Foreign residents who have unpaid local taxes will be denied an extension of their visas starting in May, the government said Monday.

Under an information sharing pact of the Justice Ministry, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service, immigration offices nationwide will check the tax payment history of every foreigner who applies for a visa extension and reject the request if the person has a tax default. 

The program will start with 16 immigration offices on May 1, gradually expanding to 20 by July and all of 38 offices by next year.

According to the Interior Ministry, about 10 billion won ($8.8 million) in taxes were in arrears by foreign residents as of November.

Through a pilot product run between May in 2016 and March this year at an Ansan branch of the immigration office, the government collected 300 million won from 1,450 foreign tax defaulters, it said.

As of the end of January, 1.52 million foreign nationals reside in Korea, about 3 percent of the entire population of 52 million.

The ministries also plan to distribute leaflets on tax payment in five languages including English, Chinese and Vietnamese at immigration offices and job centers to encourage foreigners to pay their taxes.

By Ock Hyun-ju  (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)