Rulebook / Visas & entry / South Korea
Korea K-ETA
- Day threshold
- 90 days
- Window
- Each single stay
- Direction
- Ceiling — stay at or below
- Counts
- Days in South Korea; arrival and departure days both count
- Authority
- Korea Immigration Service
Korea K-ETA caps your time in South Korea at 90 days per visit. The statute attaches its consequence at 91 days or more, so 90 is the last safe count. Most K-ETA nationalities get 90 days per entry; some agreements give 30, 60 or 180. Check your own before relying on 90.
Who it applies to
This matters most if you are:
- A visitor on a short-stay visa or visa waiver making several trips a year.
- A long-term traveller stitching stays together and losing track of the cumulative count.
- Anyone booking a return trip who needs to know the last day they may legally stay.
The rule — and why it exists
Korea visit length. At most 90 days in South Korea per visit — written as <=90 / VISIT.
Why it exists: a short-stay allowance is a promise to leave. The cap, and the way it is counted, is what lets a state admit visitors without treating every visit as immigration.
Counting the days
- Count the days of each stay in South Korea on its own, arrival and departure days included.
- No single stay may exceed 90 days.
- Leaving and re-entering starts a new stay — but frequent or back-to-back visits invite refusal as a de facto resident.
The free calculator below counts this rule with the same engine the Dwelltime app ships.
Check it with the free tool
Examples
Example 1 — A stay of 80 days
Stays: South Korea 2026-03-01 → 2026-05-19. Checked on 2026-05-19.
Result: Korea visit length: 10 of 90 days left (80 used in South Korea).
Example 2 — A stay of 95 days
Stays: South Korea 2026-03-01 → 2026-06-03. Checked on 2026-06-03.
Result: Korea visit length: over the limit — 95 of 90 days, first exceeded 2026-05-30.
Example 3 — Two visits of 62 days each
Stays: South Korea 2026-01-10 → 2026-03-12; South Korea 2026-06-01 → 2026-08-01. Checked on 2026-08-01.
Result: Korea visit length: 28 of 90 days left (62 used in South Korea).
Exceptions & edge cases
- National visas and residence permits. Days spent under a long-stay visa of that country are usually not short-stay days.
- Transit. Airside transit generally does not count; a day on which you cross the border does.
- Overstays. Even a single day over can mean a ban or refused entry; the engine reports the first breaching day.
Common misconceptions
- "Under 90 days means I'm safe." False — other tests can apply, and the count is only one input.
- "I can chain visits." Each visit is counted alone, but a pattern of back-to-back visits is treated as residence.
- "Arrival day doesn't count." Any part of a day inside is a day inside.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 90-day count per calendar year or rolling?
Each single stay. Each stay is measured on its own.
Do arrival and departure days count?
Yes — any part of a day counts as a day.
Where does this rule come from?
Korea Immigration Service: K-ETA. The link is verified on every build; if it stops resolving the build fails.
This rule is tracked in 
Dwelltime
- Counts your days for this rule from the trips you record
- Shows the last safe day, or the days still needed, before you book
- Explains every counted day and every uncounted one
- Runs alongside your other visa, tax and residency rules
Sources
Related rules
- 🇰🇷Avoid South Korea tax residencyKorea counts 183 days of residence or stay in a tax year; an address or occupation in Korea can make you resident sooner.
<=182 / YEAR - 🇰🇷Become South Korea tax residentKorea counts 183 days of residence or stay in a tax year; an address or occupation in Korea can make you resident sooner.
>=183 / YEAR
For information only. This page is a plain-English summary of publicly available rules, not tax, legal or immigration advice. Rules change and depend on your personal circumstances — always confirm with the official source above and a qualified professional before acting.