The certificate that stands in for a Korean ID

Right now

1. 1Get the name of the document right first. What a landlord or a bank wants is usually 외국인등록 사실증명. 출입국사실증명, the entry and departure record, is a different document.
2. 2If you can log in to Government24, issue it there for free. If the login fails, go to an immigration office counter. It costs 2,000 won and is printed while you wait.
3. 3A district office or a community centre can issue it too, but some of those counters take up to three hours. Lunch is 12:00 to 13:00 and the doors close at 18:00.

What to have ready

• Your passport: It is what the counter checks your identity against, and it goes in with the reissue application for a lost card.
• Cash: The 35,000 won fee to reissue an Alien Registration Card is taken in cash only. Cards are not accepted.
• 2,000 won for the certificate: The price of one copy at a counter. At immigration you pay with a 수입인지 stamp, at a 읍면동 office with a 수입증지 stamp or by electronic payment.
• A way to log in to Government24: HiKorea says a 공동인증서 is needed. That is something you have to obtain from a bank or a certificate authority first.
• One colour photo: 3.5cm x 4.5cm. Needed for a card reissue only if your previous photo is more than six months old.
• A power of attorney: For collecting someone else's certificate. A copy of their ID and your own ID go with it.

Phrases you can copy and paste

Step by step

1. 1

   Start by getting the name of the document right

   When a landlord asks you for a document, the formal name of what they want is 외국인등록 사실증명. The basis is Article 88-2(1) of the Immigration Act, which says that wherever a law or a transaction calls for a Korean's resident registration card or a resident registration extract, an Alien Registration Card or this certificate takes its place. In other words, where a Korean prints out a household extract, a foreigner submits this certificate. HiKorea repeats the same sentence on its issuance page. That single article is why landlords, banks, phone shops, employers and schools all ask for the same piece of paper. Two documents have confusingly similar names. 출입국에 관한 사실증명, the entry and departure record, certifies only when you entered and when you left, and it is obtained by a different route. 외국인체류확인서 confirms who is staying at a given address; viewing it costs 300 won and a copy costs 400 won. The three differ in price and in which counter issues them, so it is quicker to ask the person requesting it which one they mean. Whether you can obtain 외국인체류확인서 about your own address is not stated in the official sources this guide read.

2. 2

   There is no separate English version to ask for

   The certificate comes printed in Korean and English from the start. The layout is annexed form 139 of the Enforcement Rule of the Immigration Act, and the title itself runs on two lines: 외국인등록 사실증명 and CERTIFICATE OF FOREIGN RESIDENT REGISTRATION. The field labels are the same. 외국인등록번호 is printed beside Foreign Resident Registration No., 성명 beside Full Name, 체류자격 beside Status of Sojourn, 체류기간 beside Period of Sojourn, 등록일자 beside Date of Registration, and 등록체류지 beside Address. Asking the clerk for an English version therefore does not produce a different document, only a longer conversation. What you do need to know is that only the labels are bilingual. The values inside are in Korean, and your address in particular. If some other form needs your address written in the Latin alphabet, that conversion is yours to do, and the guide on reading and writing a Korean address covers it. At the bottom of the form there is a printed note saying that the certificate can be obtained free of charge at Government24.

3. 3

   The online route is free because of a fee exemption in the Enforcement Rule

   Where:

   Government24 (gov.kr)

   Cost:

   Free

   At a counter one copy costs 2,000 won. Over the internet it is free. Government24 states both figures, and the legal basis is clear. Article 72 item 12 of the Enforcement Rule sets the fee at 2,000 won per copy issued and 1,000 won per viewing, and Article 74(1) item 4 of the same rule waives the fee when the certificate is viewed or issued as an electronic document. The online route is not cheaper by accident; there is a separate exemption for it. The obstacle is the login. HiKorea says the application is made through the Government24 website and that a 공동인증서, a joint certificate, is required. The Government24 login screen currently offers seven methods: mobile ID, simple authentication, joint certificate, financial certificate, ID login, QR code login, and a guest login. Which of those a foreigner can actually complete with a foreign registration number is not stated on any government page. The guest login is described as name plus Korean resident registration number. So do not build your plan on the assumption that simple authentication works. Identity verification as a general obstacle is covered in the guide on passing identity verification. Two more limits apply. An online application can only be made by the person themselves; an agent cannot file online. And HiKorea says that if the online request returns a message refusing issuance, you should visit a nearby immigration office. It gives no reason and no error code. There is nothing you can debug, so do not attempt this for the first time on the morning the document is due.

