South Korea is introducing a new visa waiver program for Indonesian tour groups.
The South Korean Ministry of Justice announced today that it will pilot a temporary visa exemption for Indonesian travelers visiting Korea as part of an organized tour. The measure will take effect on May 28, 2026, and remain in place through Dec. 31, 2026.
The plan was first announced during a national tourism strategy meeting chaired on Feb. 25, before being confirmed after consultations with South Korea’s ministries of Foreign Affairs, Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The stated goal is to make the Korean tourism market more accessible to Indonesian visitors, whose numbers have grown quickly since the recovery of international travel. The waiver also reflects Seoul’s efforts to support tourism demand and better respond to growing interest among Indonesians in Korean culture.
A visa waiver for groups of at least three travelers
The program applies to Indonesian tour groups of at least three people traveling on an itinerary organized by an Indonesian travel agency designated under the scheme.
Travelers admitted under this program will be allowed to visit all of South Korea for up to 15 days. The relevant status of stay is tourism and transit, B-2.
The waiver therefore does not apply to individual Indonesian travelers. Indonesian nationals traveling alone, or outside the framework set by South Korean authorities, will remain subject to the usual visa requirements.
Before this measure, Indonesian travelers had to apply for a visa through the South Korean Embassy in Indonesia, submit the required documents and undergo a prior review process. The Ministry of Justice says temporarily removing this step for organized groups should make tourist travel to Korea significantly more accessible.
A supervised process through agencies and the Hi Korea platform
The visa waiver will remain strictly regulated. Indonesian travel agencies wishing to take part in the program must be designated as specialized agencies for visa-exempt groups. Their applications must be submitted to South Korea’s Ministry of Justice through the South Korean Embassy in Indonesia.
Partner agencies in South Korea, for their part, will have to register on the official Hi Korea platform. They will then be responsible for submitting the group traveler list before arrival in Korea.
Under the rules published by the authorities, the group list must be registered no later than 24 hours before entry into South Korea. For arrivals by sea, the deadline is extended to 36 hours. Travelers will generally be required to enter and leave the country on the same flight or sea crossing.
The Ministry of Justice will conduct a prior review of traveler lists to exclude people subject to entry restrictions or those with a history of unlawful stay.
Indonesia, a fast-growing tourism market
South Korea has seen a sharp increase in Indonesian visitor numbers in recent years. According to data cited by the Ministry of Justice and drawn from the Korea Tourism Organization’s Data Lab, the country welcomed 250,249 Indonesian tourists in 2023, followed by 336,185 in 2024 and 365,596 in 2025.
Seoul hopes the visa waiver will encourage more trips to Korea, not only to the Seoul metropolitan area, but also to major regional tourism destinations. South Korean authorities point to expected benefits for accommodation, restaurants, retail and local economies.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also wants to strengthen programs linked to Korean content, including K-beauty, K-pop and K-dramas, in order to turn Indonesian interest in Korean culture into actual tourist visits.
Controls to limit the risk of unlawful stays
South Korea is pairing the measure with a control mechanism designed to prevent abuse. Traveler lists will be reviewed in advance, and people considered to fall into higher-risk categories will be excluded from the program.
Participating travel agencies will also be monitored. Authorities plan graduated sanctions based on the rate of travelers who fail to return. If an agency’s average quarterly non-return rate reaches or exceeds 2%, it may lose its designation.
South Korean Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho said the program would be implemented in close cooperation with the relevant ministries to stimulate domestic demand, contribute to the recovery of local economies and maintain an orderly framework for foreign stays.
A measure separate from other group visa facilitation programs
The announcement comes as South Korea increasingly uses visa facilitation as a tourism tool. Seoul has already introduced a temporary visa waiver for certain Chinese tour groups, effective from Sept. 29, 2025, through June 30, 2026.
For other markets, South Korea has also extended easing measures, including the waiver of group visa processing fees for certain travelers. But the program announced for Indonesian groups goes further, as it provides for a full temporary visa exemption within an organized and controlled framework.
