No More Original Bankbooks Required
At a travel agency counter in Hanoi, a thick folder lands on the desk. For her daughter's first trip to Korea, a mother has packed more than a passport copy — a bank balance certificate, a certificate of employment, even a copy of the house deed. The clerk flips through the pages and says, "Until last year you also needed the original bankbook. This is enough now."
September, spanning Chuseok (Korea's autumn harvest holiday) this year, is peak season for Vietnamese group tours to Korea. Korea's Ministry of Justice has extended the visa-fee waiver ($15 per person) for group tourists from six countries, including Vietnam and China, through December 31, 2026, and Vietnamese agencies are rushing to lock in autumn bookings. Yet for individual travelers, the real hurdle has rarely been the fee — it has been the paperwork.
Ministry of Justice data show Vietnamese nationals made up 78,235 of Korea's undocumented foreign residents in 2022, second only to Thailand's 147,481. As a top source country for Korea-bound tourists that also carries a high overstay-risk label, Vietnam long saw its Korean Embassy require individual tourist (C-3-9) visa applicants to submit an original bankbook, a balance certificate, a certificate of employment and an employment contract all at once — missing even one document could mean outright rejection.
That changed on October 1, 2024. Under revised embassy guidelines, individual applicants for the general tourist (C-3-9) or major-city-resident (C-3-91) visa no longer submit an original bankbook or balance certificate — a single three-month bank statement now suffices, plus either a certificate of employment or an employment contract, not both. Business registration, tax certificates and ID are also accepted without translation or notarization.
Group tour visas gained the fee waiver too. The share of group-visa entrants who slipped away and overstayed fell from 0.19% in 2024 to 0.07% in 2025. Visa agents in Hanoi report that with lighter paperwork and no fee, more travelers now apply directly instead of going through an agency.
The paperwork hasn't disappeared entirely, though. Before applying, check the latest checklist from the embassy's visa section or the Korea Visa Application Center (KVAC) in Ho Chi Minh City — requirements shift with each revision, so the embassy's own page beats an agency's word alone. The folder is thinner, but the habit of double-checking shouldn't be.