South Korea Visa and K-ETA: Requirements by Nationality

• Path 1: exempt until 31 Dec 2026
• Path 2: K-ETA before you fly
• Path 3: visa from an embassy

Whether you need a South Korea visa depends only on the nationality in your passport, not on where you live or fly from. Short tourist trips fall into one of three paths:

In short, there is currently no South Korea visa for US citizens on holiday, and none for UK, Canadian or Australian travellers either; they also need no K-ETA. Travellers aged 17 or under, or 65 or over, are also K-ETA exempt, whatever their visa-free nationality. The full country table is in the next section.

• 22 exempt countries/regions
• 116 lines on the K-ETA list
• Everyone else: visa

These are the South Korea visa requirements by country, taken from the official K-ETA eligibility list and the embassy notices on the temporary exemption. The K-ETA list has 116 lines because the United Kingdom is split into six passport types.

Together, the exempt list and the K-ETA list form the list of Korea visa-free countries for short trips; every other nationality needs a visa. "Stay" is the maximum visa-free stay per visit; a K-ETA never lets you stay longer than that.

Temporarily exempt: no visa, no K-ETA until 31 December 2026

K-ETA required: no visa, apply for K-ETA before you fly

Visa required

• Free to check
• Official site: k-eta.go.kr
• Pop-up shows "K-ETA Exempt"

Not sure which K-ETA exempt countries list you are on? The official site tells you. Start a K-ETA application on www.k-eta.go.kr and scan the photo page of your passport. If your nationality is temporarily exempt, a "K-ETA Exempt" pop-up appears. The US and Guam notices say the pop-up appears when you select your nationality.

If you get the pop-up, you do not need to continue. If you see no pop-up and your country is on the K-ETA list, the K-ETA is required for you. If your nationality is not on the K-ETA eligible countries page, you need a visa.

• Not a visa
• Online only
• Needed before boarding

What is K-ETA? The Korea Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA, sometimes searched as "Korea ETA" or "South Korea ETA") is an online pre-screening for nationals who can enter Korea without a visa.

You apply for the K-ETA for South Korea online: you enter your passport and travel details, Korean immigration reviews them, and if you are approved you can board your flight or ship to Korea. Without it the airline will not let you board.

Many people call it the "K-ETA visa", but the official pages are clear: K-ETA is not a visa and it does not guarantee entry. The immigration officer at the airport or port makes the final decision.

It covers tourism, visiting relatives, events and meetings, and business without paid activity. It is valid for multiple entries during its validity, but each stay is still limited by your nationality's visa-free period.

• Fee: ₩10,000 + about 3%
• Usually within 72 hours
• Valid 3 years

The K-ETA application is done in English on the official K-ETA website, www.k-eta.go.kr, or in the official K-ETA app (Google Play and App Store). There are no official agents. A K-ETA application for US citizens is optional until 31 December 2026: they are exempt, but may apply to skip the arrival card.

Before you start

The K-ETA requirements are simple. Have ready: a valid passport, a working email address, a face photo and a credit or debit card that is open for overseas payments. The photo must be a colour JPG under 20 MB showing your full face, with no hat, scarf or sunglasses; a religious head covering is fine if your face is fully visible.

The steps

Fee, processing time and validity

• 17 and under: exempt
• 65 and over: exempt
• Arrival card still needed

Besides the temporary country exemption, these groups never need a K-ETA:

• Free
• Up to 3 days before arrival
• Separate from K-ETA

The Korea e-Arrival Card (www.e-arrivalcard.go.kr) is the online version of the paper arrival card, with the same legal effect. It is free and has nothing to do with K-ETA approval. In other words, the South Korea e-Arrival Card is simply the Korea e-Arrival Card online, and it costs nothing.

For US citizens, who are K-ETA exempt until 31 December 2026, the South Korea e-Arrival Card is the form to fill in. If you are asking "do I need a K-ETA to enter Korea?", the answer depends on your passport: K-ETA-required nationals need one, while exempt travellers fill in an arrival card instead.

