The awkward part of leaving Korea is that services do not all finish on the same day. Your apartment keys may already be returned while an internet bill, card refund, salary payment, or deposit settlement is still pending. Your Korean phone number may also be the way you log in to check them.
Plan the closing order around those dependencies: identify the account holder, schedule the service end, confirm the final bill or incoming payment, and preserve a way to receive follow-up. This guide brings the sequence together; the linked service guides cover the individual procedures.
Image contact clarification: the contact strip is an overview, not a promise that every service can finish your move-out request at any hour. KEPCO 123 provides 24-hour electricity counseling and fault reporting. NHIS foreign-language consultation is weekdays 09:00–18:00 KST. 1345 is weekdays 09:00–22:00; after 18:00, Korean, English, and Chinese only. For current police lost-property search and reports, use Police Civil Service 24 rather than relying on the older LOST112 address printed in the image. These contact details were checked October 21, 2026; they do not establish an individual's balance, benefit eligibility, or immigration deadline.
Make one list of accounts before booking cancellations
For each bill or subscription, record the provider, account holder, customer number, payment method, planned end date, and proof of completion. Add a separate column for a final debit or refund still expected.
Start with actual bills and contract confirmations. Electricity or water may be billed through building management, while the gas or internet account may be in your own name. If the employer or landlord holds the contract, ask them how your share will be settled; do not request termination of somebody else's account.
For each account, ask: “Is this a service cancellation, a move-out settlement, a payment-instruction change, or all three?” Stopping an automatic debit does not by itself cancel a contract.
Two to four weeks before departure: resolve appointments and access
This is a planning allowance, not a nationwide deadline. Start earlier if your contract requires notice or you have an unresolved housing or employment issue.
- Agree the property handover, inspection, and deposit-return arrangements.
- Ask the internet provider for a cancellation-date quote and equipment-return instructions.
- Identify the city-gas company and book the applicable move-out work.
- Ask HR when final payments and documents will be available.
- Ask your bank and carrier which access and closure options apply after departure.
Keep copies in a personal email account or folder you can access after your employer or school disables its account. Save customer-service case numbers as well as screenshots of a submitted request.
Electricity, gas, water, and management fees: settle the right bill
Electricity: if you pay KEPCO directly, its customer-service page points to KEPCO ON for move-out settlement and lists 123 for electricity inquiries. Have your customer number, address, and intended settlement date ready. If the building bills electricity, ask management for its final calculation instead.
City gas: use the regional provider on your bill. As one regional example, Busan City Gas's moving guidance asks for at least three days' advance contact and describes staff carrying out safe disconnection work. Your provider's booking conditions control your address. Our city-gas move-in and move-out guide explains that process in more detail.
Water and management fees: ask whether water is included in 관리비 and how charges not yet billed will be handled. Obtain a dated breakdown and the agreed payer for any later adjustment. Keep the final management-fee settlement separate from the rental-deposit record.
Photograph accessible meter readings when relevant, following the provider's instructions. Ask whether the final amount has been paid or will still be debited. Cancel a linked automatic-payment instruction at the agreed stage so you neither miss the final bill nor pay it twice.
전출 정산 후에 추가 청구나 자동이체가 남아 있나요? 마지막 납부일과 확인 방법을 알려 주세요.
Will any further bill or automatic debit remain after move-out settlement? Please tell me the final payment date and how to confirm it.
Internet: cancellation and equipment return need separate proof
Ask for the service end date, estimated early-termination or discount-repayment charge, final billing date, and an itemized equipment-return list. Include power adapters, remotes, and set-top boxes when the provider requires them. A router you own and a rented router are different items.
KT's official FAQ explains that its postpaid internet charges through the day before cancellation may appear on the following month's bill. It also discusses repayment of discounts when a contract ends early. This is an example of why a cancellation confirmation does not necessarily mean the final balance is already zero.
Photograph the returned equipment and keep the collection receipt or shipping record. Ask the provider to confirm receipt, not merely that pickup was booked. If you are considering transferring service or another option, use the home internet contracts guide and obtain the provider's approval before arranging it.
Keep phone access until the dependent tasks are finished
Your number may still be needed for identity checks, bank login, carrier cancellation, landlord messages, or a refund inquiry. Test an approved alternative before ending the line; do not assume an email address or overseas number can replace Korean mobile verification everywhere.
Use our phone-number update checklist to find the linked services. Ask the carrier which cancellation channels, identification, and account-holder authorization apply to your plan and whether another bill remains.
Keep the SIM and banking app available while completing the tasks that require them. If you must cancel before every matter is resolved, establish another permitted contact or payment route with each organization first. Do not leave the decision to the airport queue.
Banking and cards: list incoming money before deciding on closure
Check the housing deposit, final salary and expenses, approved card refunds, utility overpayments, and any benefit payment you expect. Record the destination account and expected date for each. A verbal promise that money is coming is not the same as a completed transfer.
Ask the bank whether your account may remain open in your circumstances, how overseas access works, and what documents or restrictions apply when your residence status changes. Confirm any remote closure or alternative payment method directly. Keeping an account indefinitely is not a universal solution, and closing it before an expected payment can create another problem.
For a card, ask about outstanding balances, installments, pending refunds, and recurring charges. Obtain closure confirmation if you decide to close it. Remove recurring payments through the service's cancellation process as well as checking the card or bank instruction.
For deposit deductions, see the rental-deposit disputes guide. For final employment payments, use the resignation and final-pay checklist. Those issues need their own records rather than a tick beside “bank finished.”
Health insurance, pension, and immigration: confirm your own status
NHIS: ask what happens to your eligibility, remaining premiums, and any final notice when employment or residence ends. The NHIS contact page lists foreign-language consultation at 033-811-2000 or 1577-1000, extension 6, and overseas contact at +82-33-811-2001. The page establishes contact information, not an individual's coverage end date.
National Pension: check eligibility and an approved payment method using the NPS foreigner lump-sum refund guidance. Departure does not make every foreign resident eligible. Arrange where an eligible payment will go before closing a receiving account; the separate pension refund guide covers the eligibility questions.
Immigration: use the 1345 Immigration Contact Center for questions about your status, Residence Card, and planned departure. Give your actual status and intended return plans. A utility cancellation does not complete immigration reporting.
On move-out day: collect evidence, then close the remaining tasks
Keep the inspection record, agreed meter readings, paid settlements, returned keys, and equipment receipts together. If a charge is estimated, write down who will issue the final figure, how it will be paid, and how an overpayment will be returned.
For rentals such as a water purifier, ask who signed the contract and whether collection is required. Our rental-contract guide explains why leaving equipment in the apartment does not by itself end the agreement.
Before ending phone or financial access, go back through the list of outstanding payments and logins. Keep a contact that still works after departure. For the airport itself, use the Incheon departure-day checklist.
If a bill arrives after you have left
Check the service period, cancellation date, equipment record, and whether the amount was already included in a move-out settlement. Send the provider those references and ask for a breakdown. A later bill may be a normal final charge, a missing equipment return, or an error; establish which before deciding what to do.
A completed departure file should answer three questions for every service: when did it end, what money remains, and who can contact you? Keep that file until the expected final bills and refunds have been reconciled.
Reviewed October 21, 2026. KEPCO, Busan City Gas, KT, NHIS, NPS, and Korea Immigration Service sources support the provider/contact examples. The sequence is an editorial planning checklist. Your contract, account holder, building billing arrangement, residence status, and provider determine the applicable procedure.
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