Do Philippines passport holders need a visa for South Korea?

Yes, a visa for mainland Korea, arranged in advance through South Korea’s own government channel. With it, you file the arrival card, online for free or on paper at the counter. Flying straight into Jeju, you can enter visa-free and still file the card; going on to the mainland needs permission first, per a 2023 consulate notice.

Policy

Visa required

Max stay

Per official approval

  • The official form is free, on the government’s own site.
  • Automation we built fills in your K-EAC under your supervision. You review it, change anything, and submit it yourself.
  • Your first one-traveler form per country is free. visayes Premium fills in your whole group in one go.
  • Your passport and trip details never leave your device and we have no way to read them. The one exception is the passport photo you choose to scan. It passes through a recognition service once and we keep no copy of it.
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Flying straight to Jeju?

On a direct flight from overseas to Jeju Island, you can enter without a visa: for Jeju, the Navigator only tells Philippine passport holders to file the arrival card. Korea’s visa-free entry to Jeju is for “Foreigners from visa-required countries who will be taking a direct flight from overseas to Jeju Island”.

Going on from Jeju to the mainland needs permission first. A 2023 notice from the Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles lists the Philippines among the nationalities that need to “obtain permission for extension of sojourn area from the Head of the Jeju Immigration Office”.

Do I need a visa for Korea?

Yes, for anywhere outside Jeju. For Philippine passports, the e-Arrival Card portal’s Navigator answers: “Please submit e-Arrival card after receiving a valid visa.”

The Korean Embassy in the Philippines lists what to submit for a “Short-Term Visit for Tourist (C-3-9)” visa.

Traveling on a group tour?

Tour groups on an electronic group visa don’t file the arrival card: the portal excludes “Group tourists from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia holding electronic group visas issued through the Korea Visa Portal”.

In the Philippines, those group visas are applied for through designated travel agencies, according to the Korean Embassy’s notice.

Your next step

Apply through the destination’s own government channel. Anyone charging you for the entry form itself is not the government.

The Korea e-Arrival Card: what it means for you

Your visa does not cover the arrival card. Korea asks visa holders for one too, as the Korea e-Arrival Card filed online in advance or on paper at the counter.

First time filing it? The full guide covers who is exempt, the exact window, and fixing mistakes: read the Korea e-Arrival Card guide. Ready to fill one in? The Korea e-Arrival Card walkthrough takes you through every box, in order.

Official sources

Compiled by the visayes team. Visa status and maximum stay come from our passport policy dataset, last updated 16 Sep 2026. Entry rules can change without notice and the destination’s own government is always the final word.

Same passport, nearby: Thailand · Singapore · Malaysia · Vietnam · Indonesia