South Korea-Japan "90-Day Mutual Visa-Free" Entry Likely to Return After 2 Years... "Expected to Resume in October"

Seoul = Newsis] Reporter Park Joo-young = The "90-day mutual visa-free" entry between South Korea and Japan is expected to be revived after two years.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara, who holds the rank of deputy government spokesperson for Japan, stated in an interview with Fuji TV on the 11th that, in relation to easing measures for COVID-19, the government is considering plans to lift the cap on the number of daily arrivals and resume visa exemptions.

Regarding this, an official from the Japan Tourism Agency said on the 13th, "Although we have not yet received specific guidelines, since it was originally a mutual 90-day visa exemption, it is highly likely that it will be set to 90 days again as before," adding, "If the visa exemption is revived, we expect that independent travel will become possible just like before COVID-19."

The official continued, "We have been conducting surveys on overseas tourists, and the prevailing opinion was that the current visa system is merely cumbersome and takes too much time to obtain a visa," and added, "Given the many favorable factors such as the weak yen, it is expected to have a positive impact on tourism exchange between South Korea and Japan." Japan increased the daily entry cap from 20,000 to 50,000 starting on the 7th. It also permitted package tours without guides. For those who have completed their third vaccine dose, the requirement to submit a negative PCR test certificate has also been abolished.

However, the visa-free entry restrictions for tourists from 68 countries, including South Korea, the U.S., and Thailand, which were permitted and then suspended before COVID-19, have remained in place.

It is understood that the Japanese government is considering a plan to simultaneously abolish the entry cap, allow independent travel, and revive visa-free entry. The timing for the resumption of visa-free entry is highly likely to be in October.

If Japan allows visa-free entry, it is highly likely that the South Korean government will also allow visa-free entry for Japanese citizens in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' overseas safety travel website, as of August, the South Korean government allows visa-free entry to 112 countries, including 8 in Asia, 32 in the Americas, 43 in Europe, 16 in Africa/Middle East, and 13 in Oceania. Among these, Japan, Taiwan, and Macau are not subject to visa-free entry due to the principle of reciprocity, but visa-free tourism is being temporarily allowed from August 4th to October 31st.

An official from the Korea Tourism Organization said, "As the Japanese government is actively taking steps, the possibility of a 90-day mutual visa-free entry has increased," adding, "Since the mutual exchange between the two countries before COVID-19 reached 10 million people (7 million visiting Japan and 3 million visiting Korea), we see this as a major positive factor for the tourism industries of both countries."

From 2001 to 2018, Japan was the number one overseas travel destination for South Koreans. Until just before COVID-19, about 7 million people traveled to Japan annually. About 3 million people also visited South Korea from Japan annually.

These are English translations of articles from our GTTOUR Japanese website.