Do Vietnam Citizens Need a Visa for South Korea?
Yes. Vietnam passport holders require a visa to enter South Korea for most purposes, visitor, business, study, work, and family categories all need pre-approval. The information below describes the standard process and the refusal triggers to watch on this corridor.
Before you apply: the refusal you have to beat
The Consulates General in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang publish what a Korean visa application is examined against: whether you are barred from entry, whether your stated purpose fits the visa, and whether it is accepted that you will return home within the permitted stay. The visa fee is not returned if you are refused, and all three missions say a refused applicant must wait 3 months before applying again.
The reassuring part: these refusals usually come down to how your case is presented, not who you are:
- Insufficient or inconsistent proof of funds, single large deposits with no documented source, balances that don't match declared income
- Thin evidence of ties to Vietnam, no documented employment, studies, property, or family obligations the officer can weigh as reasons you would return
- Incomplete or mismatched documentation, dates, names, and amounts that contradict between documents
- Unclear or implausible purpose, an itinerary or story the officer has to guess at
Step-by-Step: How to Apply
- Work out which mission covers you. Hanoi: the Korea Visa Application Center, for the Embassy. Ho Chi Minh City: the Korea Visa Application Center, for the Consulate General, for residents from Gia Lai province southwards. Da Nang: the Consulate General itself, for residents of Da Nang, Hue and Quang Ngai province.
- Choose the visa: single entry or multiple entry. The general tourist visa (C-3-9) is single entry, with a stay of up to 30 days and a validity of 3 months. Check the mission's list to see whether you fall into a group that can apply for a 5-year or 10-year multiple-entry visa, or for the big-city visa if you have lived in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City for at least a year.
- Prepare your documents. A passport valid for at least 6 months, an identity card copy, the application form with a photo, an itinerary in English or Korean, a hotel booking, proof of occupation and proof of finances, following the list of the mission you apply to. Get notarised translations of documents issued by Vietnamese state agencies, and submit everything on A4 paper.
- Submit and pay. In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, submit at the visa application centre and pay the visa fee plus the VND 390,000 service fee in cash. In Da Nang, book a visit online first and submit at the Consulate General. Fees are not returned if the visa is refused.
- Wait for the decision. The published time for an individual tourist application is 16 working days in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and 15 in Da Nang, and it can be longer. Check progress on the Korea Visa Portal (visa.go.kr). The Ho Chi Minh City centre asks applicants not to buy flight tickets until they have the result.
- Check your visa, then travel. Check the entry type, the validity and the permitted stay on the visa you are given. A visa does not guarantee entry: the immigration officer at the Korean port of entry makes that decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Vietnamese citizens need a visa for South Korea?
Yes, for an ordinary passport, with one published exception for Jeju. Vietnam is not on the list of countries whose passport holders can apply for K-ETA, Korea's electronic travel authorisation, so a Vietnamese tourist applies for a C-3 short-term visa. The Embassy's visa guide lists who does not need one: Vietnamese citizens with an official or diplomatic passport, or with an APEC card carried with an ordinary passport, for stays under 90 days. Jeju is treated separately. An Embassy notice of 31 May 2022 says visa-free entry to Jeju Special Self-Governing Province resumed on 1 June 2022 for nationals of every country except 23 that it lists, and Vietnam is not one of the 23. The same notice says a Vietnamese ordinary-passport holder who enters Jeju without a visa needs permission from the Jeju immigration office before travelling on to any other part of Korea. The notice dates from 2022 and refers questions to Korea's immigration contact centre (1345), so check that it still applies before you book.
Which visa does a tourist get, and how long can I stay?
Both the Embassy in Hanoi and the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City describe the general tourist visa (C-3-9) as a single-entry visa with a stay of up to 30 days and a validity of 3 months. Repeat visits are covered by the multiple-entry visas described below, which are open to listed groups only and allow 30 or 90 days per stay depending on the tier and on the mission's list.
Where do I apply?
It depends on where you live. In Hanoi, the Korea Visa Application Center on the 12th floor of Discovery Complex, 302 Cau Giay, receives applications on behalf of the Embassy's consular section; a notice on its website says online appointment booking stopped on 6 April 2026 and that applicants come to the centre, take a number and wait their turn. The site's menu and a banner still offered online booking when this guide was checked, so confirm with the centre before you go. In Ho Chi Minh City, the Korea Visa Application Center at 253 Dien Bien Phu, Xuan Hoa Ward, receives applications for the Consulate General, which accepts applicants from southern Vietnam, from Gia Lai province southwards. The Consulate General in Da Nang takes applications itself from residents of Da Nang, Hue and Quang Ngai province, by online visit reservation and with a residence confirmation (form CT07). The Consulates General in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang say you apply in person in principle. An agency registered with the mission can submit for you: the Embassy's FAQ and the Ho Chi Minh City guide say so for every visa type except the marriage visa, and Da Nang publishes separate processing times for tourist applications made through registered and designated travel agencies.
How much does a Korean visa cost for Vietnamese applicants?
The Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City lists the visa fee as USD 20 for a single-entry visa with a stay of up to 90 days, USD 30 for a big-city visa and USD 80 for a multiple-entry visa, and says the multiple-entry fee can vary with the type of stay and nationality. The visa application centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City charge a separate service fee of VND 390,000 per application, which is not part of the visa fee, and take payment in cash only; the Ho Chi Minh City centre specifies Vietnamese dong. The consulates general say the fee is not returned if the visa is refused, and that if you apply for a multiple-entry visa and are given a single-entry one the difference is not returned either. The Consulate General in Da Nang says it collects no charge other than the visa fee and warns against brokers who ask for an express fee.