4. 4

   Any counter can issue it, but the wait is not the same everywhere

   How long:

   Immediate at immigration, up to three hours at some local offices

   Cost:

   2,000 won per copy

   Government24 classifies this as an 어디서나민원, an anywhere service. For a counter visit that means you are not restricted to the office covering your registered address. The processing time is given as immediate, with a bracket that reads within three hours during working hours. That bracket is the most practical piece of information in this guide. HiKorea's own list by counter type says that immigration office public counters issue on the spot, with the Goseong branch office as the only exception, while 시도 offices, non-autonomous 구 offices and 읍면동 offices issue within three hours. The procedure is written out: the clerk who takes your application faxes it to the immigration office with jurisdiction, the officer there issues the certificate within three hours and faxes it back, and the counter hands it to you. The same list also puts 읍면동 offices in the on the spot group, so treat a district office or community centre as either immediate or three hours, without knowing which. Arriving at a district office at 17:00 is arriving too late.

5. 5

   The fee is paid in stamps, and the counter closes at 18:00

   How you pay differs by counter. At an immigration office you buy a 2,000 won 수입인지, a national revenue stamp. At a 읍면동 office you buy a 2,000 won 수입증지, a local revenue stamp, or pay electronically. The two stamps are different things, so buying the wrong one means queuing twice. If you are collecting someone else's certificate, bring a power of attorney, a copy of that person's ID and your own ID. Opening hours are not set by each office but by Article 9 of the State Public Officials Service Regulation: working hours are 09:00 to 18:00, lunch is 12:00 to 13:00, and Saturday is a day off as a rule. There is an exception worth knowing. The Incheon Airport Immigration Office is open every day of the year, 09:00 to 18:00. The Jeju immigration office and the Gimhae and Gimpo airport offices run weekdays 09:00 to 18:00 and close on Saturdays and public holidays. Some requests cannot be met at all. If your registration has been cancelled through full departure or death, or if you are staying without a valid status, the certificate is not issued. A cancelled record is issued only where the immigration information system can still print it, marked as a past resident. The counter will not explain at length.

6. 6

   The unmanned kiosk does not have this document

   Someone will tell you to use the 무인민원발급기 in the lobby of the district office. That machine does not have a menu item for this document. Notice No. 2026-30 of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety fixes the list of documents that unmanned kiosk windows may accept and process at 124 types, and not one immigration certificate is on it. Going through all seventeen categories, resident registration, land and buildings, vehicles, welfare, farmland, military service records, local tax, court registers, family relation registers, education, fisheries, national tax, health insurance, employment and industrial accident insurance, passports, national pension and traffic, neither 외국인등록 사실증명 nor 출입국에 관한 사실증명 appears. The notice has been in force since 30 April 2026. The design of the machine explains the shape of that list. The standard specification for the electronic identity check device requires a live fingerprint reader, a processing unit and a mobile ID reader, and it requires the fingerprint you present to be compared within ten seconds against electronic resident registration fingerprint data or fingerprint data held by the relevant administrative agency. There is no PIN or password path. The machine is built around 주민등록.

7. 7

   The entry and departure record goes by a different route

   Cost:

   2,000 won per copy

   Here two government sites say different things. The Government24 page for 출입국에 관한 사실증명 lists the internet as an application method and states that a copy costs 2,000 won while internet issuance is free. HiKorea, on its page for the same document, says in one line that foreigners cannot obtain it online. Both pages are live and both are official. Plan this document as a counter visit from the start and treat an online success as a bonus. What the document proves is narrow. It shows when you entered and when you left, and nothing more. HiKorea states that destination, purpose of travel and place of stay are not certified. If someone has asked you for it, ask first whether what they need is the dates. The fee is the same 2,000 won per copy, set by Article 72 item 11 of the Enforcement Rule. This form is bilingual too. Annexed form 138 carries the title on two lines, 출입국에 관한 사실증명 and CERTIFICATE OF ENTRY & DEPARTURE, with an English sentence below certifying the information under paragraph 1, Article 88 of the Immigration Act.

8. 8

   A lost Alien Registration Card costs 35,000 won in cash

   Where:

   The immigration office covering your registered address

   Cost:

   35,000 won, cash only

   A reissue cannot be applied for online. You go in person to the immigration office covering your registered address. The fee is 35,000 won, set by Article 72 item 10 of the Enforcement Rule, and it has been that amount since 1 January 2025. The 30,000 won figure that circulates widely online is the earlier amount and is now wrong. That 35,000 won is taken in cash only. This is not one office's habit but the rule itself. Article 73 item 1 of the Enforcement Rule lets fees be paid by revenue stamp, electronic money or electronic payment, then carves out the issuance and reissuance fee for the Alien Registration Card in sub-item (a) and requires cash, or a receipt proving a cash payment. HiKorea states the same thing: 35,000 won, cash only. Cards are not accepted. Bring your passport, the application form and material substantiating why you are applying. If your previous photo is more than six months old, add one colour photo, 3.5cm x 4.5cm. Where the office itself made the error on the card and it has to be made again, the fee is waived under Article 74(1) item 7 of the Enforcement Rule.

