K-Pop and K-drama fans, good news!
The South Korean Embassy in Manila will once again open the online appointment slots for visa application to Filipino tourists on Thursday, November 24.
“We will open new slots for visa appointments on November 24. That’s for the December 2022 slots. So if you plan to visit Korea in January or February next year, this is your opportunity.” Lee Kyoo Ho, South Korean consul general to the Philippines, said.
No appointment slots til November
Consul General Lee said they had to suspend accepting tourist visa applications online for lack of Embassy personnel to process thousands of applications.
“I know a lot of Filipinos, including young Filipinos, are very frustrated about getting slots for appointments to submit their new applications. I wanted to say, ‘Be patient,’” Lee told republicasia.
Why appointment system was suspended
He explained the Korean Embassy in Manila only has three visa consuls who process 500 visa applications every day. Sometimes, they have to work until 12 midnight or 1 am.
“The Korean Embassy wants to keep the principle of (issuing visas within) five working days. It means when you get the appointment for visa application, you will get the visa within five working days. Unlike other embassies from big countries – I won’t mention names – sometimes, it takes them 20 days to issue tourist visas,” Lee told republicasia.
Popular among tourists in Korea lately is this spot in Gyeonggi-do from Netfix series “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”
What happened last September 14
Last September 14, the Embassy launched its online system to schedule appointments for visa applications. Minutes after the online system went on air at 2pm, all the slots were already filled in, forcing the Embassy to stop accepting applications until the end of November 2022.
Hours before that, hundreds of applicants queued outside the Embassy at the Upper McKinley in Bonifacio Global Center in Taguig as early as midnight to avail of the last day of in-person application at the Embassy.
Congen tip
“Because of the popularity of Korea, slots for our visa applications may be gone in two to three minutes. So be ready. At 9am on November 24, we will open,” Lee said.
The link to register for online slot is here: https://consul.mofa.go.kr/cipl/0100/login.do?authFailed=Y
For more details on applying for visas, please read the following links:
https://overseas.mofa.go.kr/ph-en/brd/m_3272/view.do?seq=760870&page=1
https://overseas.mofa.go.kr/ph-en/brd/m_3272/view.do?seq=760869&page=1
But wait, are you going to go to Jeju or Yanyang? Read!
Filipinos wishing to travel to Jeju Island and Yanyang only are not required to apply for tourist visas.
But for Filipino tourists to enter Yanyang, only groups of five or more travelers arranged by an accredited travel agency can enter visa-free.
