K-ETA Exemption 2026: Until Dec 31, Official Fee 10,000 Won

Korea's Ministry of Justice immigration office stated in an August 12, 2025 notice, "Fake K-ETA Websites: Please Be Careful," that "the government has not designated any agency to handle K-ETA applications." The official K-ETA site lists the application fee as 10,000 won per person. The exemption extension was confirmed in a March 20, 2026 notice on the official K-ETA site ("Notice on Extension of the Temporary K-ETA Exemption Period," post No. 299706), which specifies the period as January 1 through December 31, 2026. The exempt countries are those whose citizens can already enter Korea visa-free, but the notice itself does not list every country by name — travelers from the US, UK, Canada, Japan and other visa-waiver countries should not assume last year's exemption automatically carries over; check your own passport on k-eta.go.kr. The look-alike-site overcharging example (up to roughly 13 times the official fee) comes from a February 21, 2024 report by Malaysian outlet SAYS. Whether exempt travelers must still file a separate electronic arrival card was not found in the primary sources checked for this article — confirm on the official site before you travel. All of the above was verified on 2026-11-01 on the detail pages of the K-ETA site notice and the Ministry of Justice notice.