9. 9

   Losing the card has no deadline, but carrying ID does

   Article 42(1) of the Enforcement Decree lists six grounds for reissuing the card: loss, damage, no space left to write on, a change of status permit, a reported change to registered details, and a mass reissue against forgery. It attaches no time limit to loss. The 14 day deadline that foreign resident communities copy from one another appears nowhere in the Act, the Decree or the Enforcement Rule. Something else applies instead. From the moment the card is gone you are not carrying the ID that Article 27 requires you to carry, and breaking that article is a criminal fine of up to 1,000,000 won. No deadline does not mean no hurry. Before you hand the card over at the counter, issue yourself one copy of 외국인등록 사실증명. Because Article 88-2 puts that certificate in the place of the resident registration documents, the paper does the work of proving your status while the card is away. How many days a reissued card takes to arrive is not stated on any Ministry of Justice or HiKorea page, so ask at the counter when you apply. Getting the card for the first time is covered in the guide on getting your Alien Registration Card.

10. 10

    The deadlines sit on the reports, not on the certificates

    Issuing a certificate has no deadline. Correcting the record behind it does. If your name, sex, date of birth or nationality changes, or your passport number, issue date or expiry date changes, you must report the change within 15 days to the immigration office covering your address. That is Article 35 of the Immigration Act, and missing it is an administrative fine of up to 1,000,000 won. Where it was one of the first four, HiKorea says you also apply for a new card within the same 15 days. Moving house works differently. Within 15 days of moving in you file the address change report at the 시군구 or 읍면동 office for your new address, or at the immigration office covering it, under Article 36(1). Missing this one is not an administrative fine but a criminal fine of up to 1,000,000 won. An administrative fine is a penalty imposed by an agency; a criminal fine is a punishment under criminal law, so the two are not the same thing. The preceding item of the same article puts failure to carry or present your ID in the same criminal fine bracket. One of your passport, your Alien Registration Card or your mobile Alien Registration Card must be on you at all times, with under 17s excepted. A photocopy or a photo of the card is not what the article names. Two more deadlines exist. A registered foreigner who turns 17 without a card must apply for one within 90 days, and missing that is an administrative fine of up to 500,000 won. A permanent residence card is valid for 10 years and must be reissued before it expires, and that carries the heaviest penalty in this group, an administrative fine of up to 2,000,000 won. Finally, do not mistake a reservation for a filing. HiKorea states that a visit reservation books a date and is not the acceptance of an application, and that if no date is available inside a statutory reporting period you should go to the office in person before the period ends. A full calendar is not a defence. The same page warns that booking a slot with another person's passport number or foreign registration number can bring up to five years imprisonment or a fine of up to 50,000,000 won under the Personal Information Protection Act and the Criminal Act.

Watch it happen

Videos other people made, picked because they show a part of this guide that words cannot. They are not our sources: the rules and figures above come from the official pages listed at the end.

• 

  외국인등록사실증명서 & 출입국사실증명 한 번에 발급!

  Channel: JB행정사사무소, Korean, no English subtitles. The value is the documents on screen

  Short, and it does the thing this guide keeps separating: issues the registration certificate and the entry and exit record in one sitting, so you can see how the two differ on paper.

  Open on YouTube

The Korean words

외국인등록 사실증명oegugin deungnok sasil jeungmyeong, certificate of foreign resident registration

The document proving that you are registered as a foreign resident. It goes where a Korean would submit a resident registration card or extract.

출입국에 관한 사실증명chulipguge gwanhan sasil jeungmyeong, certificate of entry and departure

Proves when you entered and when you left. Destination, purpose of travel and place of stay are not certified.

주민등록등본jumin deungnok deungbon, resident registration extract

What a Korean prints out to prove their household. Asked for this, a foreigner submits the foreign resident registration certificate instead.

무인민원발급기muin minwon balgeupgi, unmanned document kiosk

The self-service machine in a government office lobby. It checks identity by fingerprint and does not handle immigration certificates.

수입인지suip inji, national revenue stamp

A stamp bought in place of paying a fee to the national government. Used at immigration counters.

