Do I Need K-ETA for Korea? 116 Visa-Free Passports, 2026

116 passports can enter South Korea without a visa — for 30 days up to 6 months, depending on nationality — and 72 of them do not need a K-ETA until 2026-12-31. Find your passport in the table below. Source: the official K-ETA site’s country list, downloaded 2026-09-25.

What you need, in one table

Your situation	What you need
Passport marked Not needed below (72)	Nothing in advance until 2026-12-31. Fill in the free e-Arrival Card, or apply for a K-ETA anyway (₩10,000) to skip it
Passport marked Required below (44)	A K-ETA approved before you board — ₩10,000, valid 3 years, usually decided within 72 hours
Visa-free passport and aged 17 or under, or 65 or over	No K-ETA needed
Passport not in the table	A visa from a Korean embassy or consulate — except a direct flight to Jeju (30 days, most nationalities) or a qualifying transit (30 days)
Coming to work, study or live	A visa for that purpose, whatever your passport — visa-free entry is for tourism and short visits only

Visa-free stay and K-ETA by country (116)

Stay is the longest single stay on one entry. “Visa waiver agreement” means a treaty between Korea and that country; “by designation” means Korea allows it on its own. Lengths in this list: 90 days (65), 30 days (36), 3 months (10), 6 months (1), 30 days at a time (max 60 in any 180 days) (1), 60 days (1), 90 days at a time (max 90 in any 180 days) (1), 60 days at a time (max 90 in any 180 days) (1).

Asia & Middle East (18)

Passport	Visa-free stay	K-ETA	Basis
Bahrain	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Brunei	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Cyprus	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Hong Kong	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Israel	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Japan	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Kazakhstan	30 days at a time (max 60 in any 180 days)	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Kuwait	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Macao	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Malaysia	3 months	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Oman	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Qatar	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Saudi Arabia	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Singapore	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Taiwan	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Thailand	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Türkiye	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
United Arab Emirates	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement

Americas (32)

Passport	Visa-free stay	K-ETA	Basis
Antigua and Barbuda	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Argentina	90 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Bahamas	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Barbados	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Brazil	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Canada	6 months	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Chile	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Colombia	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Costa Rica	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Dominica	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Dominican Republic	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Ecuador	90 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
El Salvador	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Grenada	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Guatemala	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Guyana	30 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Haiti	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Honduras	30 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Jamaica	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Mexico	3 months	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Nicaragua	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Panama	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Paraguay	30 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Peru	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Saint Kitts and Nevis	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Saint Lucia	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Suriname	3 months	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Trinidad and Tobago	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
United States	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Uruguay	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Venezuela	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement

Europe (45)

Passport	Visa-free stay	K-ETA	Basis
Albania	30 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Andorra	30 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Austria	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Belgium	3 months	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Bosnia and Herzegovina	30 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Bulgaria	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Croatia	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Czechia	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Denmark	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Estonia	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Finland	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
France	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Germany	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Greece	3 months	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Hungary	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Iceland	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Ireland	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Italy	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Latvia	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Liechtenstein	3 months	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Lithuania	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Luxembourg	3 months	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Malta	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Monaco	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Montenegro	30 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Netherlands	3 months	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Norway	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Poland	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Portugal	90 days at a time (max 90 in any 180 days)	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Romania	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Russia	60 days at a time (max 90 in any 180 days)	Required	Visa waiver agreement
San Marino	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Serbia	90 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Slovakia	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Slovenia	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Spain	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Sweden	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Switzerland	3 months	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
UK — British National (Overseas)	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
UK — British Overseas citizen	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
UK — British Overseas Territories citizen	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
UK — British protected person	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
UK — British subject	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
United Kingdom — British citizen	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Vatican City (Holy See)	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation

Oceania (13)

Passport	Visa-free stay	K-ETA	Basis
Australia	90 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Fiji	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Kiribati	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Marshall Islands	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Micronesia (Federated States)	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Nauru	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
New Caledonia	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
New Zealand	3 months	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa waiver agreement
Palau	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Samoa	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Solomon Islands	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Tonga	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Tuvalu	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation

