer size or how special-type income is calculated are best taken to the card officer at your local Job Center.