Korea Electronic Arrival Card “e-Arrival Card” Detailed Guide

Post date: 2025-02-26 | Categories: Korea Travel

Starting from February 24, 2025, Korea will officially implement the e-Arrival Card electronic arrival declaration system. Foreign travelers can fill out and submit the electronic arrival card online in advance, eliminating the need to fill out a paper arrival declaration form upon entry.

With the development of technology and the trend towards tourism convenience, the Korean government has planned to implement the “Electronic Arrival Card” system since 2023, replacing the traditional paper arrival declaration form, thereby simplifying the entry process and meeting environmental and digital requirements.

The “Electronic Arrival Card” system in Korea will be officially implemented from February 24, 2025, with a transition period until December 31, 2025. During this period, foreign travelers can still choose to fill out a paper arrival card upon entry. In other words, from 2026 onwards, only electronic declarations will be accepted.

Table of Contents

Applicable Persons, Submission Time, and Submission Method for Korea Electronic Arrival Card

Below is an explanation of the applicable persons, submission time, and submission method for the Korea Electronic Arrival Card.

1. Who needs to submit an arrival declaration card?

The “e-Arrival Card” applies to all foreign travelers entering Korea, but the following persons are exempt from submitting an arrival declaration card:

Foreigners who have completed foreigner registration in Korea (including permanent residents, those who have declared a domestic address in Korea, etc.);
Foreigners holding a valid K-ETA; (Note)
Group tourists (C-3-2 visa): Group tourists from China, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, etc., holding group electronic visas, and group tourists from India, Cambodia, etc., holding group visas issued by overseas missions;
Visa-free transit passengers (B-2, 15D): Jeju China group transit passengers, Chinese group tourists holding Japanese group visas, Chinese youth study tour groups;
Aircraft crew members.

Note: Currently, passport holders from many countries and regions are exempt from applying for K-ETA, including Hong Kong passports, Singapore passports, Australian passports, British passports, American passports, Canadian passports, etc. Therefore, they need to submit an arrival declaration card, but if they have already applied for and hold a valid K-ETA, they do not need to fill out an arrival card.

If you are unsure whether your passport or documents require an arrival declaration form, you can check on the inquiry page within the “e-Arrival Card” website.

2. When is the earliest time to submit the “e-Arrival Card”?

The “e-Arrival Card” is valid for 72 hours from the time of submission, so the system only allows filling it out within 3 days before the entry date. For example, on February 25, you can only submit the declaration card for entry on February 25, 26, and 27. To avoid delays due to flight delays and customs queue times, it is recommended not to fill it out too early. You can fill out and submit the arrival declaration form 60 hours before the scheduled flight arrival time.

In the above image, (A) is the current date and time, and (B) is the entry date for which the arrival declaration can be made.

3. Where can I fill out and submit the “e-Arrival Card”?

The “e-Arrival Card” can only be filled out and submitted through the official website (https://www.e-arrivalcard.go.kr/). There is no mobile app. The website offers services in seven languages, including Simplified Chinese, English, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Russian.

Detailed Explanation of Filling Out and Submitting the “e-Arrival Card”

Below is a detailed introduction to the process and precautions for filling out and submitting the Electronic Arrival Card.

1. What information is required to submit the arrival declaration card?

When submitting the “e-Arrival Card”, you need to provide a valid email address first, then upload a photo of the passport data page for the system to read the passport information. After that, fill in the entry date, entry flight, departure date, departure flight, purpose of entry, intended stay address, and contact information. Once the information is confirmed to be correct, you can submit it.

Additionally, foreign travelers entering Korea currently do not need to submit a “Passenger Carried Items Declaration Form” to customs. Therefore, the newly introduced “e-Arrival Card” only has an arrival declaration function and does not require customs declaration.

2. How to fill out the “e-Arrival Card”?

Below is a detailed process for filling out and submitting the “e-Arrival Card” using the English version of the computer website. The process is the same for the mobile version or other language versions, except that the mobile version has some layout differences. Additionally, based on actual testing, the computer version of the webpage responds faster than the mobile version.

The “e-Arrival Card” is divided into individual (Individual) and group (Group) types. The group “e-Arrival Card” is for travel agencies’ tour groups, while individuals (including those declaring with family and friends) should use the individual “e-Arrival Card”.

1. After entering the “e-Arrival Card” website homepage, first check if your entry date is available for declaration. Once confirmed, click “Submit”.

