This is a list of visas issued by South Korea. The government of South Korea, through the Bureau of Immigration, issues one of these visas to all non-citizens entering the country. In 2005, 5,179,848 visas were issued, not including military and landing-permit visas, a slight increase over the previous year. More than half of these were B-2 visas.
A visas
Visa Category |
Name (Korean name) |
Number issued (2005)[1] |
Number issued (2010)[2] |
Number issued (2013)[3] |
A-1 |
Diplomat (외교) |
7,070 |
8,001 |
11,067 |
A-2 |
Government official (공무) |
11,854 |
13,753 |
17,819 |
A-3 |
Agreement (협정) |
27,946 |
92,450 |
N/A |
B visas
Visa Category |
Name (Korean name) |
Number issued (2005)[1] |
Number issued (2010)[2] |
Number issued (2013)[3] |
B-1 |
Visa exemption (사증면제) |
496,356 |
803,617 |
1,090,907 |
B-2 |
Tourist/transit (관광통과) |
3,404,923 |
4,601,828 |
5,040,354 |
The B-2 status allows travellers who are passport holders of various jurisdictions, including the People's Republic of China mainland, to stay in South Korea for a maximum period of 30 days, provided that they are using Incheon International Airport as a transit stopover. It applies to ordinary PRC passport bearers when they are travelling between the Chinese mainland and Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan or 30 European countries.[4] The B-2 status is encoded in Article 7 of the South Korean immigration law.[5]
C visas
Visa Category |
Name (Korean name) |
Number issued (2005)[1] |
Number issued (2010)[2] |
Number issued (2013)[3] |
C-1 |
Temporary news coverage (일시취재) |
2,217 |
2,212 |
1,323 |
C-2 |
Short-term business (단기상용) |
214,621 |
224,574 |
N/A |
C-3 |
Short-term visit (단기방문)[6] |
444,822 |
959,374 |
2,728,573 |
C-4 |
Short-term employee (단기취업) |
11,944 |
12,888 |
10,736 |
D visas
Visa Category |
Name (Korean name) |
Number issued (2005)[1] |
Number issued (2010)[2] |
Number issued (2013)[3] |
D-1. |
Artist (문화예술) |
241 |
277 |
196 |
D-2 |
Student (유학) |
25,635 |
106,961 |
114,818 |
D-3 |
Industrial trainee (산업연수) |
41,365 |
2,274 |
1,806 |
D-4 |
General trainee (일반연수) |
10,257 |
30,938 |
37,282 |
D-5 |
Journalism (취재) |
379 |
315 |
398 |
D-6 |
Religion (종교) |
2,086 |
2,346 |
2,362 |
D-7 |
Supervisor (주재)[7] |
8,369 |
7,930 |
9,234 |
D-8 |
Corporate investor (기업투자) |
35,712 |
37,966 |
39,859 |
D-9 |
International trade (무역경영) |
5,917 |
16,848 |
32,326 |
D-10 |
Job Seeking (구직) |
N/A |
11 |
5,482 |
E visas
Visa Category |
Name (Korean name) |
Number issued (2005)[1] |
Number issued (2010)[2] |
Number issued (2013)[3] |
E-1 |
Professor (교수) |
3,204 |
7,454 |
8,186 |
E-2 |
Foreign language instructor (회화지도) |
12,439 |
47,405 |
38,572 |
E-3 |
Research (연구) |
5,406 |
7,829 |
9,223 |
E-4 |
Technology transfer (기술지도) |
819 |
1,252 |
1,122 |
E-5 |
Professional employment (전문직업) |
581 |
1,406 |
1,978 |
E-6 |
Artistic performer (예술흥행) |
4,759 |
4,183 |
4,368 |
E-7 |
Designated activities (특정활동) |
13,514 |
24,525 |
36,904 |
E-8 |
Training employment (연수취업) |
N/A |
5 |
N/A |
E-9 |
Non-professional employment (비전문취업) |
38,244 |
82,099 |
105,738 |
E-10 |
Crew employee (선원취업) |
N/A |
7,084 |
8,281 |
F visas
Visa Category |
Name (Korean name) |
Number issued (2005)[1] |
Number issued (2010)[2] |
Number issued (2013)[3] |
F-1 |
Visiting or joining family (방문동거)[8] |
74,479 |
34,595 |
41,740 |
F-2 |
Resident (거주)[9] |
88,391 |
122,063 |
24,948 |
F-3 |
Accompanying spouse / child (동반)[10] |
20,741 |
26,459 |
36,544 |
F-4 |
Overseas Korean (재외동포) |
N/A |
129,142 |
280,130 |
F-5 |
Permanent resident (영주) |
11,239[11] |
41,561 |
87,497 |
F-6 |
Marriage to Korean Citizen (결혼이민) |
N/A |
N/A |
98,965 |
Some of the F-2 visa sub-types:
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- F-2-1: Awarded to the spouse of a Korean.[12]
- F-2-2: A single-entry visa valid for 90 days or less issued to an underage foreign child of Korean national.[13]
- F-2-3: Single-entry resident visa valid for one year or less issued to the spouse of a resident visa holder (F-5).[13]
- F-2-7: Awarded on a points-based system.[14] It seems difficult to find details of this system on Korean government agency websites. More up-to-date information on the points system is available on various sites around the web.
- F-2-99: May be awarded upon fulfilment of additional requirements after 5 years on an E-2 visa.[12]
G visas
Visa Category |
Name (Korean name) |
Number issued (2005)[1] |
Number issued (2010)[2] |
Number issued (2013)[3] |
G-1 |
Miscellaneous |
1,247 |
1,390 |
1,014 |
H visas
Visa Category |
Name (Korean name) |
Number issued (2005)[15] |
Number issued (2010)[2] |
Number issued (2013)[3] |
H-1 |
Working holiday (관광취업) |
1,113 |
1,400 |
4,121 |
H-2 |
Working visit (방문취업제) [16] |
N/A |
310,230 |
230,739 |
M visas
Visa Category |
Name (Korean name) |
Number issued (2005)[15] |
M-1 |
Military (군인) |
73,014[17] |
T visas
Visa Category |
Name (Korean name) |
Number issued (2013)[3] |
T-1 |
Tourist landing (관광상륙) |
428,481 |
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Retrieved from http://immigration.go.kr (자료실:통계) on 2006-11-26.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Retrieved from http://immigration.go.kr (자료실:통계) on 2015-03-23.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Retrieved from http://immigration.go.kr (자료실:통계) on 2015-03-23.
- ↑ (Chinese) Epoch Times, Xinhuanet.com
- ↑ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Korea
- ↑ Short-term general (단기종합) before 2011.
- ↑ Business supervisor (상사주재) before 2009.
- ↑ Also includes returning Korean adoptees.
- ↑ Various sub-types exist. Formerly also given to foreign spouses of Korean citizens.
- ↑ Limited to those married to a visa holder.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Retrieved from http://immigration.go.kr (자료실:통계) on 2006-11-26.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Retrieved from http://immigration.go.kr (자료실:통계) on 2006-11-26.
- ↑ 5 years multiple-entry visa for oversea Koreans in China and former Soviet Union (available since March, 2007)[1]
- ↑ 72,806 of these were from the United States of America. See USFK
See also
External links