South Korea waives visa fees to attract tourists amid MERS

South Korea on Wednesday said it would waive visa fees for visitors from China and Southeast Asia as it struggles to recover from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) outbreak which has seen tourist numbers plummet.

The announcement came as the country reported no new cases for a fourth consecutive day in the outbreak of Mers which has infected 182 people, killing 33.

The justice ministry said visas which had been already issued would be extended for another three months as South Korea enters its peak tourist season of July and August.

“These measures are aimed to help boost the tourism industry, which has been affected by the Mers outbreak”, it said in a statement.

The outbreak has dealt a serious blow to the tourist industry, with the southern resort island of Jeju suffering a 46 percent fall in Chinese visitors in June compared with last year.

Vice tourism minister Kim Chong has warned the country’s earnings could be slashed by up to $2.3 billion if the number of foreign travelers drops by 50 percent.

South Korea will waive tourist visa fees, worth $15, from July 6 through to September 30 for those travelling in groups.

They include tourists from China, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, the ministry said.

The validity of one-off visas issued between March 1 and June 30 would be automatically extended from three months to six months.

More than a million tourists have been issued these visas.

Chinese tourists travelling in groups with Japanese visas will also be allowed to enter South Korea visa-free for stays of up to 15 days, it said.

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Posted in: Immigration News , South Korean Immigration , travel news

South Korea to Tighten Visa Rules for Marriage Immigrants

In an effort to root out illegal international matchmaking agencies, South Korea will tighten its visa issuance procedures for foreigners coming to live in the country after marrying locals, the Ministry of Justice said Wednesday.

The move is a follow-up to the revision in August last year of a marriage broker law requiring the marriage brokers to have more than 100 million won (US$94,000) in paid-in capital.

The revision, which effectively came into force a year later after a one-year grace period, however, prompted concerns that unregistered agencies, which do not meet the requirement, would provide illegal matchmaking services without the government permit, the ministry said.

The ministry said it will cooperate with consular offices and immigration offices to reinforce the screening of F-6 visa applicants and find those who falsify documents of their dating history.

A South Korean national or any marriage broker who fabricates such documents will be jailed for up to three years or receive a fine of up to 20 million won if found guilty, it said.

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Posted in: Filipino tourists , Immigration News , South Korean Immigration , South Korean Visa , travel news

South Korea To Simplify the Tourist Visa Requirements

The South Korean Immigration is looking into easing visa requirements for Filipino tourists, according to an official of the Korean Tourism Organization (KTO).

Chang Wook Jung, senior deputy director of the Incentive and Exhibition team of KTO, said the KTO head office in Seoul and the KTO satellite office in Manila have been working on convincing the South Korean government to ease up the visa application process in the Philippines.

''There is a process going on at the moment and our government is looking at the arrangements we have in place for the visa requirements. We're hoping that in two or three years, these arrangements will finally be approved,'' Jung said during the Korea MICE Mart held at a hotel in Pasay City.

Jung added that the move follows the increasing number of Filipino tourist going to Korea, the rapid growth in the Philippine economy and the strong diplomatic ties of South Korea and the Philippines.

According to the recent tourism statistics between the Philippines and Korea, during the first quarter of 2013, 81,540 Filipinos visited the country, an 11.5 percent increase from the same period last year. In 2012, a total of 331,346 Filipinos traveled to Korea.

Meanwhile, for the MICE demand from the Philippines, Korea is now emerging as a corporate incentive tourism destination offering diverse tailor-made tourism programs.

Jung said this increase is attributed to the staunch effort of KTO Manila, which has recently celebrated its first anniversary of operations in the Philippines, to promote Korean tourism in the country.

''KTO Manila is doing great job promoting our country to Filipinos and local travel agencies. But until we address the obstacle of visa application, the Philippine market cannot reach its full potential. Over one million Koreans visited the Philippines last year. We're confident that someday, the Filipino market will match this demand for Korea,'' Jung said.

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Posted in: Filipino tourists , Immigration News , South Korean Immigration , South Korean Visa , travel news