Korea Entry Requirements 2026–27: One-Page Checklist
Korea changed its arrival paperwork twice in the last few years: the K-ETA travel authorization was switched off for 22 countries and regions, and a free online e-Arrival Card became mandatory on 1 January 2026. Older blog posts mix the two up, so this page lays out only what was confirmed on official sites as of 23 August 2026, and flags the one thing that is still undecided for 2027.
This guide covers the pre-departure side only. For what happens once you land — airport trains, SIM cards, cash — see /guide/incheon-airport-to-seoul, /guide/sim-esim-internet and /guide/first-week-in-korea.
Pre-departure checklist
| Item | Who | When | Cost | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passport valid beyond your departure date from Korea | Everyone | Before booking | – | Your passport office |
| Check visa-free days for your nationality | Everyone | Before booking | – | Korean embassy/consulate site |
| K-ETA | Visa-free nationals not on the 22-country exemption list | Before boarding; allow 72 hours or more for review | KRW 10,000 + 3% card fee, non-refundable | k-eta.go.kr |
| e-Arrival Card | All foreign nationals except K-ETA holders, registered residents and crew | Within 72 hours before arrival | Free | e-arrivalcard.go.kr |
| Customs declaration | Anyone over the duty-free limits or carrying food, plants or over US$10,000 cash | On arrival (mobile app or paper form) | Free | Korea Customs Service app or arrival hall |
| Fingerprints + photo | Foreign visitors aged 17 and over | At the immigration counter | – | Airport |
Step 1 — Visa-free entry: how many days you get
Korea has visa-waiver arrangements with many countries, but the number of days is set nationality by nationality and is not extendable for tourists. Some confirmed examples:
- United States: up to 90 days for tourism, business meetings, conferences or visiting relatives; green-card holders are not covered (Consulate General in Boston, 2026-08-23 confirmed).
- United Kingdom: up to 90 days with an onward or return ticket (GOV.UK, 2026-08-23 confirmed).
- Canada: up to 180 days for tourism or business (Government of Canada travel advice, 2026-08-23 confirmed).
Every other nationality: check the Korean embassy page for your country rather than a visa-agency blog. Counts of how many countries are visa-free circulate online but vary from source to source, so OPDADA does not quote one. Note that a K-ETA approval does not extend your visa-free days — the two are separate (VisitKorea, 2026-08-23 confirmed).
Step 2 — K-ETA: exempt for 22 countries until 31 December 2026
K-ETA (Korea Electronic Travel Authorization) is the online pre-screening normally required of visa-free visitors. Since 1 April 2023 it has been temporarily waived for nationals of 22 countries and regions as a tourism measure (Korean Embassy in Singapore notice, 2026-08-23 confirmed):
- Asia (5): Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore
- North America (2): United States (including Guam), Canada
- Europe (13): United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Austria
- Oceania (2): Australia, New Zealand
Note that the headline number differs from source to source — VisitKorea and KPMG each give a different total for the same exemption — so this page follows the 22-entry list as published by the Korean Embassy in Singapore.
The waiver was first set to run until 31 December 2024 (Korean Embassy in Singapore notice) and has been extended before; the current end date is 31 December 2026 (Consulate General in Atlanta, 2026-08-23 confirmed). The latest extension was reported in September 2025 (VisasNews, 2026-08-23 confirmed) and formalised by a Ministry of Justice notice on 23 December 2025 (KPMG, 2026-08-23 confirmed).
If you are not on that list but are visa-free (for example Mexico, Brazil, or most of Southeast Asia), K-ETA still applies. Key facts from the K-ETA portal (2026-08-23 confirmed):
- Fee KRW 10,000 (roughly US$7–8) plus a 3% online payment charge; non-refundable even if refused.
- Review normally takes up to 72 hours, sometimes longer — apply at least a few days before your flight, and you must hold approval before boarding.
- Valid 3 years or until your passport expires, whichever is first.
Step 3 — e-Arrival Card: mandatory from 1 January 2026
The electronic arrival card launched on 24 February 2025 alongside the paper form, and paper cards were accepted until December 2025 (VisitKorea, 2026-08-23 confirmed). From 1 January 2026 all foreign nationals must file it online before arrival, with limited exceptions (EY Global Immigration Alert, 2026-08-23 confirmed).
- Where: e-arrivalcard.go.kr — the only official site. It is free; any site charging a fee is not the government portal.
