Getting your Alien Registration Card

Right now

1. 1Count 90 days from your entry date and write the date down. The visit you book has to fall no later than the day before it.
2. 2Book on HiKorea now. You need no account: verify with your passport number, nationality and date of birth. There are no same-day slots, so the earliest date is tomorrow.
3. 3Put 35,000 won in cash aside. The Enforcement Rules take the card fee in cash only, unlike most other immigration fees.

What to have ready

• Passport: HiKorea also asks for one copy each of the photo page and the visa page.
• One colour photo, 3.5 cm by 4.5 cm: HiKorea publishes a standard photo spec. Follow it.
• Application form: HiKorea lists it among the common documents.
• Proof of where you live: A lease contract, an accommodation confirmation letter, a notice of stay expiry or a utility bill receipt.
• Documents for your status of stay: For example a certificate of enrolment or employment. HiKorea's manual by status of stay lists the rest.
• 35,000 won in cash: D-8 investors are exempt, and so are Argentine nationals under 14.

Phrases you can copy and paste

Step by step

1. 1

   Work out when your 90 days end

   Immigration Act article 31 says a foreigner who will stay more than 90 days from the day of entry must register within 90 days of entry, at the immigration office with jurisdiction over where they live. HiKorea adds the other case: if you are granted a status of stay, or a change of status, while already in Korea, you register at the time of that permit. Diplomats, officials and their families on A-1 to A-3 are exempt. If you are staying 90 days or less, none of this applies to you.

2. 2

   Find your office by your address, not by distance

   Jurisdiction follows your residence address, and another office will not take your application. HiKorea has a lookup where you enter the address. Seoul is split between three offices, and the guide on booking an immigration appointment sets out which districts go where.

3. 3

   Book the visit, and book it early

   Where:

   HiKorea (hikorea.go.kr)

   You do not need a HiKorea account. Before you have a card, the booking screen verifies you with your passport number, nationality and date of birth, and that route does not work while you are outside Korea. The earliest bookable date is the next day. A booking reserves a date and is not an application, so your 90 days keep running. Pregnant women and persons with disabilities are allowed to attend without booking under the Enforcement Decree, but how the office checks this is not published, so call 1345 before relying on it.

4. 4

   Bring the documents, and check their dates

   The common documents are your passport with copies of the photo and visa pages, the application form, one colour photo of 3.5 cm by 4.5 cm, the fee and proof of residence. On top of those come the documents for your status of stay, such as a certificate of enrolment for students or proof of employment for workers. HiKorea treats each certificate as valid for three months from the day it was issued.

5. 5

   At the counter: documents, fingerprints and the fee in cash

   How long:

   Usually about an hour on site

   The officer checks your documents and takes your fingerprints, and you pay the fee. The card fee is 35,000 won and must be paid in cash or with proof of a cash deposit. HiKorea's own service guide page for alien registration still shows 30,000 won, the amount before 1 January 2025, when a chip was added to the card for the mobile alien registration card. Bring the higher amount.

6. 6

   Collect the card

   How long:

   About two to three weeks

   Collecting a finished card is not a bookable service, so you do not need another appointment for it. If you need proof of registration before the card arrives, ask at the counter what they can give you.

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.

• 

  Korean Immigration Office Guide for ARC Resident Card Application

  Channel: Kim Ninja, English narration

  It moves through the booking, the documents and the inside of the immigration office in that order, so you can see what the place looks like before you go.

  Open on YouTube

• 

  How to Book Immigration Reservation on HiKorea

  Channel: Korvia Consulting, English narration

  The HiKorea booking screens are recorded click by click, so you can see which menu leads to a visit reservation before you open the site yourself.

  Open on YouTube

The Korean words

외국인등록증oegugin deungnok-jeung, Alien Registration Card (ARC)

The ID for anyone staying in Korea more than 90 days. It gets used constantly, at banks, telecom shops and in contracts.

외국인등록번호oegugin deungnok beonho, foreigner registration number

The number printed on your ARC. It stands in for a Korean resident registration number.

출입국, 외국인청chulipguk oegugin-cheong, Immigration Office

The office that handles ARC applications and other stay-related matters.

체류지 변경신고cheryuji byeongyeong-singo, change of address report

When you move, you must report your new address within a set period.

Easy to miss

• ·Trying to pay by card. The card fee is cash only under the Enforcement Rules, even though most other immigration fees can be paid electronically.
• ·Budgeting 30,000 won because HiKorea's service pages say so. The fee has been 35,000 won since 1 January 2025.
• ·Booking the first free slot after day 90. A late booking does not stop the clock, and HiKorea says to go to the office before the deadline instead.
• ·Going to the office nearest you rather than the one for your address. Another office will not take the application.
• ·Bringing a certificate that is more than three months old.

You can skip this if

• If you already have an Alien Registration Card and only your address changed, you need a change of address report, not a new card.
• If you are staying 90 days or less, you do not register at all.

Where this comes from

• Who registers and when (HiKorea, Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)
• Documents for alien registration, including the three-month validity of certificates (HiKorea, Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)
• HiKorea service guide, alien registration (fee exemptions, the visit booking process) (Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)
• Notice on the card fee rising from 30,000 to 35,000 won from 1 January 2025 (Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)
• Immigration Act art. 31 (registration within 90 days) and art. 95 (penalty) (Korean Law Information Center, 법제처 국가법령정보센터)
• Enforcement Rules of the Immigration Act art. 72 (fee) and art. 73 (cash payment for the card fee) (Korean Law Information Center, 법제처 국가법령정보센터)
• HiKorea visit booking guidance (Korea Immigration Service, Ministry of Justice, 법무부 출입국, 외국인정책본부)