South Korea student visa: the complete 2026 guide for foreign students (D-2 and D-4)

Studying in South Korea is genuinely within reach: tuition is lower than in the US, UK or Australia, Korean universities charge foreign students the same fees as Korean students, and the government actively wants more international students. But the visa is a documents game. Get the paperwork exactly right and it is routine; get one piece wrong and weeks disappear. This guide walks through both student visas — the D-2 for degrees and the D-4 for language study — in the order you will actually meet them.

First: which visa do you need?

• D-2 — the degree visa. For an associate, bachelor's, master's or doctoral program at a Korean university or college. There are sub-types you will see on forms: D-2-2 (bachelor's), D-2-3 (master's), D-2-4 (doctorate), D-2-6 (exchange student), D-2-8 (visiting / study abroad). A bachelor's visa is typically granted a year at a time and extended as you progress, up to the length of your program.
• D-4-1 — the language visa. For full-time Korean courses at a university-affiliated language institute (the famous ones include Yonsei, Sogang and Korea University, and nearly every university runs one). Granted in blocks of about six months, extendable up to a maximum of two years in total.
• The classic path: many students start on D-4 to learn Korean for a year, then switch to D-2 for a degree. That switch can be done inside Korea at immigration once a university admits you — you do not have to fly home and start again.
• Under 90 days? A single short language term can sometimes be done on a tourist entry if your passport allows it — but you cannot work, cannot extend it into a student status, and most serious students need the real visa. Plan on D-2 or D-4.

The requirements, one by one

1. Admission first — the Certificate of Admission. Everything starts with being accepted. Apply to the university (many list their programs on the government portal studyinkorea.go.kr), and if you are accepted and your tuition deposit is paid, the university issues a Certificate of Admission (also called the Standard Admission Letter). No certificate, no visa — it is the single most important document in the file. Choose a properly accredited university: immigration keeps a list of schools under visa restrictions because of past overstay problems, and an admission from one of those can follow you like a shadow.

2. Passport and photo. A passport valid for at least six months beyond your application (keep well over a year on it if you can — renewals mid-degree are a nuisance), plus a recent colour photo, 3.5 × 4.5 cm on a white background, taken within six months.

3. The money proof — read this twice. There is no single figure written into law. The rule is that you must show enough for one year of tuition plus living costs (six months of costs for a D-4 language course), and your university states the exact amount in its admission guide. The numbers universities most commonly require are:

• Degree (D-2), university in Seoul / the capital area: a bank balance of about ₩20 million (roughly US$14,000–15,000).
• Degree (D-2), university outside the capital: about ₩16 million.
• Language course (D-4): about ₩10 million in the capital area, ₩8 million outside it.

The balance certificate must usually be issued within the last 30 days before you submit. The money can be yours or a parent's — if it is a parent's, you add a family-relations certificate proving the relationship. What gets applications refused is not the amount but the story: a balance that appeared in the account the week before, with no income or savings history behind it, is the classic red flag. Embassies can and do ask for months of transaction statements. Build the balance honestly and early.

4. Your education documents — authenticated. Your final graduation certificate and transcripts (high-school documents for a bachelor's or language course; your degree for a master's) must be verified: by Apostille if your country is in the Hague system, otherwise by Korean consular authentication. Chinese applicants go through the official CHSI/CSSA verification channels instead. Anything not in Korean or English needs a notarised translation. This step takes weeks in most countries — start it before anything else.

5. Language scores — set by the university, not the embassy. For a Korean-taught degree, universities typically expect TOPIK level 3 or higher at entry (level 4 is a common graduation requirement). For English-taught programs, expect roughly IELTS 5.5–6.5 or the TOEFL equivalent. For a D-4 language course, no Korean is required at all — learning it is the whole point — but if you have a study gap since your last graduation, be ready to explain it simply and honestly.

6. The tuberculosis (TB) certificate. If you are a citizen of one of Korea's 35 TB high-risk countries — the list includes China, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, Mongolia and Uzbekistan — and you are applying to stay over 90 days, you must include a TB diagnosis certificate from a hospital designated by the Korean embassy. A certificate from your local clinic, however good, will not be accepted.

7. The application form and fee. The visa application form (Form 34; many consulates now use the electronic form from korea-visa.go.kr), and a fee of roughly US$40–90 depending on your nationality.

How to apply, step by step

• Step 1 (4–6 months before intake): choose your university and program. Degree intakes start in March and September; language institutes run four terms a year, starting roughly March, June, September and December. Send your authenticated documents and meet the university's deadline.
• Step 2: get admitted, pay the tuition the university invoices (language students applying for D-4 usually must register — and pay — for at least two terms upfront), and receive your Certificate of Admission.
• Step 3: for many nationalities, the university now applies inside Korea for a visa issuance confirmation number (often called a CCVI or CSR number). That takes about 2–4 weeks, and with the number in hand the consulate step becomes mostly a formality. If your route does not use one, you submit the full document file yourself.
• Step 4: submit everything at the Korean embassy or consulate for your area (some countries route this through a visa application centre). Depending on your country you will receive a visa sticker in your passport or a Visa Grant Notice to print and carry.
• Step 5: processing usually takes 2–4 weeks after submission — longer in peak season, which is exactly why the timeline starts months ahead. Your passport may be held during processing.
• Step 6: fly in (the visa gives you a window — typically 90 days from issue — to enter), and within 90 days of arrival register at immigration for your Residence Card. That card is your key to a bank account, a phone contract, housing and health insurance, so book the appointment early: slots vanish at the start of every semester.