Korea Electronic Arrival Card declaration process

In the above image, (A) is the current date and time, and (B) is the entry date for which the arrival declaration can be made.

2. Check “Agree to all” to agree to all terms of use, then fill in a valid email address (enter twice), and click “Confirm”.

3. Click “Upload file” to upload a photo of the passport data page. If using the computer version, it is recommended to take the photo in advance and save it on the computer. If using the mobile version, you can also take the photo on the spot. After successful upload, the system will automatically read the passport information. (Note: The uploaded file size cannot exceed 300KB.)

If you are unable to upload a passport picture, you can skip the upload step and enter your passport information directly. The required passport information includes: Surname, Given name, Date of birth, Nationality, Passport number, Sex, and Passport expiration date.

4. Fill in the required information, including:

Arrival information, including:
- Means of arrival
- Date of entry
- Flight number
Departure information, including:
- Means of departure
- Date of departure
- Flight number
Purpose of entry
Stay information, including:
- Intended place of stay
- Contact information
Job

Fill out Korea Electronic Arrival Card information

For the intended place of stay, you can click the “ENG” button, then copy the hotel address from any hotel booking website’s hotel information page, and paste it into the input field to search and select the hotel address. Additionally, you need to fill in the hotel’s name. For contact information, you can fill in your mobile phone number.

5. If you are only submitting the arrival declaration form for yourself, after confirming the information is correct, you can click “Submit” to submit the declaration. If you have other accompanying family members or friends to declare together, you can click “Save temporarily” to save the information first, then add other people’s declaration information before submitting together.

After saving the data, if you close the webpage, you can re-enter the website, click on “Declaration” > “Continue to Declare”, and then enter the declarant’s passport number and email address to retrieve the previously saved data and continue filling out the form.

Retrieve Filled Electronic Arrival Card Data

3. How to Fill Out the “e-Arrival Card” for Family Members?

Each declarant can fill out and submit the “e-Arrival Card” for up to 9 people, meaning that one person can declare for accompanying family members or friends. Additionally, the declarant must be at least 14 years old, so children under 14 must be declared by a family member.

The steps to fill out and submit the “e-Arrival Card” for accompanying family members or friends are as follows:

1. Click “Add declarant” at the top of the declaration webpage, then click “Passport” in the box that appears on the top left, and upload a passport photo in the small window that appears. If you cannot upload or prefer to enter the information manually, you can click the “X” to close the small window and manually enter the passport details.

Fill Out e-Arrival Card for Family Members

2. Fill in the passport details, including: Surname, Given name, Date of birth, Nationality, Passport number, Sex, and Passport expiration date.

3. Fill in the required information, including: entry and exit details, purpose of entry, stay details, and work. If most of the information is the same as the main declarant, you can check “Same as the representative applicant”, and the system will automatically fill in the information based on the main declarant’s details, except for work. Additionally, if accompanying family members or friends need to receive separate declaration notifications, you can fill in each person’s email address. If the same email address is used for all, there is no need to fill it in.

Fill Out e-Arrival Card for Family Members in Korea

If there are multiple accompanying family members or friends to declare, you can click “Save temporarily” and repeat the above steps. Once completed, you will see a box for each person whose information has been filled out at the top of the declaration webpage. Click on each box to review the saved information.

4. Submit the “e-Arrival Card”?

If you are ready to submit the arrival declaration card, click “Submit” at the bottom of the webpage. The arrival declaration cards for all individuals in the same declaration will be submitted together.

After submission, the successfully submitted information will be displayed, including the validity period of the submitted “e-Arrival Card” and the Issue number for each person’s arrival declaration card. If you need to view the “e-Arrival Card”, select the person and click “View e-Arrival card”.

The following is the “e-Arrival Card”, but it does not need to be presented upon arrival, as the information is already linked to the passport number. If you need to save it, you can download the PDF file or print it directly.

According to the official statement, you should receive an email notification after submission, but my Google mailbox did not receive the email. Therefore, it is recommended to note down the Issue number after submission for future reference.

If you need to check or modify the submitted arrival declaration card, you can click “Check/Edit” on the website, then fill in each person’s Issue number, Passport number, and Date of birth, and click “Check” to query. If you need to modify the information, click “Edit” to make changes, or click “View e-Arrival card” to view the “e-Arrival Card”.

Check or Modify Submitted Electronic Arrival Card

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