Thirty-five of the 84 points sit in this one item — 41.7% of the total, the largest share, at 5 points a person. But the Korean term translated as “dependents” does not mean what the everyday word means, and counting the people you live with will almost certainly be wrong. The set is defined, and conditions attach.
You are not counted. Someone living alone without a home has zero dependents — and zero still scores 5.
A spouse counts even on a separate residence registration.
A parent or grandparent must have been on the same registration for three years, and if they or their spouse owns any home, both drop out.
A child must be unmarried, and from age 30 needs a further year on the registration.
Siblings and cohabitants never count, same registration or not.
What five points is worth
Converting it into the other two items shows the weight. The no-home period pays 2 points a year; the account pays 1.
One person equals two and a half years without a home, or five years of account history. Time cannot buy it — the other two items climb if you wait, and this one does not.
Spouse — splitting the registration changes nothing
A spouse belongs to the household and counts as a dependent regardless of residence registration. Living at different addresses for work is common and does not remove them.
It runs both ways. One dependent more is 5 points; and a home in the spouse’s name is the household’s home, which takes the no-home item to zero. A separate registration does not change that either.
Ascendants — where ten points go at once
To count a parent or grandparent, three things must hold at the same time.
① The applicant must be the head of household. The provision opens with “where the applicant is the head of household as at the date of the notice” (Appendix 1, 1(b)2). Live with your parents but leave a parent as head of household and this whole item is zero — the first thing to check, and the one most often skipped.
② Three years or more continuously on the same residence registration. Counted back from the date of the notice, with no break in between.
③ Neither they nor their spouse owns a home. This is the sharp edge — if either one holds a home or a purchase right, both drop out of the count. A home in the father’s name removes the mother too. Being over 60 is not an exception.
| With both parents counted | With both removed | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| 2 people → 15 | 0 people → 5 | −10 |
| 3 people → 20 | 1 person → 10 | −10 |
| 4 people → 25 | 2 people → 15 | −10 |
| 5 people → 30 | 3 people → 20 | −10 |
Rebuilding ten points elsewhere costs five years without a home or ten years of account. And a parent’s ownership does not appear on your own registration — which is how people include them in good faith and lose the win at document verification. This one has to be checked in advance.
Unmarried children — age and marital history
A child must be unmarried, and the requirement then splits by age.
Under 30, being on the same registration is enough. Thirty or over, they must have been on the applicant’s or the spouse’s registration continuously for a year or more as at the notice date.
Currently married, or married at any time in the past, and they do not count. Divorced and single today is still out. “Unmarried” here means never married, not “without a spouse right now”.
Who is not counted — a different list from “household”
One distinction has to come first. “Household” and “dependents” are different lists. The household is defined by article 2(2) of the Rules; dependents are defined separately by sub-paragraph 1(b) of Appendix 1 — and the household is the wider of the two.
You. The count excludes the applicant. That is why zero people is 5 points rather than none. But you are in the household — so a home in your own name is, of course, the household’s.
Siblings. Not household members even on the same registration, and therefore not dependents. The same for a spouse’s siblings.
Cohabitants. Anyone listed in the cohabitant column of the registration is not a household member.
The reverse list is easier to forget. Article 2(2) adds “including the spouse’s ascendants” in brackets to ascendants and “including a descendant’s spouse” to descendants, and sub-paragraph (e) separately brings in “the spouse’s descendant registered together with the applicant”. So parents-in-law, a son- or daughter-in-law, and a spouse’s children who live with you are all household members — and a home in any of their names breaks the no-home status.
Unborn children, grandchildren, children on military service. Blank twice, and this time we opened Appendix 1 itself. Item 1(b)1 reads:
Rules on Housing Supply, Appendix 1, item 1(b)1
Dependants are household members registered on the same resident registration record as the applicant or their spouse as at the notice date. Provided that children are limited to unmarried children (including a grandchild registered on the same record where both of that grandchild’s parents are deceased).
Grandchildren now have an answer — three things at once: (1) on the same resident registration record, (2) both of the grandchild’s parents deceased, (3) unmarried. One surviving parent and the grandchild does not count.
An unborn child and a child on military service are not mentioned in Appendix 1 at all, and that is itself the answer: the test is the single line “registered on the same resident registration record”. An unborn child cannot be on that record. A child away on service turns on whether they came off the record or not. Note that the special-supply “number of children” is a different rule — some special-supply categories do count an unborn child, so read that item in the notice you are applying under. Mixing it with the points-system dependant count gives the wrong answer.
How to count — with two documents
Counting from memory of who lives where will go wrong. Go line by line down the registration instead.
