Living in Incheon: Songdo, the airport, and Seoul next door

The expat scene: Songdo is the international pocket. SUNY Korea, George Mason University Korea and the University of Utah's Asia Campus all teach there, which brings American faculty, students and families. The IFEZ Global Center in Songdo's G-Tower offers one-stop help for foreign residents of the free economic zone. Citywide, the Incheon Help Center for Foreigners in Namdong-gu offers counseling on housing, legal and work questions, plus Korean classes from beginner through TOPIK prep. Outside Songdo, plan on using Korean for landlords, clinics and offices.

Healthcare: Inha University Hospital has run an International Healthcare Center for foreign patients since 2009, with multilingual coordinators, and its emergency center is open around the clock. Call ahead to ask which languages are covered that day. Once you've lived in Korea six months, you're enrolled in the National Health Insurance Service, the same public plan Koreans use, so plan on private coverage for your first six months.

Schools: Chadwick International in Songdo is a PK-12 school teaching the International Baccalaureate. It opened in 2010 and is named after Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, California. Ask the school directly about current tuition and who can enroll.

Remote work: Home internet runs about $20 a month. The real constraint is the clock: Korea doesn't use daylight saving, so Incheon sits 13 to 14 hours ahead of Eastern, depending on the season. One visa detail matters here. Korea's digital nomad visa halves its income floor for applicants aged 18 to 34 who live outside Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, so Incheon doesn't qualify for the lower bar.

LGBTQ expats: Incheon's first Queer Culture Festival took place in September 2018 and met organized opposition from church and conservative groups, with scuffles that delayed the event. A second festival followed at Bupyeong Station in 2019. Expect a visible community that still meets pushback, and a quieter public life than you may be used to.

Black Americans: One Black American student in Seoul wrote in 2023 about constant staring, questions about her hair and strangers touching it without asking. She also said she felt far safer than at home, calling her time there very positive. Clothing in larger sizes can be hard to find, so bring what you need.

Limited mobility: The airport railroad is a bright spot, with elevators at every station and level boarding. Across the Seoul region, most subway stations have elevators and the rest use stair lifts, but check your specific station before you sign a lease. Songdo sits on flat, reclaimed land with newer buildings, which makes it the easier side of the city to get around.

Retirement: Incheon offers good hospitals and an airport on your doorstep, but South Korea has no retirement visa. Korean American retirees can usually use the F-4 overseas Korean visa; most others will need an investor route. Compare options in our guide to retirement visas and the full guide to moving to South Korea.