1. The recent growth in people-to-people exchanges between the Republic of Korea and China has led to a steady increase in visa affairs handled by the ROK’s diplomatic missions in China. However, due to the shortage of personnel in charge of visa affairs, visa applicants have had to wait long hours or their visa review process has been delayed.

2. In order to address the aforementioned issue, the ROK Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened visa application centers in Guangzhou and Qingdao, which will handle simple visa affairs on behalf of the ROK’s Consulate-General in the region, including receiving visa applications and issuing visas.

3. The visa application centers, after about three weeks of pilot operations, will be put into full operation from September 14, 2015.

4. The centers, set up in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, and Chengyang District, Qingdao, near the ROK’s Consulate-General in the region, will offer various services, including receiving visa applications and issuing visas except for diplomatic, official and group visas. The centers wil also be providing relevant consultations.

- Since January 1, 2015, Chinese group travelers have been able to apply for their group visas to the ROK at the ROK’s visa portal at www.visa.go.kr without having to visit the ROK’s diplomatic missions in their regions. The visa portal is operated by the Ministry of Justice to attract more Chinese tourists to the ROK.

5. With the opening of the visa application centers, visa applicants can receive relevant services in a more convenient way at a better facility without having to wait long hours. The Consulate-General concerned, on its part, can concentrate more on reviewing visa applications, including interviews, which is expected to greatly reduce the visa processing time.

6. The ROK government, after analyzing the effect of the operations of the visa application centers in Guangzhou and Qingdao, will set up such centers across China, should there be a great need for such centers.


* unofficial translation