South Korea extends group visa fee waiver for 6 countries: What Indian travellers need to know |
Planning to travel to South Korea? If you have a small travel group, there is some good news. As per the latest development, South Korea has decided to extend the visa processing fee waiver for short-term group tourists from six countries, including India, for another six months. This is in live with a move to sustain the strong recovery in inbound tourism. This was recently announced by South Korean Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol who further informed that the government aims to maintain travel demand amid a steady rise in foreign arrivals.The exemption applies to C-3-2 short-term group visas, which was supposed to expire this week. Now with the latest announcement in place, the waiver will remain in effect until June 30 next year, according to Yonhap News Agency. The six countries that will be covered under this policy are India, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Cambodia. The primary reason for this countries to be in the said list is because these are the places that have proved to be major tourism source markets for South Korea.
As for the cost, currently, the processing fee for a C-3-2 group visa is 18,000 won (which is around $12.46). So, by continuing to waive this charge, South Korean authorities are hoping that this latest move will help them to attract more group travellers and sustain the upward trend in visitor numbers, which has seen accelerating in recent months.Read more: Vaishno Devi Yatra 2025–26: RFID card rules, smart lockers, helpline numbers and helicopter fare revision Looking at the official statistics, the number of foreign visitors to South Korea jumped in November due to the sustained revival in the tourism industry to even higher levels before the COVID-19 pandemic. The total number of inward visitors grew by 17.3% from the number of visitors in the corresponding month of the previous year. Approximately 1.6 million foreign visitors came in November, compared with 1.36 million in the same period of the past year and 9.6% more than in November 2019.Based on statistics from the Korea Tourism Organization, China continued to come out as the biggest source of tourist traffic with a total of around 378,000 arrivals for the month. Japan trailed closely with a total of 363,000 visitors, showing a marked resurgence in mutual travel between the countries. Taiwan emerged third with 158,000 visitors, followed by the United States with 133,000 and the Philippines with around 60,000 arrivals.Read more: 10 cheapest markets in Mumbai for street shoppingBut the recovery has been uneven across regions. Chinese visitor numbers have rebounded to about three-quarters of their 2019 levels, while arrivals from Japan have surged even higher — rising 40.4% compared to November 2019, fueled by pent-up demand, improved air links, and relaxed travel restrictions.More broadly, South Korea’s foreign visitors totaled 17.42 million for the first 11 months of the year, a figure that was up 15.4% from the same period a year ago and 8.6% higher than in 2019. Chinese visitors made up the largest portion of that total, around 29.2%, or an estimated 5.09 million travellers.Against this backdrop, the extended visa fee waiver is expected to help sustain growth in international arrivals, particularly from high-potential Asian markets where group travel remains a key segment.
