South Korea tourist visa from Germany – your guide

Chris and I decided to visit South Korea for the first time together in December. I love Korean drama, food, fashion, and music. My passport is a Philippine passport. Therefore, sadly, it’s one of those countries that requires a visa to visit South Korea. But I don’t care. I applied for a South Korea tourist visa, and yes, they granted me one! I couldn’t be happier and excited! Here’s how I applied and got a South Korea Tourist visa from Munich, Germany.

South Korea tourist visa requirements

There are many requirements to submit to apply for a South Korea tourist visa application. Brace yourself. But don’t worry so much. If you have all these documents, all you need to do is prepare them.

• Visa application form. Download, fill out and sign.
• Passport original copy
• Picture 3.5 X 4.5 cm Please glue the photo on the Application Form.
• Copy of residence permit
• Registration certificate (Meldebescheinigung)
• A bank transaction statement under your name for the last 3 months from the submission date, including the total balance is mandatory.
• Pay slip for the last 6 months from the date of submitting
• Certificate of employment
• Marriage certificate or birth certificate 
• Proof of Payment- bank receipt
• Translate German documents
• Waiver Form
• Consent form data
• Liability Waiver for Submission by mail
• Korea Visa Application Center (KVAC) Checklist for Mail-In Applications 

Additionally,

• Bank statement of your husband for the last 3 months including all the transactions and final balance
• A copy of his valid ID

How to apply South Korea tourist visa from Germany – step by step

1. Know what type of visa you are applying for. In this particular case, you are applying for a tourist visa that falls under C-3-9 Ordinary tourist.
2. Gather all your documents. 
3. Pay the service fee of €60 and the return service fee of €8 (optional) online – via bank transfer. 
4. Send an email containing your documents or proof of payment, your name and nationality, the type of visa you are applying for, and the payment details. (see the sample below). Email address: KVACDEINFO@IOM.INT
5. Send your documents via post with Einschreiben. This is important as your original passport is inside.
6. You can track your documents.
7. Wait for the return of your passport with a Korea Visa grant (if you got one!)

South Korea tourist visa application timeline

Here’s my South Korea tourist visa application timeline for your reference. Note that yours and mine could be different. 

September 25, 2023– Transferred the payment via online banking. 

September 30, 2023 – Sent them an email regarding the payment, my name and nationality, the type of visa I am applying for, C-3-9 Ordinary tourist, and the payment details.  

October 2, 2023 – We sent the documents via post with Einschreiben. 

October 6, 2023 – The KVAC team sent an email requesting my residence permit during a specific period in Germany and a bank statement of my husband with a complete three-month transaction, including the dates and final balance. We gladly obliged and sent them copies via email. 

October 10, 2023 – another email from the KVAC team requesting us to send the rest of the bank statement via post as it’s too many to print out. 

The next day, October 11, 2023 – I sent the documents requested via post with Einschreiben.

October 17, 2023 – My passport is back with the South Korea tourist visa grant notice! There is no sticker on the passport, but a notice paper! 

In total, it took two (2) weeks to apply for and get a South Korea tourist visa from Germany as a Filipino passport holder. 

Sample of email to send to the KVAC team

Dear KVAC team, 

I am writing you to inform you about my South Korea visa application. Please see the information. 

o Proof of Payment attached to the email 
o Name and Nationality —> Catherine Mendoza Kaiser, Filipino 
o Type of Visa you are applying for (e.g. C-3-1, C-4-5) --> C-3-9 Ordinary tourist 
o Payment details —> visa fee €0, service fee €60, courier fee €8

Thank you very much!

Best,

( your complete name)

My experience with writing down family support instead of self-support for the visa application 

At first, I wrote in the visa application form that my husband would support my trip to South Korea. Even though I have enough money in the bank to fund my trip. Therefore, when we received the email requesting my husband’s three (3) month bank statement, we sent it right away. ( We already included his bank statement but not all the details and transactions along with the other requirements via mail. ) However, each month contains up to fourteen (14) pages. That’s why they requested us to ship via post, as it was too many pages to print out for them. I did right away. But also, we asked if we could change from support from family to self-support-(which they also advised in the email). And so, the KVAc team changed from family support to self-support. We have yet to get a reply after that. Six (6) days later, I got my passport back, with the visa grant notice!

My point is if you can confidently support your trip, declare so with supporting documents. By doing this, you may get the visa sooner without providing extra documents. Anyway, I was not in a hurry to get my passport back- even though I needed it to apply for a Japanese tourist visa.

Friendly and useful tips

• Collect your documents at once and make sure you are submitting complete documents. In doing so, you will have a higher chance of your visa getting approved.  
• Make sure you send your documents via post with Einschreiben. Einschreiben means your post contains essential papers and is therefore marked as important. 
• Check if your passport needs to pay a visa fee. Mine, for example, was only nine (9)days I applied for. Therefore, I didn’t need to pay the visa fee. I only paid for the service and return fee. You can check it here. 
• Take your photo in one of those photo booths you can find at U-Bahn or DMs in Germany. Photos must not be six months old and must be biometric. 
• You can print out your documents at DMs if you don’t have a printer at home. It costs €0.10 per copy.
• Make no mistake – if you have enough funds, write self-support. And if you declared so, you don’t need to add the ” family/spouse support.” In doing so, you don’t need to send a 3-month bank statement. 
• Don’t forget to attach the payment slip in your email.

Related read: South Africa tourist visa from Germany – here’s how to apply

Important things to know about applying for a South Korea tourist visa from Germany

• You can only apply for a South Korea tourist visa from Germany if you’ve spent more than two (2) years in Germany. A shorter stay than this is not possible. 
• It is mandatory to submit the actual passport.
• E-signature is not allowed. Make sure to sign all the documents manually before sending them in. 
• Send the payment first before sending an email to the KVAC team.
• Before submitting your application form, send an email to the KVAc team. Wait for their reply. After 2-3 days, you can submit your documents via post. 
• If you need a guide on how to properly fill out your application form, you can check it here.

South Korea visa application fee estimation

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Final thoughts

Applying for and getting a South Korea tourist visa as a Filipino from Germany had many requirements, yet the process was smooth and straightforward. Different from a Japan tourist visa, you don’t need to provide a travel itinerary, flight tickets, and booked hotel accommodations. South Korea tourist visa include the basic yet strict requirements. Similarly, you must have enough cash to fund your trip to the country. As long as you have all the requirements and submit them on time- before your flight, I believe you can be granted one. I couldn’t be more delighted to see one of my favorite countries to visit! And I can finally eat a lot of Teoppoki, Bibimbap, and Kimchi and enjoy a South Korean winter! Come back for my trip to South Korea post!

Thanks for reading!

Have you got any questions or applied for a South Korea visa from Germany before? How was your experience? Share it with me in the comments below!

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