PSA: No More Printed South Korean Visas on PH Passports Soon

(SPOT.ph) Heads up, travel bugs! If you recently applied or are planning to get a South Korean Visa, here's a bit of good news: your visa application results and visa will soon be available exclusively online.

Starting this January 26, you can now get the highly coveted 'Visa Grant Notice' as a digital notice—yes, you can download and print it for yourself. Here's what you need to know about this new development in the South Korean visa application process.

In a post on its social media pages, the Korean Visa Application Center just announced that it is transforming the way applicants will receive the coveted Visa Grant Notice. "We are pleased to share that, following a change in the visa process policy by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, effective January 26, 2026, the Visa Grant Notice has been transformed into a digital notice," the post says. Additionally, "applicants may also download and print the issued visa from the portal."

If you're a frequent traveler, this means you get one more page for entry and exit stamps—giving you more breathing room and helping stretch your passport’s usable life a little longer. If you're wondering how different this is from the current process, simply put, when you get your passports from the KVAC, there will no longer be any additional visa or paper notice of the grant attached.

But fair warning, this doesn't mean you no longer have to submit your passports when applying for a visa. In response to several clarifications on its social media posts, the Korean Visa Application Center reiterates that "there are no changes to the visa requirements set by the Korean Embassy. The original passport is still required to be submitted."

Moreover, the center also emphasizes that the visa application process will remain the same; it's really just that the embassy will no longer print physical copies of the visa and the visa grant notice.

How exactly do you get this "Digital Notice," and how will you use it at immigration? SPOT.ph reached out to the Korean Visa Application Center to clarify whether travelers need to bring a hard copy of the notice when they travel or if digital copies will be accepted, but their answer leaves a lot of room for interpretation. "The visas will no longer be printed and attached to the passport. For entry and exit protocol, please inquire directly to [sic] the Philippine Immigration."

As of writing, the Bureau of Immigration has not specifically released guidelines on the use of South Korea's Digital Grant Notice. Regardless, it might still be best to keep a physical copy on hand when you fly. Here are the steps to get your Digital Visa Grant Notice:

1. Visit the Korea Visa Portal: visa.go.kr.

2. Click 'Check Application Status'.

3. Select 'Check Application Status & Print'.

4. Specify the Diplomatic Office (Manila) and use your passport number to search.

5. When prompted, provide your name in English in this format: Last Name <space> First Name <space> Second Name (if you have). Note that the middle name is not included.

This process is similar to how you would check your visa application status before. There's just an added feature to download and save the actual visa grant notice.

For more information, visit the Korean Visa Application Center Philippines' Facebook page.