The Korea arrival card is now the e-Arrival Card: a free online declaration you submit on e-arrivalcard.go.kr within three days before arrival in Korea. Visa holders and K-ETA-exempt travelers generally submit it; valid K-ETA holders entering without a visa, registered residents, and some group tourists are excluded.［1］［5］ This South Korea e-Arrival Card guide checks that rule first, then covers what to prepare for the form, fake paid sites, and a recovery path for verification or connectivity failures.

Key Takeaways:

The e-Arrival Card is an arrival declaration, not a visa or K-ETA.

Korea's current eligibility guide generally excludes valid K-ETA holders, but a traveler who holds K-ETA and enters with a visa must submit an e-Arrival Card.［1］

The official service is free. Paid imitation sites are an explicit official warning.［2］

Do not reuse instructions about an expired paper-form parallel period; follow the current official rule.

For the broader network and account boundary, start with the international travel pillar.

Who needs this South Korea e-Arrival Card guide?

Start with the current official eligibility guide. It identifies groups that are excluded, such as registered residents of Korea, travelers holding a valid K-ETA, and holders of specified electronic group visas. It also states that a person who holds K-ETA but enters with a visa must complete the e-Arrival Card.［1］ The document actually used for entry therefore matters.

For a Chinese traveler, “group tourist,” “group electronic visa,” and “traveling with other people” are not interchangeable. The guide also lists Chinese group tourists entering under the visa-free group program as excluded.［1］ Do not claim an exclusion merely because a booking was made by an agency or several passengers share an itinerary. Confirm the actual authorization and its current conditions on the official page or through the responsible authority.

Likewise, do not infer that a visa holder always submits or never submits. A visa is permission to seek entry under its terms; K-ETA is a separate travel authorization for eligible travelers; the e-Arrival Card is a declaration; the immigration decision is another gate. If you hold both K-ETA and a visa, apply the official visa-entry exception instead of treating K-ETA alone as an exemption.［1］

When and where should the e-Arrival Card be submitted?

Use only the official service under e-arrivalcard.go.kr. The official homepage currently says to complete and submit the declaration within three days before arrival in Korea, while the eligibility notice defines the applicable categories.［1］［5］ Avoid copying a brittle menu sequence, field order, or button label into the itinerary.

The service is free. Korea's official warning says fraudulent sites imitate the e-Arrival Card and request payment.［2］ A third party's fee does not make it the government service, and payment cannot guarantee immigration approval.

Check the complete hostname before entering passport data. Do not trust a search advertisement, message link, QR code from an unknown seller, or page that looks similar but lacks the government domain. Save the official homepage independently before departure.

How do you fill in the e-Arrival Card?

The official homepage splits the form into five steps: accept the terms and give an email address, enter valid passport details, enter the itinerary with arrival, departure, and stay information, check the entries, and submit.［5］ The individual form covers 1 to 9 people; a travel agency or group leader uses the separate group declaration for 2 to 1,000 people.［5］

Have these ready before you open the form:

Item	What to prepare
Email	An inbox you can open at home and abroad
Passport	The valid passport you will travel with, spelled exactly
Arrival	Flight or ship details and the arrival date
Stay	Your first address in Korea and departure plan

Save the confirmation or issue number offline as soon as you submit. The homepage lets you check or edit a card with that number or by email verification, so a changed flight does not justify paying a third party to file again.［5］

How should Chinese travelers separate K-ETA, visas, and group cases?

Use a four-row decision record:

Question	Evidence to check	Do not assume
Visa	Passport, issued visa, and current official conditions	An arrival card creates a visa
K-ETA	Actual valid K-ETA, entry document, and current eligibility	K-ETA always removes the declaration when entering with a visa
Group case	Exact electronic group visa or visa-free group program entry	Any tour booking creates the official exclusion
Arrival declaration	Official applicability notice for the document held	It guarantees entry

If the facts do not match a stated exclusion, do not force them into one. Contact the responsible immigration channel or carrier with the document type and route, while withholding unnecessary passport details from public chat groups.

The Chinese-language official interface can reduce translation mistakes, but it does not change eligibility. Enter nationality and identity data according to the passport and official field meaning, not according to residence, departure airport, or what an unofficial tutorial says is more likely to be accepted.

How do you respond to fake paid e-Arrival Card sites and verification problems?

The official warning emphasizes that e-Arrival Card submission is free and alerts users to fraudulent sites that charge fees.［2］ Stop when a page demands payment for the government filing, promises priority entry, or pressures you to disclose passport and card data.

Reopen the official service from your saved bookmark. If payment information was entered, contact the issuer; if a password was reused, change it through a trusted connection and review active sessions. Keep evidence, but redact passport numbers, application identifiers, email addresses, and payment details before sharing.