In short: if you have a K-ETA, you skip the arrival card. If you are exempt or travel on a visa, you fill one in. On a phone you can submit for up to 9 people at once, on a computer up to 1,000; there is no app. If you did not submit it before your trip, you can still fill in an e-Arrival Card or a paper card before immigration.

• Apply at a Korean embassy or consulate
• Up to 90 days
• Rules differ by mission

If your nationality is not on the K-ETA list, you need a visa for South Korea, and your South Korea visa application goes to a Korean embassy or consulate, not to the K-ETA site. This is the case, for example, for the South Korea visa for Indians and for Filipino tourists.

For a holiday the usual type is the C-3-9 short-term tourism visa. This is what most people mean by a South Korea tourist visa. The Korean visa requirements for it are set by the mission that handles your Korean visa application; the table below shows what the official mission pages say.

The Korea visa documents required by those pages are in the last row. You apply at the Korean embassy or consulate (or its visa application centre) responsible for where you live; the Korea Visa Portal (www.visa.go.kr) is linked from the official sites.

• Form No. 17
• Photo 3.5 × 4.5 cm
• Standard fee from USD 40

Every Korean visa application starts with the same document: the Korean visa application form (Form No. 17). Korean embassies and consulates link it from their home pages under "Visa Application Form", and the Korea Visa Portal (www.visa.go.kr) lets you fill in the same form online as an e-Form.

Tourists use it too: the Philippine embassy's C-3-9 tourist checklist asks for Form No. 17 and says to print it on A4 paper.

Can you apply for a South Korea visa online?

Partly. You can fill in the e-Form on the portal, print it with its bar code and take it, with your passport, photo, fee and documents, to the Korean embassy or consulate (or its visa centre) for the country where you live. The portal's fully online e-Visa is listed only for certain categories, such as some professionals, invited business visitors, medical tourists and Chinese group tours; an ordinary tourist visa goes through a mission.

The Chennai consulate describes exactly this for Indian applicants: fill in and print the e-Form, then hand it in at the visa centre.

Korean visa photo size

The South Korea visa photo size is 3.5 × 4.5 cm in natural colour; every official page we checked gives the same size. Some missions add their own rules:

South Korea visa cost

The Korea Visa Portal lists these standard fees. Missions may charge a different amount depending on nationality, reciprocity or agreements, and the fee is not refunded if the visa is refused.

What some missions charge for a short tourist visa:

Korean visa validity

Validity and length of stay are two different things. The validity ends on the "final entry date", the last day you may enter Korea; after it the visa is void. The period of stay counts from the day you enter.

A single-entry visa lets you enter once before it expires (the tourist missions we checked issue it for 3 months), a double-entry visa twice within 6 months, and multiple-entry visas run for 1, 3 or 5 years. A C-3-9 tourist stay is up to 90 days.

• Apply at KVAC Manila or a designated agency
• 12 working days since 1 Oct 2026
• Free for stays up to 59 days

Philippine passport holders need a visa for a holiday in Korea (the Jeju direct-flight and transit exceptions are explained in their own sections). Since 29 August 2023 every application in the Philippines goes through the Korea Visa Application Center (KVAC) in Manila, either in person or through one of the embassy's designated travel agencies.

The embassy itself only accepts diplomatic and official passports and urgent humanitarian cases.

Tourist visa documents for employees

The embassy's C-3-9 checklist has separate lists for employees, sole proprietors, business owners, remote workers, freelancers, retirees, homemakers, students, religious workers and OFWs. For an employee it asks for:

The embassy may ask for more documents during screening, and the processing period can be recalculated when you hand them in. The checklist names no minimum bank balance.

Simplified Korean visa requirements

From 1 January to 31 December 2026 the embassy waives the financial documents (bank certificate, bank statement and ITR) for the groups below. All other documents are still required.

