Do they pay for your quarantine too?

That 2 week mandatory quarantine can be quite expensive. I think it's 150,000won per day. It might be a little over 2k USD to complete the whole quarantine.

Last I heard you have to pay for it yourself (at least with EPiK). Maybe they've changed that since then, but I doubt it.

If you're going private, good luck convincing your employer to shell out for that.

That 2 week mandatory quarantine can be quite expensive. I think it's 150,000won per day. It might be a little over 2k USD to complete the whole quarantine.

I was permitted to quarantine at home.  Didn't cost me a cent.

I was permitted to quarantine at home.  Didn't cost me a cent.

Are you a gyopo with home in Korea?

Are you a gyopo with home in Korea?

You don't have to be a gyopo, just someone with a residence here. If you don't have a residence but you have family living here with a residence, then that's an option, too (not too sure about this last bit, but it's what I've read here and there).

As far as I know, you're fully responsible for paying for your own quarantine, but if you already have a legal residence in Korea (including foreigners with work visas) then you can opt to stay there rather than paying for one of the mandated quarantine facilities. This option is, unfortunately, ruled out for most newcomers to Korea.

Are you a gyopo with home in Korea?

No.  I'm a Canadian F-5 visa holder with a residence here.  You cannot travel to Korea now unless you have a long-term visa or are Korean.  My ID card was the only reason I was able to get my boarding pass, otherwise I would not be able to fly in.

No.  I'm a Canadian F-5 visa holder with a residence here.  You cannot travel to Korea now unless you have a long-term visa or are Korean.  My ID card was the only reason I was able to get my boarding pass, otherwise I would not be able to fly in.

I thought you can enter visa free and get the long term visa after arriving in Korea.

I thought you can enter visa free and get the long term visa after arriving in Korea.

Nah, they aren't letting you in without a visa lol.

I thought you can enter visa free and get the long term visa after arriving in Korea.

That was before the pandemic. The rules have changed since then, and Korea hasn't been allowing people to enter based on tourism alone (in the past, you could have entered on a tourist visa, which is automatically granted to people from certain countries -- EX: automatic 90-day tourist visa if you're from the USA).

Now you've got to have actual business here, or a legal job already lined up.

But you should really contact your embassy for verification and details. Exceptions may exist for certain passport holders. It really depends, and the situation is constantly shifting and changing.

If you're a gyopo hoping to get an F4, it'll be easier to get it while in your own country rather than in Korea anyway. This was true even before Covid.

I'm a gyopo (US citizen) but trying to get the F4 in US involves getting a covid test. I'm afraid I might get covid in the process of getting the covid test.

And I thought you don't need a visa to go to Korea if you are a US citizen, not even a tourist visa.

I'm a gyopo (US citizen) but trying to get the F4 in US involves getting a covid test. I'm afraid I might get covid in the process of getting the covid test.

And I thought you don't need a visa to go to Korea if you are a US citizen, not even a tourist visa.

I'm pretty sure the test is required by Korea, they won't let you in without the results, and they're going to test you again here, too, so it's not something you can avoid. In some cases they won't even let you out of quarantine until you've been tested and found covid-negative twice.

Also, even as a US citizen, you still need a tourist visa to come to Korea, but the tourist visa for US citizens to Korea is automatic. You don't need to apply for it, all you need is a US passport, but it's still limited to 90 days after you go through immigration. Once the 90 days are up, you either need to apply for an extension, leave the country and return to restart the 90-day tourist visa, or apply for a completely different visa.

But, again, the tourist visa route isn't really an option for most people right now because of the pandemic. Korea has effectively closed its borders to tourist visas, so you can't come here on that. Korea has made exceptions for US citizens here and there, but I don't think now is one of those times. You'll have to go through the process and paperwork of applying for a different visa if you want in, and if it's the F4 visa that you want, I can tell you that it's a LOT less frustrating to get it in the States than it is to get it here.

Hopefully they're keeping diseased Americans out. I'd hate for these incompetent people to be getting about just now. "Even" as an American citizen (lmfao right?), you might need to follow some rules though. To stop the spread of a disease I think they want you to show that you don't have it before arriving. It's a bit crazy but that's how it seems to be. Good luck!

Hopefully they're keeping diseased Americans out. I'd hate for these incompetent people to be getting about just now. "Even" as an American citizen (lmfao right?), you might need to follow some rules though. To stop the spread of a disease I think they want you to show that you don't have it before arriving. It's a bit crazy but that's how it seems to be. Good luck!

Diseased Americans?  Didn't this virus start in China?

Are you really making a serious response to something that Chimp posted?

Also, when considering who to allow to visit your elderly grandmama over in the Bellview Heights Palliative Care facility, would you let in the guy who was A) deathly ill a few years ago, but is now mostly better, or the dude who  is B) currently oozing mucus and blood from every orifice and violently denying the necessity of basic measures to prevent transmission while hacking over everything?