K-ETA rejected or expired? Check the 2026 exemption list first

Last verified Sep 11, 2026

By Seungyeop Yeom · Sep 11, 2026

The short version

If your K-ETA was rejected or has expired, do not go straight back to the application form. First check whether your passport is now on the 2026 exemption list, whether you’re 17 or younger or 65 or older, and whether anything on your passport has changed since your last approval. Only after that do you pay the 10,000 KRW fee again at www.k-eta.go.kr — and if you’re rejected a second time with nothing about your circumstances different, the next step is your embassy’s C-3 visitor visa page, not a third K-ETA attempt.

Check this before you touch the K-ETA site again

South Korea extended a temporary K-ETA exemption for 22 countries and regions through 2026-12-31 (Korea time), running from 2026-01-01. The list includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Germany, among others. Switzerland and Liechtenstein are covered by the same 2026-12-31 cutoff under a separate notice. If your passport is one of these, you do not need a K-ETA at all right now, rejected, expired, or otherwise. You still need to submit the free e-Arrival Card, but the K-ETA problem simply stops applying to you.

Age is the second thing to rule out. Travelers who are 17 or younger, or 65 or older, are not required to hold a K-ETA in the first place, according to the Immigration Service’s own K-ETA guide. If the rejected or expired K-ETA belongs to a child or an older relative on your booking, check whether they needed one at all before you spend more money re-applying for them.

Third, look at when your existing K-ETA was issued. K-ETA is valid for 3 years from the date it’s granted (or until your passport expires, if that’s sooner) — but only for applications made from 2023-07-03 onward. Anything approved before that date was only valid for 2 years. If you assumed 3 years and it’s actually a 2-year K-ETA that quietly expired on you, that’s the whole problem, and the fix is a normal re-application, not a dispute.

Finally, some events force a fresh application no matter how much time is left on your current K-ETA: a reissued passport, or a change to your criminal record or infectious disease information. None of your remaining validity carries over in those cases.

What to do, by situation

Situation	Action	Fee	Typical turnaround
K-ETA expired, same passport, nothing else changed	Re-apply at k-eta.go.kr	10,000 KRW	Usually within 72 hours
K-ETA rejected once, reason fixable (data entry, missing detail)	Correct it and re-apply	10,000 KRW	Usually within 72 hours
K-ETA rejected, no clear reason or nothing to fix	Contact the relevant embassy/consulate about a C-3 visitor visa	Varies by embassy	Not confirmed here
Passport reissued since last K-ETA	New application required regardless of remaining validity	10,000 KRW	Usually within 72 hours
Passport is on the 2026 exemption list	No K-ETA needed; use the e-Arrival Card instead	None	Not applicable
Traveler is 17 or younger, or 65 or older	K-ETA was never required	None	Not applicable

The fee is 10,000 KRW per application, and the official guide states it directly: the fee is “non-refundable, even if the application is denied.” That single line is why checking the exemption and age rules first matters — every re-application is money spent whether or not it’s approved.

Who this actually applies to

If your passport was reissued since you last got a K-ETA approved → you need a new application, even if the old one still shows time left.
If your nationality is one of the 22 countries or regions covered by the 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31 exemption → you don’t need a new K-ETA right now at all.
If you’re traveling with someone who is 17 or younger, or 65 or older → that person was never required to hold a K-ETA in the first place.
If your existing K-ETA was approved before 2023-07-03 and you assumed the standard 3-year validity → check the actual expiry date, because that batch was only good for 2 years.
If your criminal record or infectious disease information has changed since your last approval → you must re-apply regardless of how much validity remains.

Where people get this wrong

The most common mistake is re-applying and paying again without checking the 2026 exemption list first. That means spending 10,000 KRW on a K-ETA that a traveler from an exempt country doesn’t need at all this year. The second is assuming a reissued passport keeps the old K-ETA’s remaining time; the official reapplication guidance is explicit that a passport reissue triggers a new application no matter what. The third is treating “3-year validity” as universal when it only applies to applications made from 2023-07-03 onward.

There’s also a scam risk specific to this moment: people who’ve just been rejected or whose K-ETA just expired are searching under time pressure, and that’s exactly when non-official agency sites show up in search results charging a markup on top of the 10,000 KRW government fee. The only official site is www.k-eta.go.kr, and Korean consular notices have specifically warned about unofficial agency sites impersonating it. There’s no government-appointed agent for K-ETA applications. You apply directly, or you don’t need to apply at all.

One more thing worth flagging honestly: some older consular notices describe limits on how often you can re-apply within a set period after a rejection, but that guidance is not confirmed against a current official source here, so treat “unlimited attempts” claims you might see elsewhere with caution rather than as settled fact.

What re-applying actually costs

If a family of four all had K-ETA applications rejected and all four need to try again, that’s the 10,000 KRW fee paid a second time for each person: 40,000 KRW total, none of it refunded from the first, failed round.

That’s the number that makes checking the exemption list and the age rule worth doing before anyone resubmits: any family member from one of the 22 exempt countries, or aged 17 or younger, or 65 or older, doesn’t need to be in that 40,000 KRW at all.

Step by step

Check whether your nationality is currently covered by the 2026 exemption (2026-01-01 through 2026-12-31) via your embassy’s notice page, or by scanning your passport on the K-ETA application screen; an exempt passport triggers a “K-ETA exempt” popup automatically.
Confirm the traveler isn’t 17 or younger or 65 or older, since neither group needs a K-ETA.
If you still need to apply, log in at www.k-eta.go.kr and check your application status and, if given, the rejection reason.
Fix whatever caused the rejection, then submit a new application (10,000 KRW, decided usually within 72 hours). Apply at least 72 hours before boarding.
If a passport was reissued, or criminal record or infectious disease details changed, submit a new application regardless of remaining validity. There’s no way to carry the old one over.
If you’re rejected again with nothing about your situation different, check the C-3 visitor visa guidance on your country’s embassy page at overseas.mofa.go.kr instead of re-submitting a third K-ETA.
Regardless of your K-ETA status, complete the e-Arrival Card within 3 days of arrival at www.e-arrivalcard.go.kr. It’s free either way.
For questions about status changes or anything the K-ETA site doesn’t answer, contact the Immigrant Contact Center (외국인종합안내센터) at 1345, or use HiKorea (하이코리아) at www.hikorea.go.kr.

Where to book

There’s nothing to book here. A K-ETA application is submitted directly at www.k-eta.go.kr for the 10,000 KRW government fee — there is no official agency, and no legitimate service charges more than that fee plus a normal card-processing charge. The e-Arrival Card at www.e-arrivalcard.go.kr has no fee at all. If a site other than these two asks you to pay to “process” your application, it isn’t official, and Korean consular notices have already warned travelers about exactly that pattern.