Korean Visa Application

It's been ages since we have to secure a visa for our travel and we have to go through the nerve-wracking ordeal again for our trip to Korea. We've been through a couple of visa applications already but it just never gets easy. 

The good news is, applying for a tourist Korean visa is absolutely free! Yes, no need to pay for any charges to schedule an appointment or pay any visa fee at the Embassy. I'm starting to love Korea already!

The procedure is fairly straightforward: prepare your documents, submit your documents at the Korean Embassy and collect your passport at the designated date.

Prepare your documents. Here's the list of documents you have to prepare (as of March 01, 2015): 

1. Passport (valid for at least 6 months from the date of application)

2. Application form. Download here.

3. 1 piece passport-size colored photo

4. Photocopy of passport's bio page

5. Original and photocopy of visa/s and arrival stamp/s to OECD countries for the past five years

6. For employed: 

• original Certificate of Employment (stating position, date hired, compensation, with landline contact number, address and email  of company) 
• original Bank Certificate (indicating account type, current balance, opening date and ADB for the past 6 months) 
• original Bank Statement or passbook for the past 6 months 
• photocopy of ITR

   For self-employed: 

• photocopy of DTI/SEC registration 
• photocopy of Mayor's Permit 
• original Bank Certificate (indicating account type, current balance, opening date and ADB for the past 6 months) 
• original Bank Statement or passbook for the past 6 months 
• photocopy of ITR

   For students: 

• original school certificate 
• photocopy of school ID 
• photocopy of NSO Birth Certificate 
• parent's financial documents

OECD countries include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States of America.

Submission. Upon completion of the requirements, just submit them at the Embassy anytime from 9:00am to 11:00am Monday to Friday. No need to secure a schedule beforehand. Also, you do not have to personally submit the documents, you may ask a messenger to do it for you. But for first time travellers, it is strongly advised to submit it personally in case the Embassy has any questions regarding the documents.

In our case, I was the only one who went to the Embassy to submit our application. There will be someone who'll initially check your documents and then give you a number and assign you to which window/consul. As I understand, there's a separate window for first time travellers and for frequent travellers. 

You then wait for your number to be called. After handing your documents to the consul, you will be given a claim stub with a date on which you may claim your passport. Processing time is usually three working days and could extend to five working days or more. 

Collection of Passports. Releasing time is from 2:00pm to 4:00pm Monday to Friday. Again, you may just ask someone to claim them for you but it is strongly recommended that you claim them personally in case the consul has any questions. 

Please note that the parking in McKinley Hills is very far from the Embassy. Either bring a driver with you, or you can park at the Petron station right before the Embassy.

Please visit the Korean Embassy Manila's web page for updated guidelines and requirements in applying for a visa.

Korean Embassy Manila

122 Upper McKinley Road, McKinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City

Website: http://embassy_philippines.mofa.go.kr/english/as/embassy_philippines/main/index.jsp

Tel: +63 2 8569210

Email: philippines@mofa.go.kr