① Cross yourself off. The count starts at zero.
② A spouse is one, unconditionally. Separate registration included. Unmarried children on the spouse’s registration get picked up at this step too.
③ Take the ascendants on the registration. Check that the registration date runs back three years or more from the notice, then check their property register and their spouse’s. If either holds a home, that couple counts as zero. Each side of the family is assessed separately.
④ Take the descendants. Unmarried? If 30 or over, more than a year on the registration? Ever married? Any one of the three and they come out.
⑤ Skip the sibling and cohabitant lines. Same registration, still not the household.
What remains is the dependent count. Above six, write six — the ceiling makes everything above it identical.
Step ③ takes the longest and goes wrong most often. The registration date is on the registration, but a parent’s home is not, so it is worth setting aside time for that step alone.
The whole table — seven steps
| Count | Points | Count | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 5 | 4 | 25 |
| 1 | 10 | 5 | 30 |
| 2 | 15 | 6 or more | 35 |
| 3 | 20 |
The ceiling is six. Seven or eight is still 35. And because zero to six runs from 5 to 35, this single item moves 30 points — almost the same range as the 32 earned by fifteen full years without a home.
Questions that remain
If I take my parents in, do the points arrive?
Not yet. Three years have to pass. The requirement is three years or more continuously on the same registration, so a move-in reported today does nothing for that notice. And even after three years, if either parent owns a home the count is zero. Reverse the order: check ownership first, then start counting the three years.
My father owns a home — can I count just my mother?
No. If either an ascendant or their spouse owns a home, both drop out. That the mother owns nothing herself does not help. Entering her on the reasoning that she is not an owner ends in the win being cancelled as ineligible — and a cancellation carries a period of restriction on further applications.
My spouse lives in another city. Still a dependent?
Yes. A spouse counts regardless of registration. For the same reason, though, a home in their name is the household’s home. You cannot take one half of that rule and leave the other.
My 31-year-old son lives with me. Why is he out?
He is not out — there is simply one more condition. An unmarried child of 30 or over needs a year or more continuously on the same registration as at the notice date. Under a year and he is out of that notice; past it and he is in. But if he has ever been married, being unmarried now does not bring him back.
Can I report a move-in to raise the count?
Moving an address without actually living there conflicts with the reporting duty under the Resident Registration Act, and in subscription it ends in an ineligibility finding. Besides, ascendants need three years, so a late move cannot reach that notice anyway. Appendix 1 speaks only of being on the same record and for how long — how actual cohabitation is tested is left to the supplying authority, not the Rules. Before weighing the arithmetic, check whether the arrangement is real.
Sources and where to check
Appendix 1 to the Rules on Housing Supply — the bands for the 35-point dependent item. The version in force took effect on 15 June 2026 (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ordinance No. 1592).
Article 2(2) of the same Rules — the scope of the household: the applicant, the spouse, and the ascendants and descendants on the same registration, with the spouse included whether registered together or not. Ascendants carry “including the spouse’s ascendants” in brackets and descendants “including a descendant’s spouse”; sub-paragraph (e) adds the spouse’s descendant registered with the applicant.
The conditions were cross-checked against two unrelated sources — the three-year registration for ascendants, both dropping out when either owns a home, and the one-year registration for unmarried children of 30 or over appear the same in both. Sub-paragraph 1(b) of Appendix 1 was opened and read on the national statute portal on 26 August 2026. The three-year registration, the joint exclusion where either spouse owns a home, the one-year rule for descendants aged 30 or over, and the unmarried limitation on children all matched the text.
One condition was missing — the provision opens with “where the applicant is the head of household as at the date of the notice”. It is now the first item above.
On 11 September 2026 article 2(2) was reopened and the household scope compared line by line. This piece had covered only the exclusions — siblings and cohabitants — and was missing the other direction: who the household lets in. The spouse’s ascendants, a descendant’s spouse and the spouse’s descendants are now set out above. The dependent bands and the ten-point drop stood unchanged.
On 14 September 2026 Appendix 1 itself was opened — the appended-table viewer renders the text. The three conditions for a grandchild (same record, both parents deceased, unmarried) are now from the source, and Appendix 1 turns out not to mention an unborn child or military service at all.
Where to check further
The residence registration — and the dates on it. The three years and the one year are measured from when someone was registered, not from who lives there now. The registration shows the date.
Your parents’ property register. Their ownership does not appear on your registration. Skipping this check is the most common route to ineligibility.
The notice for the development. Unborn children, grandchildren and children on military service are settled there.
To add the three items up, put the headcount straight into the subscription score calculator. The no-home side is in where the no-home period splits.