Africa (8)

Passport	Visa-free stay	K-ETA	Basis
Botswana	90 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Eswatini	30 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Lesotho	60 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Mauritius	30 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
Morocco	90 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement
Seychelles	30 days	Required	Visa-free by designation
South Africa	30 days	Not needed until 31 Dec 2026	Visa-free by designation
Tunisia	30 days	Required	Visa waiver agreement

The K-ETA in brief

Apply on the official site k-eta.go.kr or the K-ETA app, before you board — ideally at least 72 hours ahead.
Fee ₩10,000 plus card charge, non-refundable. Valid 3 years (or to passport expiry), any number of trips.
Approved travellers skip the arrival card at immigration.
Not needed if you already hold a Korean visa or residence card, or if you are 17 or under or 65 or over.
A refused K-ETA does not ban you — you can apply for a visa at a Korean embassy instead.

No visa-free passport? Two exceptions

Jeju Island, 30 days

Most nationalities can visit Jeju Province for up to 30 days without a visa when they fly or sail directly to Jeju from abroad. Excluded: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Cuba, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Senegal, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, Yemen. The entry is valid for Jeju only.

Transit, 30 days

Travellers who need a visa for Korea can still enter for up to 30 days in transit if they hold a visa (or permanent residence) for the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or one of 32 European countries and are travelling via Korea to that country, or from that country via Korea to home or a third country — with a flight out of Korea booked within 30 days. The visa must be a sticker in the passport (UK and Australian e-visas are accepted if they can be verified online). The same 23 nationalities are excluded.

Next: getting in and around

Related guides

FAQ

Do I need a visa to visit South Korea?

Not if your passport is one of the 116 in the table on this page and you are visiting for tourism, family or a short business trip. Stays run from 30 days to 6 months depending on the passport (Canada gets the longest). Everyone else needs a visa, apart from a direct flight to Jeju or a qualifying transit.

Which countries do not need a K-ETA?

The official K-ETA site currently marks 72 nationalities as not needing to apply, until 2026-12-31 — they are the rows marked "Not needed" above, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom (British citizens), Japan, Australia, most of the EU, Singapore and Taiwan. Many news reports still say "22 countries"; that was the first list in 2023, and the site’s own list is now longer.

How much is a K-ETA and how long is it valid?

The fee is ₩10,000 (plus a card processing charge), non-refundable even if refused. An approval is valid for 3 years, or until your passport expires if that comes first, for any number of trips. The result usually comes within 72 hours; there is no express service. Apply only on the official site, k-eta.go.kr — look-alike sites charge several times more.

I am exempt — should I apply for a K-ETA anyway?

Only if you want to skip the arrival card: a K-ETA holder does not submit one on entry. Otherwise you do not need it until the exemption ends. A K-ETA you already hold stays valid until it expires, and the fee is not refunded.

Can I extend my visa-free stay?

As a rule, no — visa-free and tourist-transit entries cannot be extended or changed to another status inside Korea. Plan to leave before the stay in the table runs out.

What is Jeju visa-free entry?

Nationals of every country except 23 (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Cuba, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Senegal, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, Yemen) can stay up to 30 days in Jeju Province without a visa, if they arrive in Jeju on a direct international flight or ship. You cannot continue to the mainland on that entry.

Where does this table come from?

From the country list the official K-ETA site (k-eta.go.kr, Korea Immigration Service) uses in its application form, downloaded 2026-09-25. Stay lengths were cross-checked on 2026-09-24 against the HiKorea visa waiver tables and several independent references. Rules can change at short notice — the airline and the immigration officer have the final word.

Country list: k-eta.go.kr (Korea Immigration Service), downloaded 2026-09-25 · rules cross-checked 2026-09-24 with HiKorea and Korean embassy notices · page rebuilt 2026-09-25. This is a summary, not legal advice; check with your airline before you fly.