What studying in Korea actually costs

• Degree tuition: as a planning range, budget roughly US$4,000–9,000 a year at national and public universities and US$8,000–20,000 a year at private universities, with medicine, dentistry and engineering at the top end and humanities at the bottom. University scholarships of 30%–100% of tuition are common for international students, often tied to grades or TOPIK level — always check your university's scholarship table.
• Language institute tuition: about ₩1.5–2.0 million per 10-week term at major university institutes (Seoul campuses at the top of that range), plus an application fee of around ₩100,000.
• Living costs: about ₩700,000–1,000,000 a month covers rent in a small studio or goshiwon, food, transport and a life. Seoul sits at the top of the range; regional cities can be a third cheaper.
• Health insurance (not optional): long-term students must enrol in the National Health Insurance Service. Students pay a discounted premium — budget roughly ₩70,000–80,000 a month. D-2 students enrol once they have their Residence Card; D-4 students from about six months after entry.

Working part-time: the real rules

Yes, students can work — but permission comes first, work second, and this is where students most often destroy their own visas. The sequence is fixed: get a job offer and a standard contract, get your university's confirmation, then apply for the part-time work permission (an S-3 permission) through immigration or the HiKorea portal. Working even one shift before approval is illegal employment. A first offence typically means a fine and a one-year ban on part-time work; a second can mean a departure order.

• D-2 hours (term time): typically 20–25 hours a week for undergraduates who meet the Korean-language condition (TOPIK 3 for junior years, TOPIK 4 for senior years and graduate students; graduate students can reach 30–35 hours). Without the required Korean level the allowance drops sharply, to around 10–15 hours. On weekends, public holidays and vacations, students who meet the conditions face no hourly cap. In practice, most universities expect you to finish your first semester — and keep at least a C (2.0) average — before they sign off.
• D-4 hours: no work at all for your first six months in Korea. After six months, with TOPIK level 2 or above and good attendance, you can be permitted up to 20 hours a week (10 hours if your Korean is below level 2).
• Banned jobs for all students: construction, delivery work and adult entertainment, always. Factory/manufacturing work is only possible with TOPIK 4 or higher. Typical legal student jobs: cafés, restaurants, convenience stores, translation, campus and office assistance.
• The pay floor: Korea's minimum wage for 2026 is ₩10,320 an hour. If a job offers less, it is not just a bad job — it is an illegal one.

Scholarships: the one that changes everything

The Global Korea Scholarship (GKS), run by the Korean government through NIIED, is one of the most generous scholarships anywhere: 100% of tuition, a round-trip flight, a monthly living stipend of roughly ₩900,000–1,200,000, a settlement allowance, health insurance and a fully funded year of Korean-language training before your degree begins. Undergraduate applicants must be under 25 with a GPA of at least 80% (or top 20% of their class), and both the applicant and their parents must be non-Korean nationals. Apply either through your country's Korean embassy or directly to a participating university; undergraduate applications open around September–October for the following year, graduate applications around February, and applications are now submitted online through studyinkorea.go.kr. GKS scholars use their award letter instead of bank-balance proof. It is competitive — but thousands of ordinary students win it every year, and it is the single biggest reason to start your application early.

New in 2026, and staying on after graduation

• Pilot programs (2026): Korea is piloting friendlier rules for a small set of designated, industry-linked programs — including waiving the minimum bank-balance proof for students with TOPIK 3 or higher, and a dedicated post-graduation work route (called E-7-M or K-CORE) for their graduates who find in-field jobs. These are small pilots, not the general rules — but they show the direction of travel, and it is worth asking whether your program is on the list.
• After you graduate: degree graduates can switch to the D-10 job-seeking status. Since the Ministry of Justice reform of 29 October 2025, Korean-university graduates can stay on D-10 for up to three years in total (it was two before the reform), granted one year at a time, while you find work, and then move to a work visa such as the E-7 when an employer hires you. Your Korean level is the difference-maker: employers and immigration both reward TOPIK 4–5 far beyond its exam-hall value.
• While you study: report every address change within 14 days, extend your stay 2–4 weeks before it expires with an enrolment certificate and fresh financial proof, and protect your attendance and grades — both are checked at extension time, and both are conditions of your work permission.

The mistakes that get applications refused

• Money that appeared in the bank account days before the certificate was issued, with no history behind it.
• Certificates that were never apostilled or authenticated — or translations that were never notarised.
• A TB certificate from a hospital the embassy has not designated (high-risk-country applicants).
• Applying to a school under immigration visa restrictions, or one you cannot explain choosing.
• A vague study plan — especially for D-4 applicants who cannot say why they need Korean or what comes next.
• Starting everything six weeks before intake. The document chain — apostille, bank history, admission, visa — needs months, not weeks.

Do those things right and the Korean student visa is not a lottery; it is a checklist. Start with the portal at studyinkorea.go.kr, pick accredited universities, and work backwards from your intake date. And once the visa is in your passport, the fun part begins — our first-time in Korea guide covers what to know when you land, and if family or friends are coming to visit you, send them our 2026 entry requirements guide so nobody mixes up the K-ETA and the e-Arrival Card.

Compiled in October 2026 from the Korea Immigration Service, the Study in Korea portal (studyinkorea.go.kr), NIIED scholarship information and Korean university admission guides. Amounts are the figures universities and embassies most commonly publish; the exact financial requirement is set by your university, and document details vary by nationality. Always treat your university's admission guide and your Korean embassy's checklist as the final word, and check hikorea.go.kr or studyinkorea.go.kr for late changes before you apply.