The documents your university wants are not the ones the consulate wants
Treating your study-abroad paperwork as one pile is what tangles it. There is an order. The Ministry of Education's Standard Work Guidelines for International Students and Language Trainees set it out as apply for admission → standard admission letter issued → (apply for and receive a Certificate of Visa Issuance) → apply for the visa → visa issued → entry. The university handles the first two steps; the immigration office and the Korean mission abroad handle the rest.
Transcripts and graduation certificates go to the university. The same guideline lists the application form, the final school's graduation certificate and transcript, Korean proficiency results and, for arts and athletics, a portfolio as examples of academic-ability evidence, then states plainly that "evidence of academic ability is decided at the discretion of the university president." That is why the list differs from school to school. Financial ability is assessed from a bank balance certificate in your own name or a sponsor's (held continuously for at least 1 month), or a remittance or currency-exchange certificate, plus the sponsor's employment certificate or business registration, a property-tax certificate, and a pledge to cover study costs.
At the visa stage the law asks for far less. Annex 5 of the Enforcement Rules of the Immigration Act (relating to Article 76(1), amended 24 December 2019) lists a single item for a degree programme under study (D-2): "a standard admission letter containing the decision on academic and financial ability, issued by the university president" — with a passport and a copy of it as a common requirement. One sheet of paper, carrying a review the university has already done, is the centre of the visa screening. For general training (D-4) at a university-affiliated language institute, the annex asks for proof of admission or enrolment, financial evidence or an inter-university academic exchange agreement, and a letter of guarantee only where you cannot prove you can meet your expenses.
That sheet carries institutional weight. On 13 February 2026 the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education announced 181 universities certified for international-education competency (23 more than the previous year) and 16 universities placed under intensive visa screening. Korean missions state that for certified universities with an overstay rate below 1%, the standard admission letter alone is screened.
The differences between missions are written into the rules
Note 1 to Annex 5 says the head of a Korean mission abroad, or of an immigration office or branch, "may add to or remove part of the attached documents where deemed particularly necessary." The variation between missions is not an accident; it is the rule. In practice it splits like this.
- Consulates General in New York and Los Angeles: visa application form with photo, passport, fee, copy of the standard admission letter
- Consulate General in Almaty: all of the above plus 1 photo (taken within 6 months, 3.5×4.5cm), passport original and copy, the final school's graduation certificate as original, copy and English translation (1 each), a bank balance certificate issued within 2 weeks, and 6 months of account transaction history
Almaty also asks for a family relationship certificate as original, copy and English translation if you submit a balance certificate in a parent's name, and lists the fee as USD 40 for stays of 90 days or less and USD 60 for longer. The list on the website of the mission in your own country of nationality is the list that applies to you.
The tuberculosis certificate turns on nationality. On 1 April 2020 the Ministry of Justice expanded the covered countries from 19 to 35, taking in China, Viet Nam, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Russia, Kazakhstan, Nepal and Myanmar. A national of a covered country applying for a visa to stay more than 90 days must submit a tuberculosis certificate from a hospital the mission has designated, and only one issued within the past 3 months is accepted. It must include at least one diagnostic result such as a chest X-ray or a sputum test. Children aged 5 and under, pregnant women and the elderly are exempt. Japan is not on the list.
Apostille or consular legalisation is decided by the country
What a document issued abroad needs before it reaches a Korean desk depends not on the type of document but on whether the issuing country is a party to the Apostille Convention. If it is, a single apostille from that country's competent authority finishes the job; if it is not, the document goes through local notarisation and that country's foreign ministry, and ends with consular legalisation at the Korean mission there. Adopted on 5 October 1961, the Convention entered into force for Korea on 14 July 2007 and had 130 Contracting Parties as of 30 June 2026.
Entry-into-force dates differ: Japan 27 July 1970, the United States 15 October 1981, Russia 31 May 1992, Mongolia 31 December 2009, Uzbekistan 15 April 2012, Indonesia 4 June 2022, China 7 November 2023, Bangladesh 30 March 2025, and Viet Nam 11 September 2026. Thailand deposited its instrument of accession on 30 June 2026 and the Convention enters into force there on 28 February 2027, so for now Thai documents still need consular legalisation. Cambodia, Nepal and Myanmar are not parties.
The more recent the change, the more care it needs. Notices still circulate that list China as a non-party, and because Viet Nam's entry into force is so recent, universities and missions may still have consular legalisation written into their guidance. Ask the office that will receive your documents which route it accepts.
An apostille attaches only to public documents. Article 1 of the Convention counts documents from courts, administrative documents, notarial acts and official certificates placed on privately signed documents as public documents, and excludes documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents and administrative documents dealing with commercial or customs operations. That is why something that is not a public document, a private school's paperwork for instance, has to be notarised first. What the apostille certifies is that the signature and seal are genuine, not that what the document says is true (Article 5). It is placed on the document itself or on an "allonge" (Article 4).
Translation and validity periods
Translation is decided by the receiving office. Some missions, such as Almaty, ask for the graduation certificate and the family relationship certificate as original, copy and English translation, 1 each. The Ministry of Education guideline, by contrast, states that a language trainee's letter of guarantee "does not require notarisation." Notarised translation is not uniformly required for every document.
Only confirmed deadlines are worth counting backwards from. The tuberculosis certificate must have been issued within the past 3 months; the Certificate of Visa Issuance is valid for 3 months and can be used once; Almaty requires a bank balance certificate issued within 2 weeks; the Ministry of Education guideline asks for deposits held continuously for at least 1 month; photographs must be taken within 6 months. The Certificate of Visa Issuance may be applied for on your behalf by the university president or by the head of the office the university designates for international students.
When lists disagree, three places settle it: for university documents, the admissions guidelines from the international office of the university you are applying to; for visa documents, the website of the Korean mission in your own country of nationality; and for the system as a whole, HiKorea (www.hikorea.go.kr) together with the Immigration Contact Center (1345). These three come before any agency's handout.
Sources
Information on this page is current as of September 2026.
