South Korea entry: K-ETA, visa-free stays and the e-Arrival card

Visa-free, K-ETA or visa: which group you are in

The Korea Tourism Organization's VisitKorea site sets out the basic rule: foreign visitors need a valid passport and a Korean visa, unless their country has a visa waiver arrangement with Korea. Travellers who are visa-exempt must obtain a K-ETA (Korea Electronic Travel Authorization) before they board a plane or ship to Korea, unless their country is on the current temporary exemption list. So there are really three groups: visa-free with a K-ETA, visa-free and temporarily exempt from the K-ETA, and visa required.

The K-ETA site run by the Ministry of Justice lists every country whose citizens can apply, with the visa-free stay for each. When we checked on 2026-10-03 it showed, among others, 90 days for the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong, three months for the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, New Zealand, Malaysia and Mexico, six months for Canada and 30 days for countries such as South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Russia and Kazakhstan have rolling limits within 180 days. The stay is per entry; the K-ETA's own three-year validity does not extend it.

If your passport does not appear on that list, plan on a visa. VisitKorea points to embassies and the Korea Visa Portal (visa.go.kr) and lists single-entry, double-entry (six months) and multiple-entry visas (one, three or five years). Several large Asian countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and China, were not on the K-ETA list when we checked, so travellers from those countries should start with the Visa Portal or the nearest Korean consulate, not with the K-ETA site.

The UK government's travel advice adds two conditions that apply in practice to most visa-free visitors: you must have an onward or return ticket, and you may not work, including as a teacher, while visiting visa-free. For a stay of up to 90 days as a tourist, it says a British passport must be valid beyond the date you leave Korea.

The K-ETA exemption until 31 December 2026

To support tourism, Korea has waived the K-ETA for 22 countries and regions. In a notice dated 23 December 2025, the Ministry of Justice extended the waiver by one more year, from 1 January to 31 December 2026 (Korea time). VisitKorea lists the countries and regions covered: Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Macau; the United States (including Guam) and Canada; the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Denmark and Austria; and Australia and New Zealand. The UK advice confirms the same end date for British travellers.

The end date is the planning point. When we checked on 2026-10-03, no further extension had been announced on the K-ETA notice board, so if you will arrive in Korea on or after 1 January 2027, check the notice board again before booking and be ready to apply for a K-ETA. The ministry says that when you scan your passport during the K-ETA application, a pop-up tells you whether you are exempt, which is a quick way to settle it for your own passport.

Being exempt does not stop you applying. The notice says exempt travellers may still apply, and pay the fee, if they want the K-ETA's benefits, chiefly skipping the arrival card. K-ETAs already issued stay valid until they expire, and fees already paid are not refunded.

• Exempt and arriving by 31 December 2026: no K-ETA needed; submit an e-Arrival card or a paper arrival card.
• Exempt but arriving from 1 January 2027: check the K-ETA notice board for a renewal; otherwise apply for a K-ETA.
• On the K-ETA list but not exempt (for example Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand or the UAE when we checked): a K-ETA is required before boarding.
• Not on the K-ETA list: apply for a visa.

Applying for the K-ETA safely

Apply only on www.k-eta.go.kr or the official K-ETA mobile app. The site warns about look-alike and agency sites that charge high fees, and the ministry states that it has appointed no official agents. When we checked on 2026-10-03, the official site listed the fee as KRW 10,000 (about US$7–8) plus a 3% online payment charge, not refundable if the application is refused.

The ministry says screening is normally done within 72 hours but can take longer, applications are processed in order and there is no express service. Apply as soon as your dates are fixed, and in any case before boarding: applying after boarding, or once already in Korea, can lead to refusal or an entry restriction. When we checked, the site also announced a full shutdown of the K-ETA service from 18:00 on 8 October to 02:30 on 9 October 2026 (Korea time), and an earlier notice warned that confirmation emails to Gmail, and sometimes to Outlook or Hotmail addresses, could be delayed, so it suggested using another email provider.

An approved K-ETA is valid for three years, or until your passport expires if that is sooner, and can be used for several trips, but each stay is still limited to your country's visa-free period. It is not a visa and does not guarantee entry: the immigration officer decides at the border. You must apply again if you get a new passport, and if your travel details change (dates, address in Korea, flight), update them on the site's travel information page.

