Arrival & first week
Korea's automated entry gates: register in the arrival hall on your first trip
Citizens of 42 countries and regions, including Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia and 32 European countries, can register for automated immigration clearance in the arrival immigration hall at Incheon or Jeju Airport when entering Korea without a visa. They can then use an automated entry gate immediately. You must be 17 or older. Registration is complete after a passport scan, fingerprint registration and facial registration. The Ministry of Justice expanded eligibility to 42 countries and regions on March 16, 2026. On October 1, it announced that 1,419,960 citizens of these countries and regions had registered between November 2025 and August 2026. Registration is valid for 5 years, or until your passport expires if that comes first. When leaving Korea, short-term visitors aged 17 or older can use automated departure gates even without registration. The United States is not among the 42 countries and regions.
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Your first week in Korea
You do not need to finish everything in the first week. Get three things in order first, a place to sleep, a way to be reached, a way to pay, and the rest follows.
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Some trips mean a health declaration when you enter Korea, even with no symptoms
If you stayed in or passed through a priority quarantine control area, you must declare your health to a quarantine officer when you enter Korea, even if you have no symptoms. If you visited a quarantine control area, you declare when you have suspected symptoms such as a fever or cough. On September 21, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced the fourth-quarter designations that apply from October 1, 2026. There are 32 countries on the priority list and 177 on the quarantine control list, and Japan and Hong Kong have been newly added to the quarantine control list. You declare through Q-CODE, which you can fill in from 7 days before arrival, or on a paper health questionnaire. Not declaring, or declaring falsely, can bring a fine of up to 10 million won.
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A place for your first few nights
You do not have to rush a long-term place. Get somewhere to stay for a few days first, and decide after you have felt out the city and the neighborhood.
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