How do you get a South Korea visit visa from Pakistan? (2026)

Do Pakistanis need a visa to visit South Korea?

Yes. The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Pakistan states that Pakistani nationals who have an ordinary passport have to obtain a visa to enter the Republic of Korea. There is no visa on arrival at Incheon for an ordinary Pakistani passport, and no airline will board you without one.

The only exemption

The same page says that diplomatic and official passport holders are exempted from a visa for staying less than 90 days in Korea. That is the whole of the exemption. It does not extend to an ordinary passport because a family member works for the government, and it does not extend to someone holding a valid visa for another country.

What the embassy decides, and what it does not explain

The embassy page carries one line in capital letters: it does not have any obligation to explain the reason of denial. That matters more than it looks. In a system that gives reasons, a weak file can be repaired on the second attempt because you know what failed. Here you get the passport back and nothing else, so the first file has to be the strong one.

Why K-ETA is not an option for Pakistani travellers

K-ETA, the Korea Electronic Travel Authorization, is the thing people confuse with a visa. The official K-ETA site describes who it is for in one line: travellers who need to apply are citizens who can enter the Republic of Korea without a visa.

What K-ETA actually is

It is a pre-travel clearance for nationals of visa-free countries, not a substitute for a visa. The official site lists a fee of 10,000 Korean won, roughly 7 to 8 US dollars, and says assessment generally takes within 72 hours. It also states that applications are only taken on the official site or the K-ETA mobile app, and warns about similar agencies and phishing sites that charge high fees for an agency or expedited service.

What that means for you

Because a Pakistani ordinary passport holder cannot enter Korea without a visa, the K-ETA route is closed. If an agent quotes you a cheap, quick Korea approval and sends you a link that is not the embassy, you are being sold either a K-ETA you cannot use or nothing at all. The visa is the only route, and it goes through Islamabad.

Which short-term visit category fits you?

For a stay under 90 days, the embassy sets out two short-term visit categories on its visa requirements page, and the paperwork is not the same for both.

C-3-1, the family visit

This is the one most Pakistani families use. A brother in Busan, a cousin in Daegu, a daughter studying in Seoul. The embassy also puts conference attendance in this category. The weight of the file sits on the Korean side, because the invitation and guarantee letters have to be notarised there.

C-3-4, the business visit

For trade and company visits, the embassy asks the Korean company for a notarised invitation letter, a notarised guarantee letter and a copy of its registration certificate. From the Pakistani side it asks for the company and personal national tax number certificates, tax payment receipts, the company registration certificate, six months of personal and company bank statements, and documents proving the business relationship, such as a letter of credit, a bill of lading or a sales contract.

Multiple entry

The embassy says a person who has visited Korea more than four times within the recent two years, without any violations of Korean immigration regulations and other laws, is eligible to apply for a multiple entry visa, and that the documents are the same. There is also a gratis version, described below under fees.

What does a Korean visa cost from Pakistan?

The embassy publishes three fee lines, all marked non-refundable. These are the government fees. Anything an agent adds is their own charge and should be shown to you separately, in writing.

Who pays nothing

The embassy lists a gratis multiple entry visa for two groups: those who have made visits to Korea more than four times within the recent two years at the time of application, and those who have visited Korea more than ten times in total, with at least one of those visits in the recent two years. It is issued as a short term general C-3-1 visa, valid for five years, with a maximum length of stay of 30 days, and business purposes are included.

The money nobody puts in the quote

The visa fee is the small part. The real cost of a Korea file is the travel to Islamabad and back, twice if you also collect the passport yourself, the notarisation and courier from Korea, and the two months your passport is not available for any other application. Count that before you decide the trip is worth it.

What documents does the embassy ask for?

The embassy splits the list into documents every applicant submits, and documents that depend on the category. The common list is short, which is why people underestimate the file.

Required from every applicant

• A passport valid for at least six months.
• One application form, filled in personally by the applicant. The embassy points to the Hi Korea and Korea Visa Portal sites for the e-Form.
• One recent passport-size colour photograph.
• The documents for your category, listed on the same page.
• An authority letter if you are visiting Korea a second time and are not appearing in person.
• For applications of more than 91 days, a medical certificate and a TB test report from an official medical centre named in the embassy visa announcement.

Added for a family visit

From the invitee in Pakistan, the embassy asks for a job certificate or recommendation letter, a bank statement for the previous six months, and other documents such as a marriage certificate if the inviter is a Korean national, family relationship papers and related certificates.

The documents the list does not name

A visit file is really an answer to two questions: who pays for this trip, and what brings you home. The published list asks for a bank statement and a job certificate, and those are the two places to answer properly. Salary slips that match the credits in the statement, a leave letter with dates that match the ticket, property or business papers if you have them. None of that is a magic document. It is simply the difference between a file that reads as a visit and a file that reads as a one-way trip.

What does the person in Korea have to send?

More than most families expect, and it cannot be done by email alone.