Some travellers do not need a K-ETA at all. The official FAQ lists, among others, visa holders and registered foreign residents, children aged 17 or under and adults aged 65 or over on the day of arrival, holders of an APEC Business Travel Card, crew, cruise passengers and transit passengers. A transit passenger who decides to enter Korea, or needs to pass immigration to collect checked bags, must have a K-ETA in advance. K-ETA also applies to flights straight to Jeju: the ministry extended it to Jeju in September 2022 for visa-waiver nationalities. Jeju has a separate visa-free category for some other nationalities, listed on the Visa Portal, so check it there if you plan to fly only to the island.

The e-Arrival card: who files it and when

Korea's arrival card can now be submitted online at www.e-arrivalcard.go.kr, run by the Ministry of Justice. When we checked on 2026-10-03, the site said the e-Arrival card is free, can be filed from three days before arrival (counted in Korea time) and has the same validity as the paper card, which is still available. VisitKorea's example: if you arrive on 31 January, the earliest you can submit is 29 January.

Who needs it is the part people get wrong. The site lists Korean visa holders and K-ETA-exempt travellers, which includes citizens of the temporarily exempt countries and travellers under 17 or over 65, among those who must declare. K-ETA holders do not (unless they enter on a visa), and nor do holders of a Korean residence card or an electronic group visa. In other words, a US or UK traveller relying on the 2026 exemption files an arrival card; a traveller who holds a K-ETA does not.

The form asks for your passport (you can upload a photo of the data page), an email address, your arrival date and flight number, where you will stay, and optionally your departure date and flight. One person can file for up to nine people on a phone, and group organisers up to 1,000 on a computer; someone aged 14 or younger cannot be the lead declarant. You receive an issue number by email and can save a PDF, but you do not need to show it at immigration. You can correct the stay details before immigration, although the arrival date can only be changed within three days of the first submission. A submission lapses 72 hours after filing, or once you have passed immigration, so file a new one for each trip.

• The e-Arrival card is separate from the K-ETA, and it is free: a site asking you to pay for an arrival card is not the official one.
• File it from the airport at home or during a layover if your flight is less than three days away.
• Keep the address of your first hotel to hand; you need it for both the K-ETA and the arrival card.

At the border: fingerprints, customs and Q-Code

VisitKorea says every foreign visitor aged 17 or over is fingerprinted (both index fingers) and photographed on arrival, at any airport or port. Remove sunglasses and hats and stay off the phone at the desk. Once your biometrics are registered, the automated Smart Entry gates can be used on later visits, and at some airports also on departure for visa-waiver and short-stay visitors.

For customs, travellers with nothing to declare no longer fill in a form, a change VisitKorea dates to 1 May 2023. If you do have goods to declare, one form per family is enough, and since 1 August 2023 you can submit it in advance through the Korea Customs Declaration for Travelers app or the website m.customs.go.kr/tms at airports and seaports nationwide, then scan the QR code at the goods-to-declare gate. When we checked, VisitKorea listed the duty-free allowance as goods worth up to US$800 in total, alcohol up to US$400 (two bottles, two litres), 200 cigarettes and 100 ml of perfume, with no alcohol or tobacco allowance for travellers aged 19 and under.

The health questionnaire only applies to some travellers. If you arrive from, or have travelled through, an area Korea designates as a Quarantine Inspection Required Area, you either register in advance on Q-Code (qcode.kdca.go.kr, open from seven days before arrival) or fill in a paper questionnaire. The UK advice says the UK was designated a Quarantine Inspection Required Area, so British travellers with symptoms must submit one, and that failing to complete a required health screening can bring a fine of up to KRW 10 million. The list changes frequently, so check it in the week before you fly.

A pre-departure checklist

Entry rules for Korea are simple once you know your group, but the details move: the K-ETA exemption has been extended a year at a time, the arrival card moved online and customs forms disappeared for travellers with nothing to declare within the last few years. Use this order in the weeks before you fly, and if anything in your case is unclear, the Immigration Contact Center answers on +82-1345 from abroad (1345 within Korea); VisitKorea lists weekday hours of 09:00 to 22:00, with English available throughout.

• Check your passport: valid beyond your departure date for a short visit, and the same passport you will use to check in, since the K-ETA and boarding pass must match its number.
• Look up your country on the K-ETA list and note your visa-free stay.
• Decide whether you need a K-ETA (not exempt, or arriving from 2027) or a visa (country not listed).
• Apply for a K-ETA at least 72 hours before boarding, only on k-eta.go.kr or the official app, and keep the approval email.
• No K-ETA? Submit the e-Arrival card within three days before landing, or fill in the paper card on the plane.
• Have an onward or return ticket and your first night's address ready.
• Check whether your departure country is a Quarantine Inspection Required Area; if so, register on Q-Code.
• Know the duty-free limits; if you are over them, file a customs declaration in the app.