For anyone who has plans to go to South Korea whether for work or leisure, there has been an important change as to the processing of visa applications in order to go to South Korea. Starting July 1, 2018, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea will now let visitors obtain their visas through accredited travel agencies.
According to the Korean Embassy, from 2015, the number of people applying for visa for has increased from 90,000 to 120,000 by late 2016. This being the case, the embassy has been frequented by hoards of visa applicants, waiting in long queues even extending outside the Embassy premises in order to submit their application documents and be issued their visas.
Visa Application for South Korea Now Only Through Accredited Travel Agencies
If you have personally experienced personally applying for a Korean visa at least once or even a couple of times, you can imagine the stress and hassle of waiting in line for hours just to submit your application documents. Seeing the heavy foot traffic in the Embassy, all applicants are now advised to submit their applications thru any of the following accredited travel agencies:
- Aboex Travel and Tours
- Adventure International
- Ark Travel Express, Inc.
- Blue Horizons Travel and Tours, Inc.
- Budget Travel and Tours, Inc.
- Casto Travel Philippines, Inc.
- City Travel and Tours Corporation
- Come On Philippines Golf and Travel Agency, Inc.
- Constellation Travels, Inc.
- First United Travel, Inc.
- Getaway Tours International Inc.
- Grand Hope Travel, Inc.
- I.S. (Philippines) Travel Corp.
- Hanatour Manila Inc.
- HankookCeb Corp.
- Horizon Travel and Tours, Inc.
- International Journeys, Inc.
- Island Resort Club Tour Services, Inc.
- JTB Asia Pacific Philippine Corporation
- KP Joeun Consultancy, Inc.
- Las Palmas Tours and Travel Agency, Inc.
- Marsman Drysdale Travel, Inc.
- MNK Travel and Tours Corp.
- North Star International Travel, Inc.
- Pan Pacific Travel Corporation
- Party-On Travel and Tour Community Inc.
- Rajah Travel Corporation
- Rakso Air Travel and Tours, Inc.
- Reli Tours and Travel Company
- Sharp Travel Service (Philippines) Inc.
- Swire Travel Philippines, Inc.
- The Baron Travel Corporation
- Travel Pros
- Travelservices, Inc.
- Uni-Orient Travel, Inc.
Effecive July 1, the Embassy of South Korea will only accept walk-in applications for the following profiles:
- Holders of visa issuance number
- Spouses or children of Korean nationals
- Government employees who will be travelling for official business trips; and
- Those flying for humanitarian reasons and need to go to Korea urgently.
Note: Applications for Temporary Visitor’s Visa will no longer be accepted starting the aforementioned date of change.