Each of these routes also covers the holder's parents, spouse, minor children (and adult children who can prove they are students) and spouse's parents, who must show proof of the relationship.

• Apply through the Visa Portal and a KVAC
• USD 40 / INR 3,400 short-stay fee
• Three missions, split by state

India is not on the K-ETA list, so Indian passport holders need a visa for a holiday in Korea, usually the C-3-9 (the Jeju direct-flight and transit exceptions aside).

The Korean Consulate General in Chennai states that Indian nationals must apply for and obtain the visa through the Korea Visa Portal and a Korean Visa Application Centre (KVAC) run by VFS Global. The steps:

Korea visa from India: which office handles your state

The VFS number on the official pages is +91 22 6201 8463; the Mumbai consulate gives +91 22 6147 7000.

South Korea visa fee for Indians

The Chennai consulate's fee notice (from 1 June 2025, at 1 USD = 85 INR):

Express processing is allowed only case by case. The New Delhi embassy page publishes no fee table or processing time, so check both with the visa centre.

If someone in Korea invites you, the New Delhi page asks for the invitation letter and the inviting company's business registration (or the inviter's employee certificate), and from you a business registration or employee certificate, income tax returns for the last 2 years and bank statements for the last 6 months; the consul can ask for more.

• Apply where you live
• Often 2+ years of residence needed
• 7 to 20+ working days

British, Australian, Canadian and Singaporean citizens need no visa for a holiday (see the questions at the end). This section is for people who live in those countries on a passport that does need one, for example Indian or Filipino nationals in London, Sydney or Toronto.

You apply to the Korean office for the area where you live, and several offices accept certain nationalities only after 2 years of residence. The South Korea visa processing time and the rules differ by office:

In Sydney and Melbourne, nationals of China, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and several other countries must show they have lived in Australia continuously for more than 2 years. For the C-3-9 both consulates ask for Australian bank statements for the last 3 months and a passport photo taken within 6 months; Sydney also wants a return ticket and an accommodation booking.

• Free on www.visa.go.kr
• Passport number, name, date of birth
• Print the Visa Grant Notice

To check your South Korea visa status you use one official page: "Check Application Status" on the Korea Visa Portal (www.visa.go.kr). The Korean embassy and consulate home pages we checked link straight to it. It covers applications made at an embassy or consulate, at a visa centre and online as an e-Visa.

How to check Korean visa status, step by step

Applications made at a visa centre show up on the same page; the Chennai consulate, for example, sends its VFS applicants there. If you applied at a visa centre, you can collect your passport only when the status reads "Passport pickup"; "Approved" or "Rejected" alone does not mean it is ready.

In the Philippines the KVAC also sends an SMS, while the Singapore embassy gives no status updates other than the portal.

Print the Visa Grant Notice

Korean missions stopped putting visa stickers in passports on 1 July 2020. Once your visa is approved, the details appear at the bottom of the result page: click "Visa Grant Notice" and print it; a colour or black-and-white print is fine.

You show it with your passport at immigration. The notice shows the visa number, status of stay, period of stay, number of entries, issue date, validity and issuing office.

• Often no reason is given
• Some missions: wait 2 to 3 months
• Fees are not refunded

A refused K-ETA, a denied Korean visa and being turned back at the airport are three different situations. Below is what the official Korean pages say about each, and where they say nothing.

If your K-ETA is refused

The K-ETA Center does not tell you why: the assessment criteria are classified. The way in is then a visa from a Korean embassy or consulate; the fee rules and the limit on repeated applications are in the K-ETA and C-3-9 sections above.

An approved K-ETA can also be cancelled at any time if information was false, left out or wrong, and false information can bring penalties or entry restrictions under Korean law.

If your Korean visa is denied

A South Korea visa denied by one mission cannot simply be tried again at another: you apply to the Korean embassy or consulate for the country or area where you live (see the sections above).