수입증지suip jeungji, local revenue stamp

A stamp bought in place of paying a fee to a local government. Used at 읍면동 office counters.

공동인증서gongdong injeungseo, joint certificate

The electronic certificate formerly called 공인인증서. HiKorea says the Government24 route needs one.

어디서나민원eodiseona minwon, anywhere service

A service that any counter can process, not only the one for your registered address. This certificate is one.

외국인체류확인서oegugin cheryu hwaginseo, confirmation of a foreign resident's stay

Confirms who is staying at a given address. 300 won to view, 400 won per copy.

위임장wiimjang, power of attorney

The letter someone brings to apply on your behalf. It cannot be used for an online application.

Easy to miss

• ·The kiosk route does not exist for this document. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety notice lists 124 document types that a kiosk may issue, and no immigration certificate is among them. Someone will point you at the machine in the lobby anyway, and the menu item will not be there.
• ·Planning to get the entry and departure record online will fail. Government24 lists internet application and says it is free online, while HiKorea says foreigners cannot obtain it online. Both pages are official.
• ·An online request can end in a one line refusal message. There is no reason and no error code, and HiKorea's own instruction is to visit an immigration office. Do not attempt it for the first time on the day the document is due.
• ·If you are staying without a valid status, or your registration has been cancelled, the certificate is not issued at all. The counter will not explain why.
• ·There is no separate English version to request, because the form is already bilingual. Only the labels are in two languages; the values inside, your address in particular, are printed in Korean.
• ·The 35,000 won card reissue fee is cash only. The Enforcement Rule carves this one fee out of the electronic payment rule. The widely repeated 30,000 won is the amount from before 1 January 2025.
• ·The 14 day deadline for replacing a lost card does not appear in the Act, the Decree or the Enforcement Rule. The 15 day clock belongs to changes in your registered details.
• ·Counter fees are paid in stamps, and the stamp differs by counter: 수입인지 at immigration, 수입증지 at a 읍면동 office. Buying the wrong one means a second queue.
• ·A HiKorea reservation is a booking, not a filed application. Holding a slot does not meet a reporting deadline. If no date is free inside the period, go to the office without a reservation.
• ·A creditor can obtain your certificate without your consent in defined situations, such as a final court judgment or a financial institution recovering an overdue debt, with debts of 1,000,000 won or less excluded. Nothing tells you when it happens.

You can skip this if

• If you have not completed alien registration yet, this certificate cannot be issued. Register first. The guide on getting your Alien Registration Card covers that.
• If you are here for 90 days or less, there is no registration and so no certificate. Your passport does the work of an ID.
• If you are stuck on a signup screen in a banking or delivery app, what you need is not paper but identity verification. Go to the guide on passing identity verification.
• If you hold permanent residence, look at the 10 year validity of your 영주증 before the deadlines in this guide. That is where the heaviest fine sits.

Where this comes from

• Immigration Act, in force 23 January 2026, Act No. 20992 (출입국관리법, Korea Law Information Center, Ministry of Government Legislation, 국가법령정보센터, 법제처)
• Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Act, in force 1 June 2025 (출입국관리법 시행령, Korea Law Information Center, Ministry of Government Legislation, 국가법령정보센터, 법제처)
• Enforcement Rule of the Immigration Act, in force 23 January 2026 (출입국관리법 시행규칙, Korea Law Information Center, Ministry of Government Legislation, 국가법령정보센터, 법제처)
• The document types that unmanned kiosk windows may accept and process, Notice No. 2026-30 (무인민원발급창구를 이용하여 접수, 처리할 수 있는 민원사항의 종류, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 행정안전부)
• State Public Officials Service Regulation, in force 23 June 2026 (국가공무원 복무규정, Korea Law Information Center, Ministry of Government Legislation, 국가법령정보센터, 법제처)
• Issuing the Certificate of Foreign Resident Registration (HiKorea, Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 하이코리아, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)
• Issuing the Certificate of Entry and Departure (HiKorea, Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 하이코리아, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)
• Reissuing an Alien Registration Card (HiKorea, Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 하이코리아, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)
• Fees for residence permits and cards (HiKorea, Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 하이코리아, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)
• Opening hours of immigration office public counters (HiKorea, Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 하이코리아, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)
• Visit reservation terms (HiKorea, Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 하이코리아, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)
• Online e-application menu (HiKorea, Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 하이코리아, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)
• Service page for the Certificate of Foreign Resident Registration (정부24, Government24, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 행정안전부)
• Service page for the Certificate of Entry and Departure (정부24, Government24, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 행정안전부)
• Government24 login screen (정부24, Government24, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 행정안전부)