- When: from 72 hours before your arrival in Korea up until you reach the immigration counter. The card becomes invalid if you do not enter within 72 hours of submitting, so do not file it a week early — you would have to submit a new one.
- Exempt: valid K-ETA holders, foreign nationals registered as residents in Korea, and airline crew (Incheon Airport, 2026-08-23 confirmed).
- Groups: one person can submit for several adults at once; a child under 14 must have a family member or other adult complete it for them.
The Korean government pages we checked do not clearly state whether paper cards remain a fallback for travellers who arrive without filing; both the UK (GOV.UK) and Canadian government travel pages still say a paper form is available on arrival. Treat that as a last resort, not a plan.
Step 4 — Customs: limits and what never gets through
Duty-free allowances per person (Korea Customs Service, 2026-08-23 confirmed):
| Category | Allowance |
|---|---|
| General goods | US$800 total value |
| Alcohol | 2 litres and US$400 in total (separate from the US$800) |
| Cigarettes | 200 |
| E-cigarette liquid | 20 ml (nicotine under 1%) |
| Perfume | 100 ml |
| Cash and cheques | Must declare if over US$10,000 |
Travellers under 19 get no alcohol or tobacco allowance. Declaring voluntarily cuts the duty by 30%; being caught undeclared adds a 40% surcharge, or 60% for a second offence within two years. On bottle counts: the government announced in late 2024 that the old two-bottle cap on alcohol would be dropped, though the date it took effect is not confirmed in the sources we checked (Moodie Davitt Report, 2026-08-23 confirmed), and the Customs Service page now lists only the 2 L / US$400 limits, but VisitKorea's immigration page still says two bottles. If you plan to carry more than two bottles within 2 L, confirm with Korea Customs before you fly.
Items that must be declared for quarantine and are usually confiscated (Incheon Airport quarantine page, 2026-08-23 confirmed):
- Meat of any kind, including ham, sausage, jerky and canned meat
- Dairy, egg products and other animal products
- Fresh fruit, vegetables, live plants, seeds, flowers and medicinal herbs
Both the airport and Customs pages state that fines apply to undeclared animal and plant products but do not publish a fixed amount, so OPDADA does not quote one. The rule of thumb is simple: if you are unsure, tick the box and let the quarantine officer decide — declared items are confiscated, undeclared ones are fined.
Narcotics and medicines that may be abused are restricted (VisitKorea prohibited-items page, 2026-08-23 confirmed). If you travel with prescription drugs, carry the prescription and keep them in original packaging. Counterfeit goods and products made from CITES-protected species are prohibited.
How to declare: one form per family is enough (VisitKorea, 2026-08-23 confirmed). The Korea Customs Service mobile declaration launched in 2022 at Incheon Terminal 2 and Gimpo (VisitKorea, 2026-08-23 confirmed) and was expanded to the other international airports and seaports in August 2023 (The Korea Times, 2026-08-23 confirmed); it lets you declare and pay duty by QR code and works in English, Japanese and Chinese. Paper forms are still handed out on the plane for everyone else. Shopping tax refunds are a separate system — see /guide/tax-refund-shopping.
Step 5 — Immigration counter: fingerprints and photo
All foreign nationals aged 17 and over give both index fingerprints and a face scan at the counter (Incheon Airport, 2026-08-23 confirmed). Exemptions are narrow: foreign government and international-organisation officials, their families, and people officially invited by the Korean central government (VisitKorea, 2026-08-23 confirmed). Children under 17 are not fingerprinted. Have your passport out of its cover and your e-Arrival Card confirmation (or K-ETA) ready.
Timeline: what to do when
- At booking: check passport validity and visa-free days; decide whether K-ETA applies.
- 1–2 weeks out: apply for K-ETA if required (review can take 72 hours or more).
- 3 days out: file the e-Arrival Card (unless exempt). Download the Customs app if you expect to declare.
- Packing: leave out meat, fruit and plants; keep alcohol within 2 L / US$400; carry prescriptions with medication.
- On arrival: biometrics at immigration, then customs declaration if needed.
