Tourists to enjoy more lenient visa rules for Korea

Commissioner Kim Young-june at a briefing at the Foreign Press Center Korea (Photo Credit: Jeon Han)

Earlier this month, Korea's Ministry of Justice announced new measures that will make it easier for international tourists to enter and stay in their country.

At a briefing at the Foreign Press Center Korea in Seoul, Kim Young-june, commissioner of the Korea Immigration Service, a branch of the Ministry of Justice, said that mainland Chinese tourists can benefit from free tourist visas over the next three months, between July 6 and September 30.

He also added, "The benefits will also be applied to tourists from Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia. Also, three-month tourist visas issued between March 1 and June 30 can be extended, allowing visitors to stay for as many as six months." To make the extension more convenient for tourists with the said visas, there's no need for them to visit an immigration office to have their visa extended, even if the date on the stamp has expired. The validity of their visas will automatically be considered as extended.

The Republic of Korea decided to implement this proactive measure in order to provide foreign tourists with easier and convenient access to Korea due to the recent Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak.

Here in the Philippines though, the said announcement created a bit of confusion and a lot of people have been asking me about the 'free tourist visas' to Korea. I think this was also recognized by the Korean Embassy here and so to clarify this, they released a statement last July 3 that says:

The validity of every single-entry visa that was issued before and after the MERS development (from March 1 to June 30, 2015) was extended from the current three months to six months. Persons subject to the extension are allowed to enter the Republic of Korea even after the visa expiration date, which would prevent them from going through inconvenient procedures such as visiting Korean embassy to have their visa extended.

So that means that when Korea's Ministry of Justice announced the 'free tourist visas', they were pertaining to automatic extension of visa validity and NOT really the removal of visa as travel document/ no-visa policy. Hence, people with no Korean visas STILL NEED TO APPLY.

Kindly also take note that tourist visa processing here in the Philippines is FREE if you intend to stay for 59 days or less in Korea and has a fee of Php1,800 if you intend to stay for 60-90 days. (You can read about new visa requirements in my post HERE.)

OTHER VISA APPLICATION UPDATES:

It would also be interesting to note that starting July 1, 2015, all visa applicants who have travelled as tourist to Korea at least once within 5 years will be exempt from submitting an  ITR copy. Processing time will also be reduced to 3 working days, but they are still required to apply at window 1 or 2.

Those who have travelled to korea once within 5 years with purpose other than tour such as business, church visti, family visit, are still required to submit ITR copy. They are required to apply at window 1 or 2. Processing time is 5 working days.

Those who have travelled to Korea more than twice within 4 years are exempt from submitting ITR copy and may apply at window 3 (frequent travellers).

Visa application time has also been adjusted to 8:30 am to 11:00 am (from previous 9-11am), while passport releasing is now from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm (from previous 2-4pm)  starting June 1, 2015.

For more details, latest updates, and inquiries, you can visit the Official Website of the Korean Embassy in the Philippines HERE.

~~~

Credits to Korea.net (Jeon Han & Lee Seung-ah), Korean Embassy in the Philippines, KTO, and KTO Manila.

For more information about Korean Tourism, you may visit the Korea Tourism Organization Official page, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

For Filipinos, follow Korea Tourism Organization Manila at Facebook, Twitter, and KakaoTalk (@ktomanila) for the latest updates on Korea tourism, events, tour packages and promos. :)