Korea's official notice says a verification-code step at submission was introduced on 6 May 2026, and the form's first step asks for your email address.［3］［5］ Treat the date as a checked fact, not a permanent UI tutorial. Ensure you can access the relevant email before departure, keep recovery options offline, and follow the current official prompts. Never give a verification code to a stranger claiming to “complete the form” for you.

What connectivity and help backups should you prepare?

Save the first-night Korean address, transport stop, official e-Arrival Card URL, document references, airline, insurer, and trusted help contacts offline. Keep a small paper address card without passwords or full financial data.

If important accounts still send SMS to a mainland number, test roaming and recovery using the mainland-number continuity guide. A Korean SIM, roaming plan, or eSIM may provide data but does not inherit that number; see the eSIM and VPN comparison.

Bring two independent payment methods and confirm overseas use. Do not enter card details merely because an e-Arrival Card page asks for a fee; use the payment backup guide for a broader plan.

The Korea Tourism Organization presents the 1330 Korea Travel Helpline for travel assistance.［4］ Save the current channel before departure. Immediate danger, immigration questions, carrier problems, and general tourism help are different needs; use the responsible service rather than sending every issue to one number.

Public Wi-Fi is only a network boundary. Verify the network name and avoid identity submissions over an unknown hotspot. No network tool can make a fake domain official, change eligibility, retrieve a code from an inaccessible email account, or guarantee entry.

What other destination guides can you use?

After preparing the entry record, use the South Korea digital travel guide to arrange mobile data, local maps, transport, and payment backups. A declaration confirmation does not activate a SIM or establish eligibility for local app identity verification.

Summary

Decide eligibility from the official notice before opening a form tutorial.
Keep visas, K-ETA, the visa-entry exception, special group authorization, the arrival declaration, and admission separate.
Submit only through e-arrivalcard.go.kr and remember the government service is free.
Prepare email, passport, arrival, and stay details, then save the issue number after submitting.
Protect email access and never give a verification code to an unknown helper.
Save offline addresses, mainland-number recovery, payment backups, and the current 1330 channel.

FAQ

Is the e-Arrival Card a Korean visa?

No. It is an arrival declaration and does not create visa eligibility or guarantee admission.

Does a valid K-ETA holder submit an e-Arrival Card?

Usually not, but the current guide states that a person who holds K-ETA and enters with a visa must complete the e-Arrival Card. Check the document used for this entry, not only whether K-ETA exists.［1］

Are all Chinese tour groups excluded?

No. The official guide lists specified electronic group visa holders and Chinese group tourists entering under the visa-free group program. A group booking alone is not enough evidence; confirm with the tour operator which arrangement applies.［1］

Does the official e-Arrival Card cost money?

No. The official warning says the submission is free and warns against fraudulent paid sites.［2］

When can I submit the e-Arrival Card?

The official homepage currently says to complete and submit it within three days before arrival in Korea. Recheck the current window close to departure.［5］

Why might the service ask for a verification code?

An official notice says a verification-code step at submission was introduced on 6 May 2026. Follow the current service prompts and never share the code with an unknown person.［3］

Where can a traveler get general tourism help?

The Korea Tourism Organization provides the 1330 Korea Travel Helpline. Check its current channels and use the responsible emergency or immigration service when the issue falls outside tourism assistance.［4］

Disclaimer: This article provides general travel and digital-safety information. Visa, K-ETA, e-Arrival Card, entry, carrier, and assistance rules can change. Follow current official instructions for your document and itinerary.

Sources:

Korea e-Arrival Card — Individuals subject to declaration and excluded categories — https://www.e-arrivalcard.go.kr/portal/guide/eacTargetGuide.do?locale=E
Korea e-Arrival Card — Warning about fraudulent paid sites — https://www.e-arrivalcard.go.kr/portal/board/viewBoardDetail.do?bbsId=0000012054&eacBbsKndCd=1&flId=
Korea e-Arrival Card — Verification-code notice for submission — https://www.e-arrivalcard.go.kr/portal/board/viewBoardDetail.do?bbsId=0000012631&eacBbsKndCd=1&flId=&pageIndex=1
Korea Tourism Organization — 1330 Korea Travel Helpline — https://english.visitkorea.or.kr/svc/contents/infoHtmlView.do?menuSn=454&vcontsId=140632
Korea e-Arrival Card — Official service homepage and submission window — https://www.e-arrivalcard.go.kr/portal/main/index.do?locale=E

Sources checked 4 October 2026.

Related Articles:

South Korea e-Arrival Card Guide