What changes in 2027
Two things are in motion. First, the K-ETA waiver ends on 31 December 2026 unless extended a third time. It has been extended before, so both outcomes are realistic: if you fly in January 2027 and are from one of the 22 countries, check the K-ETA portal notices in autumn 2026 before assuming either way. Second, the government held its first inter-agency meeting in June 2026 on a single pre-arrival QR system (working name "K-Arrival One Pass") that would merge the arrival card, customs declaration and health questionnaire; no launch date has been published (Kyunghyang Shinmun, 2026-08-23 confirmed). Until it exists, the three forms above remain separate. OPDADA rechecks this page against the official sources listed below; the date of the last check is shown at the top.
FAQ
Q. I am only transiting through Incheon without entering Korea. Do I need K-ETA or an e-Arrival Card?
If you stay airside and never pass immigration, you are not entering Korea, so arrival paperwork does not apply. If you plan to leave the airport (a transit tour, a hotel overnight), you are entering and the normal rules for your nationality apply. Airlines sometimes ask for documents anyway, so check with your carrier for your specific routing.
Q. Does my passport need six months of validity?
Not for short-term visa-free entry, according to the UK and Canadian government travel pages: it must be valid beyond the date you leave Korea. Six months is the standard for long-term visa applications. Airlines may apply stricter rules at check-in, so anything under six months is worth a call to your carrier.
Q. My child is 12 and travelling with me. What do they need?
The same visa-free status and e-Arrival Card as you — a parent or other adult must file the card on behalf of a child under 14, and several people can be submitted together. Children under 17 are not fingerprinted or photographed at immigration.
Q. What happens if I land without having filed the e-Arrival Card?
See Step 3 on paper cards — a paper form may be available, but do not count on it. The portal accepts submissions right up to the moment you reach the counter, so the realistic recovery is to file on your phone in the arrivals corridor: use airport Wi-Fi if available, complete the form at e-arrivalcard.go.kr, and keep the confirmation screen open for the officer. Do not plan on it — a queue is a poor place to type in a passport number.
Q. Can I bring vitamins, painkillers or prescription medicine?
Ordinary over-the-counter medicine for personal use is not on the prohibited list, but drugs that can be abused (narcotics, some psychotropics) are restricted. Carry prescriptions, keep original packaging, and declare if unsure. Korean pharmacies are everywhere if you need to restock — see /guide/first-week-in-korea.
Sources
- K-ETA portal — Application guide (fee, validity, processing time) — checked 2026-08-23
- Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Atlanta — Notice on Extension of K-ETA Temporary Exemption (~12/31/2026) — checked 2026-08-23
- Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Singapore — Temporary K-ETA exemption for 22 countries from 1 April 2023 — checked 2026-08-23
- VisitKorea — K-ETA (exempt countries list, exemption to Dec 31 2026) — checked 2026-08-23
- VisitKorea — K-ETA Exemption Period Extended Until 2026 — checked 2026-08-23
- KPMG GMS Flash Alert 2026-024 — South Korea: Extension of Temporary K-ETA Exemption — checked 2026-08-23
- VisasNews — South Korea extends K-ETA exemption until 2026 (September 2025 announcement) — checked 2026-08-23
- EY Global Immigration Alert — e-Arrival Card to become mandatory for all foreign nationals effective 1 January 2026 — checked 2026-08-23
- Incheon International Airport — Immigration (e-Arrival Card, biometrics) — checked 2026-08-23
- VisitKorea — Korea Implements e-Arrival Card for Inbound Passengers — checked 2026-08-23
- VisitKorea — Immigration (biometrics, arrival card, customs declaration) — checked 2026-08-23
- Korea Customs Service — Duty-free allowances for passengers — checked 2026-08-23
- Incheon International Airport — Animal and Plant Quarantine — checked 2026-08-23
- VisitKorea — Prohibited & Restricted Items — checked 2026-08-23
- Moodie Davitt Report — Korean government removes inbound two-bottle liquor limit — checked 2026-08-23
- The Korea Times — Korea to expand mobile customs declaration, duty payment nationwide in August (2023) — checked 2026-08-23
- Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Boston — General Visa Information (U.S. citizens 90 days) — checked 2026-08-23
- Government of Canada — Travel advice for South Korea (entry/exit requirements) — checked 2026-08-23
- GOV.UK — South Korea entry requirements — checked 2026-08-23
- Kyunghyang Shinmun — Government to create a new unified arrival declaration (K-Arrival One Pass) — checked 2026-08-23
Written and maintained by OPDADA · Last checked 2026-08-23 · Spotted an error? Let us know. This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules, prices and schedules change — confirm with the official source before you act.