KOREA TRAVEL AND VISA GUIDE - Being A Traveler

TRAVELING SOUTH KOREA ON PAKISTANI PASSPORT

This blog is about my first hand experience of applying South Korean visa and my personal experiences during South Korea exploration in 2024

HOW TO APPLY SOUTH KOREA VISA IN PAKISTAN

Pakistanis can apply either

i) Business Visa (with Invitation)

ii) Short Visit (Tourist visa) with good travel history and Bank Balance.

iii) Dual Nationals Pakistanis (having passport of USA, UK, AUS, EU) can visit Korea on a 30 days Free Transit visa if you are coming/going to your country via Korea

NOTE: All other nationalities having valid USA visa on their Passport can also avail above free 30days Transit visa entry however unfortunately, they have excluded Pakistan from this list 🙁 Details here

I applied the visa in July 2024 and got the 90 days stay visa within 3 weeks

Link of Korean Embassy website in Islamabad: https://overseas.mofa.go.kr/pk-en/index.do

KOREA SHORT/ TOURIST VISA (type: C-3-9)

Download and fill the Visa Application form from below link
VISA FORM LINK: https://overseas.mofa.go.kr/pk-en/brd/m_3160/list.do

HOW TO FILL VISA APPLICATION FORM

DOCUMENTS TO BE ATTACHED

0. Cover letter (Explain about your visit purpose and dates of travel)
1. 6 months Bank statement (atleast 2 Million PKR)
2. Last 2 yrs personal Income tax returns
3. Business NTN (For businessman)
4. Chamber of commerce certificate (For businessman)
5. Job letter (for Salaried person)
6. Last 3 month Salary Slips (for salaried person)
7. Dummy Air ticket
8. Dummy hotel booking
9. Family Registration certificate by NADRA
10. Passport history (photocopies of previous visas)

VISITING EMBASSY FOR SUBMISSION:

No appointment required to submit your application (as of July 2024). Simply go to Shuttle Bus service in Islamabad, pay 2000 Rs fees for Shuttle and submit your documents in South Korea Embassy. You have to pay shuttle service fees again to pickup your passport.

SUBMISSION OF PASSPORT: Monday to Friday 9.30 am to 11.30 am

RECEIVING OF PASSPORT: Monday to Friday 9.30 am to 11.30 am (bring submission slip)

SOUTH KOREA VISA FEES

Visa fees on July 2024 was 12000 Rs and you have to pay at spot inside the embassy during submission of documents. You will get below slip after submitting your passport. Keep it in a safe place, your passport will be returned only by submitting this slip.

You will get this slip after submitting your passport.

CHECK VISA STATUS

After submitting your application, you must keep checking your visa approval status on this link: https://www.visa.go.kr/openPage.do?MENU_ID=10301

You will get below information when your application is in process

VISA APPROVAL/ PROCESSING TIME:

Normally Korean embassy in ISB takes 2~3 weeks of processing. I personally applied on 8th Jul-2024 and got the approval on 23rd July 2024 . Once your visa is approved, you will get the below result

KOREAN E-VISA DOWNLOAD

After clicking the Certificate button, your E-visa will be downloaded as seen below:

TOTAL COST OF MY 3 WEEKS KOREA TRIP

Air Ticket = 232,000 Rs
Visa = 12000 Rs
Embassy visit to Islamabad = 9,600 Rs
Food = 173,050won = 36,341 Rs
Transport = 283,075won = 59,446 Rs
Hotel = 297,500 won = 62,475 Rs
Excursions = 22,200 won = 4662 Rs
Sim = 25000 won = 5250 Rs
TOTAL = 421,773 Rs