What to fix before you reapply

No official page promises approval, but the checklists show what missions look at. Hand in every document on your own mission's list for your job, with all the details it asks for (see the Philippine and Australian lists above).

Hong Kong says that if you cannot get a listed document, you should hand in another one that proves the same thing. Make sure your stated purpose and dates match your documents, expect that the mission may ask for more papers, and never use fake documents.

If you are refused entry at the airport

Neither a visa nor a K-ETA guarantees entry. The immigration officer at the port of entry, under the Ministry of Justice, decides. The Korea Visa Portal says officers will refuse an expired, fake or false passport, may refuse you if your visa type does not match your purpose, and that you must have no grounds for entry restriction under the Immigration Act.

The Hong Kong consulate adds that the office that issued your visa takes no responsibility in that case. If the details on an approved K-ETA do not match your passport, you will not be allowed to board.

A refusal of entry also shuts you out of the 30-day visa-free transit scheme for 3 years (2023 notice).

• Direct international flight
• Visa-required nationals
• 23 countries excluded

Jeju has its own rule. Most nationals who normally need a visa can enter Jeju Island visa-free if they arrive on a direct international flight to Jeju. A route like Singapore → Shanghai → Jeju counts as direct; flying Seoul or Busan → Jeju does not.

Excluded are the 23 countries designated by the Ministry of Justice: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Cuba, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Senegal, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, Yemen.

Planning the island itself? See where to stay in Jeju →.

• Airside: no K-ETA
• Through immigration: K-ETA or visa
• Transit schemes for visa nationals

If you change planes at Incheon and stay in the transit area, you do not need a K-ETA. If you have to pass through immigration, for example to collect your bags or because your itinerary changed, you need a K-ETA (or a visa if your nationality needs one). So a Korea transit visa only matters if you have to pass through immigration and your nationality needs a visa, and even then the visa-free transfer schemes below may apply.

Visa-required travellers have visa-free transfer options. The latest official notice we found (Korean Consulate in Chicago, May 2023) lists, among others:

For the 30-day scheme the notice adds: no entry refusal in Korea in the past 3 years, no fine over ₩5 million or deportation, no more than 3 days in the transit country before Korea, and the visa sticker must be in your passport (Australian visas are checked through VEVO). If you are searching for a South Korea visa for green card holders, this is the rule that applies: it covers transit to or from the US, not a stand-alone holiday.

• Embassy in Bern: exempt
• Other official lists: not named
• Check the pop-up

Swiss and Liechtenstein travellers: the Korean Embassy in Bern lists you as exempt until 31 December 2026. The earlier official lists of the 22 exempt countries and regions (2023 and 2024) do not include Switzerland or Liechtenstein, and the K-ETA site's own extension notice gives no list. Both countries appear on the K-ETA list with a 3-month stay.

Confirm with the pop-up on k-eta.go.kr: scan your passport in the application and see whether "K-ETA Exempt" appears. If it does not, apply for the K-ETA.

• Istanbul → Incheon: about 9.5 hours
• Turkish passport: K-ETA required
• Asked: how many days

Our chef Halil flew from Istanbul to Incheon, a flight of about 9.5 hours. He travelled on a Turkish passport, and Türkiye is on the K-ETA list with a 90-day stay, so he needed a K-ETA (rules for your passport may differ; see the table above).

His advice from the trip: fill in the K-ETA before you come. Once it was approved, entry was easy. At immigration the officer only asked how many days he would stay, then put a sticker in his passport.

Watch our Incheon arrival on YouTube 0:52 ↗

Before your trip, our Korean phrases for travel → cover hello, thank you and the words you need at the airport and on the subway.

• All government sites
• No agents needed

The K-ETA Center's number on the official site is 02-2666-0463 (Korean format), but in principle it gives no phone or face-to-face help; questions go through the Ask Us form.