Since last month, as the Korean government has completely exempted self-quarantine for overseas COVID-19 vaccine recipients upon arrival in Korea, complaints about passport and visa issuance for visiting Korea have increased rapidly at the Los Angeles Consulate General.
According to the Consulate General of Los Angeles on the 11th, there were 368 visa issuance complaints in April, which is a 100% increase from 184 in March. In particular, the application for a visa for overseas Koreans (F-4) was the driving force behind this.
Passports surged from March when the news that self-quarantine would be exempted began to spread, and this trend continued in April. According to the Consulate General of Los Angeles, passport issuance complaints increased 48.3% from 739 in February to 1,096 in March, and maintained the trend by recording 1,100 in April. The number of cases in April was 48.8% higher than in February.
On the 11th, Minwoo Park, Consul General of the Consulate General of Los Angeles, said, “This trend is still continuing even in May.”
This phenomenon appears to be due to the increase in demand for visits to Korea following the quarantine exemption measures. According to the travel industry, sales of Korean tickets and inquiries about travel to Korea have increased significantly since last March (reported on March 15 of this report). Also, from the first day when quarantine was exempted, Incheong Airport was crowded, and on April 1st, the number of passengers using Incheon Airport exceeded 20,000 for the first time in more than two years since the start of the Corona 19 crisis.
The Consulate General of Los Angeles expects that applications for passport and visa issuance will increase further from June, when the summer vacation and vacation season begins in earnest. The Korean travel and airline industry is also spurring preparations, expecting that the demand for Korean travel, which has been suppressed for the past two years, will materialize in earnest from this summer.
When applying for a passport at the Los Angeles Consulate General, you will need a passport issuance application form, an original (most recent) passport and a photocopy of the original passport, and two passport photos (taken within 6 months). In addition, required documents may differ depending on circumstances, such as minors under the age of 18, non-commissioned persons, or dual nationals. You can apply for an emergency passport in case of an emergency such as a funeral.
Visa application form, visa issuance application, color photo for visa (shown within 6 months), original passport and photocopy (if the remaining validity period is less than 6 months, application may be rejected). Required documents vary depending on the case. More information can also be found on the website of the Consulate General.
Those who have completed vaccination who wish to visit Korea are classified as subject to quarantine exemption by directly entering their vaccination history into the ‘Quarantine Information Advance Input System’ (cov19ent.kdca.go.kr/cpassportal/) and attaching a certificate. Consent to terms and conditions, email input, passport information input, entry and stay information input, quarantine information input, health status input, input information confirmation, QR code issuance, etc. A person who has been vaccinated is a person who has passed 14 days and has not passed 180 days since the second dose (one dose for Johnson & Johnson) or who received the booster shot (3rd dose).