South Korea's medical visas: C-3-3 and G-1-10

What the categories are

South Korea runs two visa categories specifically for people coming to be treated.

C-3-3, the medical tourist visa, is the short-term one. It permits a stay of up to 90 days. Its validity — how long the visa itself remains usable — depends on the type issued: three months for single entry, six months for double entry, and five years for multiple entry.

G-1-10, the treatment and recuperation visa, covers treatment running beyond 91 days, within one year.

Both cover the patient, and the medical tourist category extends to a caregiver travelling with them. One embassy's document list asks a caregiver for official family relations documents in English along with a copy of the patient's passport.

Who actually needs one

This is worth saying before the procedure, because a lot of guidance skips it: for most skin treatment, you may not need a medical visa at all.

Botulinum toxin, a laser session, a skin booster — these are day procedures. Many nationalities can enter South Korea visa-free or on an ordinary short-term visa and be treated during that stay. What decides the question is your nationality's entry rules and how long you need to be in the country, not the fact that you are having a procedure.

The medical categories become relevant when the treatment needs a longer stay, when you want a caregiver on the same footing, or when the clinic is inviting you formally.

The requirement that connects to everything else

Only a medical institution or facilitator registered to attract foreign patients may issue the invitation behind a C-3-3 application. The embassy document list makes the same point from the other end: it asks for the Korean hospital's business registration certificate and a certificate of medical travel facilitator registration, each issued within the last three months.

That is not an administrative detail. It means the visa route and the registration scheme are the same check. An agency that cannot produce a registration certificate cannot properly invite you — and if it is arranging your treatment anyway, the certificate is the document to ask for first.

How to apply

Three routes exist: applying directly at an embassy or consulate, an electronic visa application that needs no embassy visit, or a confirmation of visa issuance requested by the inviting institution through the government's visa portal, which you then use to complete your own application.

Typical supporting documents run to a passport with at least six months' validity, evidence of your medical need such as a diagnosis record or doctor's note, a confirmed appointment at the Korean hospital, and evidence of means. Exact lists differ by country.

What this page cannot tell you

Visa requirements are set nationally and applied locally. The categories above come from Korean government sources, but the document list, the fees, and the processing time for your passport come from your nearest Korean embassy or consulate, and only from there. Treat this page as the map, not the instructions.

Note also the dates on the sources below. One is a tourism-organisation page last updated in December 2024, and one is a single embassy's page. Where they and your embassy disagree, your embassy governs.

The bottom line

South Korea has a short-term medical tourist visa, C-3-3, allowing a stay of up to 90 days, and a long-term treatment visa, G-1-10, for treatment beyond 91 days. For a day procedure you may need neither — check your own nationality's entry rules first. If a clinic or agency is inviting you formally, it must be registered to attract foreign patients, and the certificate that proves it is on the document list.