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Home to Seoul, a vibrant metropolis where pop culture meets ancient Buddhist heritage, scenic countryside peppered with historic villages and nature preserves, and a beautiful southern coast lined with unspoiled beaches, South Korea is a super trendy country to visit in 2025.

There’s just one downside if you’re heading there this year:

If you’re arriving from the United States, you will now be required to complete a mandatory online form before entering, which is in line with other Asian destinations that have recently ramped up bureaucracy and brought in similar mandates.

You Can’t Enter South Korea Without Completing This Form In 2025

As soon as February 24, 2025, if you’re flying to or entering South Korea via a cruise port, you won’t be able to cross the border unless you have submitted an Electronic Arrival Card (e-Arrival Card) prior to arrival.

It’s worth noting tourists have always had to fill out a customs form touching ground in the country, but before the e-Arrival Card was introduced, they could do so in the arrivals hall, where stacks of paper forms were available.

No more: the goal is to fully replace the paper form with the online version by year’s end.

It is unclear at this point whether South Korea-bound travelers will be able to board their flights without showing proof they have completed the form, though we strongly discourage you from leaving it until the very last minute.

We all know how laggy these official websites can be, and the last thing you want is to be barred from boarding because you lack all the proper documentation.

For now, however, this seems not to be the case, as during the rollout, set to last until December 2025, passengers will be allowed to choose between filling the form online or the paper version when arriving in South Korea.

Based on our extensive traveling experience, whenever there’s an option to submit a customs form in advance, do so to avoid additional queuing and long waits.

South Korean border authorities have further confirmed that, as of right now, passengers do not have to pay to submit their information in advance: the form is completely free of charge.

That being said, they’re advised to send it three days before departure to ensure immigration guards receive the information in time and have the smoothest possible border experience.

The online form will be available directly at the e-arrivalcard.go.kr portal, that will be released soon.

Step-By-Step Guide To Submit Your e-Arrival Card For South Korea

Upload Your Passport

Once the system goes live, you should have your passport handy, as well as all details pertaining to your trip to South Korea.

After accepting the terms and conditions, you’ll be asked to upload a copy of your passport: more specifically, the information page, including your photo, the passport number and other personal data, and most importantly, the machine-readable zone (MRZ).

You know that long sequence of figures at the bottom of the ID page? That’s what the MRZ is.

Once the passport upload is completed, the information should be able to be extracted using the platform’s top-notch Optical Character Recognition.

There should be no mistakes, but we’d still urge you to revise each input individually and make corrections if necessary, particularly if your name or surname contains accents.

Provide Your Travel Information

The next step is to provide information on your trip, including the purpose of travel––are you a tourist? Are you visiting family? Maybe you’re on going to South Korea on a business venture?

On this part of the form, you must enter your arrival date, flight or vessel number, your place of residence in South Korea (this may be a hotel or Airbnb), the planned date of departure, and lastly, the outbound flight number.

Make sure you enter these carefully and truthfully. Once you land in South Korea and go through immigration control, border authorities will rely on the provided information to formulate their questions.

Any inconsistencies will be immediately flagged, and you could risk being held up at the border for longer than needed until those are rectified.

Review & Submit The Form

The final step is to submit the declaration form, at which point you can review your answers one final time.

Once again, the service is free of charge and requires no approval. This means you will instantly receive your e-Arrival Card in PDF form, which you can download.

Additionally, a notification that the form has been submitted will be sent to the email address provided. Should you need to edit any information or alter an error you only realize was made later, you can change the declaration before passing border control.

South Korea is one of many digital customs forms Americans are now subject to when traveling to numerous destinations worldwide. In Asia, some examples include Cambodia, Malaysia, and, soon enough, Thailand.

Americans Will Also Need A Digital Visa To Enter South Korea From 2026

South Korea also has an Electronic Travel Authorization system that applies to visa-exempt travelers like U.S. and Canadian passport holders.

For now, it has been suspended until late 2025 to reduce bureaucratic procedures for travelers and boost tourism, but as soon as January 2026, Americans will have to request a digital travel permit ahead of flying to South Korea.

Prior to the temporary suspension, the K-ETA fee was 10,000 South Korean won, or around US$7, remaining valid for 3 years after issuance.

It’s likely that the value will be readjusted once the system re-launches.

Based on our understanding, from next year, Americans traveling to South Korea will have to show proof of both a completed e-Arrival Card, which is free of charge but mandatory, and a K-ETA, the equivalent of a digital visa.

Vinicius Costa

Vini, our senior lead writer at Travel Off Path, has over 60+ countries under his belt (and currently weaving tales from Paris!), and a knack for turning off-the-beaten-path experiences into informative stories that will have you packing your bags.

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This article originally appeared on TravelOffPath.com

Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

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