Visa requirements for South Korean citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of South Korea.
As of February 2018, South Korean citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 178 countries and territories, ranking the South Korean passport 3rd in the world (tied with Danish, Finnish, French, Italian, Spanish and Swedish passports) according to the Henley Passport Index.
As of 2017, the passports of South Korea, Hong Kong, Israel and Chile are the only regular passports to provide visa-free access to all of Europe, and the passports of South Korea and Chile are the only ones to provide visa-free access to all G8 countries.
Video Visa requirements for South Korean citizens
Visa requirements map
Maps Visa requirements for South Korean citizens
Visa requirements
Visa requirements for holders of normal passports travelling for tourist purposes:
Territories
Visa requirements for South Korean citizens for visits to various territories, disputed areas, partially recognized countries and restricted zones:
Access-restricted countries
As of 1 January 2014, the South Korean government, due to safety concerns, has banned its citizens from visiting Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Libya and Yemen. Also, South Korean citizens are basically not allowed to visit North Korea except when special authorizations are granted by the Ministry of Unification on a limited basis (e.g. workers and businessmen visiting or commuting to/from Kaesong Industrial Complex). Yet eight people on six occasions, from Lim Su-kyung in 1989 to Ro Su-hui in 2012, have visited North Korea unapproved and returned to South Korea via Panmunjom despite imprisonment of up to 10 years upon conviction.
APEC Business Travel Card
Holders of an APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) travelling on business do not require a visa to the following countries:
1 - up to 90 days
2 - up to 60 days
3 - up to 59 days
The card must be used in conjunction with a passport and has the following advantages:
- no need to apply for a visa or entry permit to APEC countries, as the card is treated as such (except by Canada and United States)
- undertake legitimate business in participating economies
- expedited border crossing in all member economies, including transitional members
- expedited scheduling of visa interview (United States)
Non-visa restrictions
Passport validity length
Many countries require passports to be valid for at least 6 months upon arrival. Note that some nations have bilateral agreements with other countries to shorten the passport validity cut-off period for each other's citizens.
Countries requiring passports to be valid at least 6 months on arrival include Afghanistan, Algeria, Anguilla, Bahrain, Bhutan, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Curaçao, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq (except when arriving at Basra and Erbil or Sulaimaniyah), Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Somaliland, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
Countries requiring passports valid for at least 4 months on arrival include Micronesia and Zambia.
Countries requiring passports valid for at least 3 months on arrival include European Union countries (except Denmark, Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, and except for EU/EEA/Swiss citizens), Albania, Belarus, Georgia, Honduras, Iceland, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Nauru, Panama, Saint Barthélemy, San Marino, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
Bermuda requires passports to be valid for at least 45 days upon entry.
Countries that require a passport validity of at least 1 month on arrival include Eritrea, Hong Kong, Macao, New Zealand and South Africa.
Other countries require either a passport valid on arrival or a passport valid throughout the period of the intended stay.
Blank passport pages
Many countries require a minimum number of blank pages in the passport being presented, generally one or two pages. Endorsement pages which oftentimes appear after the visa pages are not counted.
Vaccination
Many African countries, including Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Zambia require all incoming passengers to have a current International Certificate of Vaccination.
Some other countries require vaccination only if the passenger is coming from an infected area.
Israeli stamps
Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen do not allow entry to people with passport stamps from Israel or whose passports have either a used or an unused Israeli visa, or where there is evidence of previous travel to Israel such as entry or exit stamps from neighbouring border posts in transit countries such as Jordan and Egypt.
To circumvent this Arab League boycott of Israel, the Israeli immigration services have now mostly ceased to stamp foreign nationals' passports on either entry to or exit from Israel. Since 15 January 2013, Israel no longer stamps foreign passports at Ben Gurion Airport, giving passengers a card instead: "Since January 2013 a pilot scheme has been introduced whereby visitors are given an entry card instead of an entry stamp on arrival. You should keep this card with your passport until you leave. This is evidence of your legal entry into Israel and may be required, particularly at any crossing points into the Occupied Palestinian Territories." Passports are still (as of 22 June 2017) stamped at Erez when travelling into and out of Gaza. Also, passports are still stamped (as of 22 June 2017) at the Jordan Valley/Sheikh Hussein and Yitzhak Rabin/Arava land borders with Jordan.
- Iran: Admission is refused for holders of passports containing an Israeli visa/stamp in the last 12 months
Armenian ethnicity
Due to a state of war existing between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the government of Azerbaijan not only bans entry of citizens from Armenia, but also all citizens and nationals of any other country who are of Armenian descent, to the Republic of Azerbaijan (although there have been exceptions, notably for Armenia's participation at the 2015 European Games held in Azerbaijan).
Azerbaijan also strictly bans any visit by foreign citizens to the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh (the de facto independent Republic of Artsakh), its surrounding territories and the Azerbaijani exclaves of Karki, Yuxar? ?skipara, Barxudarl? and Sofulu which are de jure part of Azerbaijan but under control of Armenia, without the prior consent of the government of Azerbaijan. Foreign citizens who enter these occupied territories will be permanently banned from entering the Republic of Azerbaijan and will be included in their "list of personae non gratae". As of late 2017 the list contains 699 persons.
Upon request, the Republic of Artsakh authorities may attach their visa and/or stamps to a separate piece of paper in order to avoid detection of travel to their country.
Persona non grata
The government of a country can declare a diplomat persona non grata, banning their entry into that country. In non-diplomatic use, the authorities of a country may also declare a foreigner persona non grata permanently or temporarily, usually because of unlawful activity. Attempts to enter the Gaza strip by sea may attract a 10-year ban on entering Israel.
Fingerprinting
Several countries including Argentina, Brunei, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States demand all travellers, or all foreign travellers, to be fingerprinted on arrival.
Criminal record
Some countries (for example, Canada and the United States) routinely deny entry to non-citizens who have a criminal record.
Fingerprinting
Several countries including Argentina, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United States demand all passengers to be fingerprinted on arrival.
Consular protection of South Korean citizens abroad
There are no South Korean embassies in North Korea and vice versa.
See also List of diplomatic missions of South Korea.
See also
- Visa policy of South Korea
- Republic of Korea passport
- List of nationalities forbidden at border
References and Notes
- References
- Notes
Source of the article : Wikipedia