1 Decide Which Visa You Need
What kind of visa you can apply for depends on your nationality and for how long you will study in Korea. There are four different visa variants to choose from for those who want to study in South Korea:
Take a short course on visa waiver – up to 90 days for most nationalities
Citizens of EU (except Cyprus and Portugal), the United States, Australia and many other nations are entitled to travel to Korea for 90 days as a tourist without a visa. Canadians can stay for 180 days while Portuguese and Russians can stay for 60 days. Some nations are limited to 30 days, and some countries cannot travel to Korea without a visa. Read more here.
You can take a short program on visa waiver in South Korea within your allowed time limit. You can, for example, take a language course or a summer course at a university. If you don’t have time to apply for a student visa to Korea, it might be possible to enter Korea on visa waiver and switch to a student visa after you arrive but before you have overstayed your visa waiver. Please talk to your school before attempting this solution. If possible, it is best to apply for a student visa before going to Korea.
When travelling on visa-waiver, you get a stamp in your passport on arrival, and you don’t need to apply for a visa back home. Please note that you must be able to show that you leave Korea within the allowed time period. You don’t need to have a return ticket home; you can show a ticket to another country as well as long as you can prove that you will leave Korea on time. The airlines usually check this when you check-in, and without an exit ticket, you might be denied to board your flight to Korea.
If you need to stay in South Korea for more than 90 days, and you can’t apply for a student visa (for example, if you take a long language course at a school that can’t sponsor a student visa), you can leave South Korea temporarily and go back again to extend your stay with another 90 days. For example, You leave South Korea on day 88 of your visa waiver to visit Tokyo during a weekend. When you return to South Korea, you get another 90-day stamp in your passport. Note that you can only do this once. This is a loophole and nothing that the authorities in South Korea would recommend. Please double-check with your school to see what they recommend before attempting this.
Student visa – valid for your entire study period
If you are planning to study at a Korean university for more than 90 days, then you should apply for a student visa. To apply you need a Certificate of Admission from a Korean university. To obtain such a document, you usually need to pay for at least 2 terms of 10 weeks each. Korean universities provide 4 terms of 10 weeks per academic year.
A student visa is called a D-visa, followed by a number that varies depending on what you will study in Korea. On a student visa, you can apply for the right to work part-time after you have studied in Korea for six months. Talk to your university for more information.
Working Holiday visa – study or work for a year in South Korea
Another option for those who want to stay for a longer period of time in Korea is the working Holiday visa (H-1 visa). It’s valid in a year; you can only get one’s life when you are between 18-30 years old. On a Working Holiday visa, you have the right to work and study at private institutions such as language schools.
According to our latest information South Korea has Working Holiday Agreements with Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and The United States. Read more about the Working Holiday Visa at the Korean Embassy.
Family Visas – The best visa for people of Korean heritage
If you have previously had Korean citizenship or if you have a parent or grandparent who has had it, you can apply for a F-4 visa that is only available to people of Korean heritage. This visa entitles you to work and study in Korea for two years without any restrictions. Then you have the opportunity to extend your visa. Read more about the F-4 visa here.
During the remaining steps, we will primarily focus on the student visa since that is what most students would apply for.
2. APPLY TO A SCHOOL IN KOREA
Before applying for a student visa, you must apply and get admitted to a Korean university. Universities often have specific application windows. For the application you usually need:
We can assist you with the application to study abroad semesters at Hanyang University in Seoul and korean language courses at Konkuk University in Seoul. Then you do not need to submit a financial statement.
3. GET YOUR VISA DOCUMENTS (IF YOU HAVE APPLIED FOR A UNIVERSITY)
After you have been admitted to a university program, it is time to pay the tuition fee (which usually is very reasonable in Korea). Once it has been paid the university will send you a Certificate of Admission and/or a Confirmation of Visa Issuance. When you have received this document, you can apply for a student visa at the Korean embassy in your home country. If you wish to enter Korea on a student visa, we recommend that you pay your tuition fee no later than 2 months before your program starts. This should give you enough time to receive your admission documents and apply for the visa. If you don’t have enough time to get a student visa before your program starts you can travel to South Korea on visa waiver, as a last resort, and transfer to a student visa on-site as we described under headline 1 above. Contact your school for more information about this before you leave.
4. APPLY AT THE KOREAN EMBASSY IN YOUR COUNTRY
You apply for a visa at the Korean embassy in your home country. Here you can find the address, website and other contact details to the Korean embassy in your home country.
Contact the Embassy or your school if you have questions about the visa application. Below you which documents that is usually requested at the embassy when you apply for a student visa or working holiday visa. Please note that this information might differ for different embassies and nationalities so make sure to check the instructions on the Korean Embassy’s website in your country for more details.
For student visa
For working holiday visa
- Your passport in original and a copy of the photo page. The passport must be valid at least 6 months after the entry to Korea.
- A filled-in visa application (see the embassies’ website)
- Visa application fee
- 1 passport photo
- Proof that you have access to at least $ 12,000
- A return ticket within one year
- Proof that you are insured during your stay in South Korea
- A one-page description, in English, of what you will do in South Korea
- A health certificate filled in by your doctor
All documents must be in English or Korean. Don’t forget to double-check with the Embassy which documents are required in your country.
5. GET YOUR VISA
In South Korea, it usually takes about two weeks to get your visa after the Embassy has received your visa application. Waiting times might differ in other countries. Contact the embassy if you are short of time to see if they can help you faster. You must collect your visa personally at the Korean Embassy unless you use a visa agency that does the job for you.
6. FLIGHT AND LANDING CARD
Make sure to leave enough margin if you book your flight before you have received your visa. Otherwise, you can book it as soon as your visa has been issued but then prices might be higher. Do not forget to get good student insurance for your studies in South Korea.
On arrival to South Korea, you will be asked to fill in a landing card. If you are travelling on a visa waiver, you can indicate that you are a tourist. If you enter on a student visa, you should write that you are a student.
7. ALIEN REGISTRATION AND POSSIBLE VISA EXTENSION
Foreign nationals with a visa that lasts for longer than 90 days shall apply for an Alien Registration Card at the Immigration Office in Korea. Apply within your first 90 days in the country to avoid fines. If you have travelled to Korea on visa waiver you cannot apply for Alien Registration until you have switched to a student visa. Your Alien Card can be used as an ID card in Korea. An alien card in combination with a single entry visa can serve as multiple entry visa according to the Korean embassy.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Step by Step process to Study in South Korea.