Prohibition of departureProhibition of departure as a sanction against child support debtors is applied as a priority to child support debtors who fail to perform their child support obligations despite having received a court’s decision on or after July 13, 2021, ordering detention due to failure to perform child support obligations [Act on Enforcing and Supporting Child Support Payment (Ac No. 17897 amended on January 12, 2021, enforced on July 13, 2021) Addenda Article 2].
Request for prohibition of departure- If any of the following applies to a child support debtor who fails to perform child support obligations despite receiving a decision ordering detention because of their failure to perform, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family may, after the deliberation and resolution of the Deliberative Committee on Payment of Child Support (hereinafter the “Committee”), make a request to the Minister of Justice for a prohibition of departure (Article 21-4(1) of the Act on Enforcing and Supporting Child Support Payment; Article 17-3(1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Enforcing and Supporting Child Support Payment; and Article 4(1)5 and (3) of the Immigration Act).
1. The child support debt is at least KRW 30 million
2. The child support obligation was not performed for at least three periods
- When making a request to the Minister of Justice for a prohibition of departure against a child support debtor, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family must specify which between 1. and 2. above applies to the child support debtor (Article 17-3(2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Enforcing and Supporting Child Support Payment).
- When the Minister of Justice makes a prohibition of departure at the request of the Minister of Gender Equality and Family, the Minister must be notified through the information communication network, etc. (Article 21-4(2) of the Act on Enforcing and Supporting Child Support Payment)
Request to lift the prohibition of departure because of the resolution of the cause of prohibition- If the cause of the prohibition of departure is resolved by the performance of the child support obligation, enforcement against the child support debtor’s property, etc., the Minister of Gender Equality and Family must immediately make a request to the Minister of Justice to lift the prohibition of departure (Article 21-4(3) of the Act on Enforcing and Supporting Child Support Payment).
A request to lift the prohibition of departure due to necessity- The Minister of Gender Equality and Family must make a request to the Minister of Justice to lift the prohibition of departure when any one of the following causes applies to a person under prohibition of departure who is found not to be at risk of fleeing abroad for the purpose of avoiding child support obligations (Article 17-3(3) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Enforcing and Supporting Child Support Payment):
· The person seeks to leave the country with a specific business plan, such as an overseas construction contract, opening an expert letter of credit, or a joint venture contract with a foreigner
· The person seeks to leave the country because of the death of a parent or child who resided abroad
· The person is otherwise found to need the lifting of the prohibition of departure for unavoidable causes, such as medical treatment