How long does a Korean tourist visa take from Vietnam?
The Embassy in Hanoi and the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City both publish 16 working days for a tourist (C-3) application made by an individual, 9 through a registered travel agency and 6 through a designated agency; Ho Chi Minh City counts the day the application is received. The Consulate General in Da Nang publishes 15, 10 and 5 working days. All three say the period can change with the mission's circumstances, and the two consulates general add that it can take longer where closer examination or extra documents are needed. The Ho Chi Minh City centre asks applicants not to buy flight tickets until they have the result.
What documents does an individual tourist need?
The Embassy in Hanoi's list for an individual C-3-9 application, applied from 30 March 2026, is: a passport valid for at least 6 months (original and copy), a copy of your identity card, the visa application form with a photo, a travel itinerary translated into English or Korean, a hotel booking confirmation, proof of your occupation (a labour contract or certificate of employment; business registration and a tax certificate for a business owner; a student card or enrolment certificate; pension or retirement papers for a retiree) and proof of finances (a salary statement and bank statement for the last 3 months for employees, a bank statement for the last 3 months for others). Documents issued by Vietnamese state agencies need a notarised translation. The Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City publishes its own list, which asks employees for 6 months of bank statements showing salary and a social insurance record, so use the list of the mission you apply to.
Who can get a multiple-entry Korean visa?
The Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City says the groups eligible for tourist and big-city visas were widened from 30 March 2026, and both it and the Embassy in Hanoi publish the lists. There are two tiers of multiple-entry short-term visa. A 5-year visa with stays of up to 30 days is listed for, among others, people who have visited Korea before on a visa (Hanoi says within the last year), civil servants and employees of state enterprises, people earning USD 8,000 a year or more, managers of at least a year at listed companies, journalists, teachers, retirees aged 55 or over drawing a pension of VND 10 million or more a month, graduates of a Korean junior college or higher, people with personal assets of USD 200,000 or more and people aged 65 or over. A 10-year visa is listed for, among others, professionals such as doctors, lawyers, accountants and professors, graduates of 4-year Korean universities or holders of a foreign master's degree, people who have visited an OECD country within the last year (the Ho Chi Minh City list also accepts holders of a visit visa for one of 22 OECD countries it names), regular employees of 3 years or more at companies that have invested USD 1 million or more in Korea, and managers of a year or more at Vietnam's top 100 companies. The big-city visa (C-3-91), also valid for 10 years, is for people who have lived in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City for at least a year. The missions' documents differ on how long each stay on a 10-year visa can be: the Ho Chi Minh City list says up to 90 days, the Embassy's Korean-language list (file dated 3 April 2026) says 30 days, and the Embassy's Vietnamese-language list (file dated 27 March 2026) says 90. Read the list of the mission you apply to before you rely on a figure.
Is there an e-visa for Vietnamese tourists?
The electronic visa the missions' notices describe is the group tourist visa (C-3-2), for groups organised by designated travel agencies. The Embassy and the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City announced that its fee was waived from 1 January to 30 June 2026; neither had posted a later extension when this guide was checked on 12 October 2026. For an individual tourist visa, the missions direct you to the visa application centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City or to the Consulate General in Da Nang.
What do the missions look at when they decide?
The Consulates General in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang publish the same three points: whether you are subject to an entry ban under Article 11 of the Immigration Act, whether your stated purpose of entry fits the visa you applied for, and whether it is accepted that you will return to your home country within the permitted period of stay. They say they can ask for documents beyond the published list, and Da Nang says it may interview applicants where it judges that necessary.
What happens if my Korean visa is refused?
The consulates general say the result and the reason for a refusal can be checked on the Korea Visa Portal (visa.go.kr), and that they do not give refusal reasons by phone or email. All three missions set a wait before you can apply again: the Embassy's FAQ says 3 months (6 for a marriage visa), the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City counts 3 months from the date of refusal for the same type of visa, and the Consulate General in Da Nang counts 3 months from the date of the refusal notice. The fee is not returned. The consulates general also note that holding a visa does not guarantee entry: an immigration officer at the Korean port of entry can still refuse it if the entry requirements are not met.
Official sources
- Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Vietnam: visa processing times (revised 2 February 2026)
- Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Vietnam: documents for tourist and big-city visas (applied from 30 March 2026)
- Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Vietnam: the same document list in Vietnamese
- Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Vietnam: visa procedure guide (Vietnamese)
- Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Vietnam: frequently asked questions about visas (file dated 19 August 2024)
- Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Vietnam: resumption of visa-free entry to Jeju (31 May 2022)
- Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Vietnam: group tourist e-visa fee waiver, 1 January to 30 June 2026
- Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City: how to apply for a Korean visa (27 July 2026)
- Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City: processing times by visa type (21 January 2026)
- Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City: documents for tourist and big-city visas (applied from 30 March 2026)
- Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City: the visa application centre
- Consulate General in Da Nang: visa application and issuance procedure
- Consulate General in Da Nang: online visit reservation for visa applications
- Korea Visa Application Center in Hanoi: fees
- Korea Visa Application Center in Hanoi: location and hours
- Korea Visa Application Center in Ho Chi Minh City: fees
- K-ETA: eligible countries
- Korea Visa Portal
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Last updated: October 12, 2026. Visa rules change without notice, always confirm the latest fee and processing time on the relevant embassy or immigration website before submitting.