Notarised in Korea, in original

The embassy states that all invitation and guarantee letters must be notarised in Korea by the inviter and submitted in original. That one sentence sets the timeline for the whole application. Your relative has to visit a notary in Korea and then post the originals to Pakistan.

The guarantee form

The embassy says the official guarantee form can be downloaded from the Korean immigration website. Ask the inviter to use that form rather than writing a letter from scratch, because a free-form letter invites questions the printed form answers.

Proof from the inviter’s side

For a family visit, the embassy asks for copies of the alien registration certificate or visa if the inviter is a Pakistani national living in Korea. If the inviter is responsible for the visit expenses, it asks for proof of funds and financial evidence, including bank transaction statements for the past six months. It also asks for other documents explaining the purpose of entry.

How long does it take?

The embassy publishes a processing time of a minimum of eight weeks after receiving the application. Read the word minimum carefully. It is the floor the embassy is willing to commit to, not an estimate of your case.

Build the real calendar backwards

• Two to four weeks for the inviter in Korea to notarise and courier the originals.
• A day in Islamabad to submit, inside the 9:30 to 11:30am window.
• Eight weeks, at least, with the embassy.
• A second trip to Islamabad to collect the passport, in the same morning window.

That is roughly three months. Anyone who tells you a Korean visit visa can be done in two weeks is describing a country they have confused with Korea.

Do not buy the ticket first

A confirmed non-refundable ticket does not speed up a Korean file, and the published wait means a date bought in advance is usually a date you lose. Hold a booking if you need one for the file, and buy the ticket when the visa is in the passport.

What happens if you are refused?

You get your passport back without an explanation. The embassy has said in advance that it will not give one.

Why that changes your approach

With no stated reason, a second application that simply repeats the first is a second 40 dollars and another eight weeks. Something has to actually change: a stronger set of ties to Pakistan, a clearer source of funds, a properly notarised invitation that was weak the first time, or a purpose that is now supported by a document rather than asserted in a sentence.

Never hide it

A refusal you hide from the next consultant is the one that sinks the next application. It is also the thing that turns an ordinary refusal into a misrepresentation problem if you later tick the wrong box on another country’s form. If you have been refused by Korea or anyone else, say so. Our guide to what to do after a student visa refusal sets out the same logic for study files.

Study, spouse and dependant routes

A visit visa is the wrong tool for anything longer than a visit. The embassy lists separate categories, each with its own file.

Study, D-2

The embassy asks for the certificate of admission from the president of the college or university in original, a certificate of scholarship if there is one, the business registration certificate of the school in Korea, educational certificates attested by HEC or the relevant board, an official English certificate with IELTS or TOEFL iBT preferred and TOEIC not accepted, and verified bank statements. On funds, it says the last six months of statements must hold enough to cover the whole cost of your stay as shown on the certificate of admission, the money must have been held in the account for at least one month, and statements issued more than two weeks before the application date are not accepted. Our guide to studying in South Korea from Pakistan goes through that route properly.

Spouse of a Korean national, F-6-1

The embassy lists a long set of documents from the Korean spouse, including marriage, basic and family certificates, resident registration, a notarised invitation and guarantee letter, a credit history certificate from the National Bank Association of Korea and a medical certificate. From Pakistan it asks for the NADRA marriage certificate in English attested by a notary public, a police character certificate, and a medical certificate with a TB test report.

Dependants, F-3

The embassy lists F-3 for the spouse and minor family of Pakistani nationals holding D-1, D-2, D-4, D-7, D-8, D-9 and E-7 visas. The family member in Korea sends a copy of the alien registration card, a notarised invitation and guarantee letter, financial support documents and a house rental statement, while the family in Pakistan provides NADRA certificates of marriage, birth or family in English.

What happens at the Pakistani airport?

FIA immigration officers check that your passport and visa are genuine and valid, and they ask about the trip. Visitors should carry a return ticket, accommodation or host details and proof of funds.

Keep the story and the paper together

The answers you give at the counter should match the file you submitted in Islamabad. If your visa was issued on a family visit invitation from a cousin in Gwangju, that is the trip you are taking. A different answer at the counter is the sort of inconsistency that gets a traveller stopped before the flight, with the visa still valid and the money already spent.

The protector requirement is for work

Under the Emigration Ordinance 1979, every Pakistani going abroad on a work visa must be protected by the Protector of Emigrants, and FIA lists a protector stamp among the documents for work visa travellers. It is not required of a genuine visitor. A person who is really going to Korea for a job cannot fix that by holding a visit visa.

Agents, fake offers and lookalike K-ETA sites

Korea attracts two kinds of bad offer in Pakistan, and both are expensive.

The lookalike authorisation site

The K-ETA operator warns on its own front page about similar agencies and phishing sites that charge high fees under the pretext of providing an application agency or expedited service, and states that applications are only accepted on the official site or the official app. Since you cannot use K-ETA anyway, any Pakistani applicant being sent to one of those sites is paying for a document that will not get them on the plane.

