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1 / 7
EXEMPT FROM K-ETA. NOT EXEMPT FROM PAPERWORK.. 22 countries skip K-ETA through 31 December 2026. Almost every traveller from those 22 still owes Korea a separate free declaration before each trip — and since December 2025 there is no paper form to fill in on the plane.
2 / 7
The 22, through 31 December 2026. The Ministry of Justice (법무부) suspended K-ETA for these in April 2023 and has renewed it one year at a time since. **Nothing has been announced for 2027** — if you are planning next year, check the dates again.
3 / 7
Exempt still means one form, every trip. The e-Arrival Card is the electronic entry declaration, and most foreign arrivals must submit it. Korea moved it online in February 2024 and **retired the paper card in December 2025**, so there is no fallback at the gate.
4 / 7
The optional one cancels the free one. Holding a valid K-ETA exempts you from the arrival card — the Ministry of Justice says so directly. **One trip: do the free one. Back within three years: the ₩10,000 is arguably the better buy.**
5 / 7
K-ETA is permission to board, not to enter. Most applications come back the same day, but *usually* is not a guarantee. There is **no counter at the airport that can fix a missing K-ETA** — the airline is the one that stops you, before you ever reach Korea.
6 / 7
Nobody sells speed, because speed isn't sold. A paid K-ETA agency is harder to spot than a paid arrival card, because K-ETA genuinely costs money. **The tell is the offer of rush processing** — no such service exists, so anyone selling it has told you what they are.
7 / 7
Korea will not stamp your passport. It stopped stamping in 2016 and prints this instead — date of entry, the permitted-until date, and your status. That date, not your paperwork, is how long you may stay. Full exemption list, the trade and every field to have ready → epickor.comCard 1 / 7
KOREA ENTRY · 입국
EXEMPT FROM K-ETA. NOT EXEMPT FROM PAPERWORK.
22 countries skip K-ETA through 31 December 2026. Almost every traveller from those 22 still owes Korea a separate free declaration before each trip — and since December 2025 there is no paper form to fill in on the plane.
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