The visit visa with a job attached

The pattern is familiar: a visit visa, a ticket and a factory job in Korea, with the permit to be arranged after arrival. Only a licensed Overseas Employment Promoter may recruit people in Pakistan for work abroad, and section 22 of the Emigration Ordinance 1979 makes it an offence for anyone else to take money for providing, or pretending to provide, a job abroad.

• The job starts on a visit visa and the permit comes later.
• No BEOE licence can be shown and there is no job order.
• You are told to say holiday to FIA.
• Payment is in cash with no receipt, or into a personal account.
• Someone keeps your original passport.

The guide to checking a visa consultant in Pakistan sets out the registration and licence checks, and where to report fraud.

How do you apply, step by step?

The order below is what works, because the slowest item is not the embassy. It is the notarised paper coming from Korea.

1. 1

   Settle the purpose and pick the category

   Decide whether you are going to see family, to attend a conference, or on business. The embassy lists C-3-1 for a family visit or conference and C-3-4 for business, both for stays under 90 days. The documents differ, so choose before you collect anything.

2. 2

   Ask the person in Korea for the notarised papers

   The embassy requires the invitation letter and the guarantee letter to be notarised in Korea by the inviter and submitted in original. Ask for them early, because posting originals from Korea to Pakistan takes time. The guarantee form comes from the Korean immigration website.

3. 3

   Build your own side of the file

   Check that your passport has at least six months of validity. Fill the application form yourself using the e-Form on the Korea Visa Portal or Hi Korea, take one recent passport-size colour photograph, and gather your six-month bank statement and a job or business certificate.

4. 4

   Submit in person in Islamabad

   Applications are accepted Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 11:30am at the embassy in the Diplomatic Enclave. The embassy says appearing in person is mandatory. If this is your second visit to Korea, an authority letter can stand in place of appearing.

5. 5

   Pay the fee and keep the receipt

   A single entry visa for less than 90 days is 40 US dollars, 60 dollars for more than 91 days, and a multiple entry visa is 90 dollars. The fee is non-refundable, so check your form before you hand it in. Frequent visitors are issued free of charge.

6. 6

   Wait out the published processing time

   The embassy publishes a minimum of eight weeks from the day it receives the application. Do not buy a non-refundable ticket against that date. Passports are returned during the same 9:30 to 11:30am window.

7. 7

   Check the visa, then travel

   Compare the name, passport number and dates on the visa with your passport before you book anything. Carry your invitation papers, hotel or host details, return ticket and bank statement for FIA in Pakistan and for immigration in Korea.

What goes wrong most often?

Treating K-ETA as the visa

People pay for a travel authorisation they are not eligible for, then find out at check-in. The authorisation is for visa-free nationals. Pakistani ordinary passport holders are not among them.

Sending a scanned invitation

The embassy asks for the invitation and guarantee letters notarised in Korea and submitted in original. A PDF forwarded on WhatsApp is not an original. Families lose weeks discovering this at the counter.

Booking the flight against an eight-week estimate

Minimum eight weeks is a floor. A wedding date, an admission date or a non-refundable fare planned around it is a risk taken for no reason, and the visa fee is not refunded if you give up and withdraw.

Arriving at the embassy outside the window

Applications are accepted between 9:30 and 11:30am on working days, and the embassy notes the hours can change. A traveller from Lahore or Karachi who arrives at noon has spent a day and a fare for nothing. Confirm the timing by phone before you travel.

A thin bank statement with a sudden deposit

Six months of statements that show a flat account and then a large deposit two weeks before applying raise the exact question the officer is there to ask. If someone is funding your trip, say so and document them properly rather than parking money in your account.

A realistic example

This is a hypothetical illustration, not a real client. Nadia is 46 and lives in Sialkot. Her son has been working in Korea for three years and she wants to spend three weeks with him in spring.

• Early January. She checks her passport and finds seven months left on it. She renews it first, because six months is the published minimum and she does not want the question raised.
• Mid January. Her son downloads the guarantee form from the Korean immigration site, has the invitation and the guarantee notarised in Korea and couriers the originals to Sialkot, along with a copy of his alien registration card and six months of his bank statements, because he is paying for the trip.
• Early February. She fills the e-Form herself, takes a fresh photograph, prints her own six-month bank statement and gets a letter from the school where she teaches, with the dates of her leave.
• A Tuesday in February. She travels to Islamabad the night before and submits in person at 9:45am, paying 40 US dollars. She keeps the receipt.
• Eight weeks later. She collects the passport in the morning window, checks her name, passport number and the dates against her passport, and only then buys the ticket.

Nothing in her file is clever. It is one true story, with the papers to support it, submitted with enough time that the published wait was never a problem.

The version that goes wrong

Her neighbour’s son Hamza, 24, is offered a package by an agent in the local market: a Korean visit visa and a factory job for PKR 900,000, with the work permit to be fixed after landing. The agent has no BEOE licence, gives no receipt and keeps the passport. Hamza is told to say he is visiting a cousin. If the file is refused, he is told nothing and the agent blames the embassy. If it somehow succeeds and he works in Korea on a C-3 visa, he is in breach of his status, and the money and the permission both go at once.

Key takeaways

Frequently asked questions