KoreaClear · Travel answer
Can I enter Korea during transit using a US visa or Green Card?
Short answer
A US visa or Green Card may support Korea’s conditional tourist-in-transit route. The official airport guidance links this route to travel toward a qualifying country or travel from it after a stay toward your home country or another country; possession of the document alone is insufficient.
What to do
- List all flights and intervening stops before and after Korea, with dates and time in each country.
- Check the current Korean mission transit notice using your nationality, US document type and expiry, and confirmed onward flight.
- For USA–Korea–India with a five-day stop, or USA–Korea–USA, ask the mission and airline to check that exact itinerary before booking non-refundable travel.
Check before relying on this
- If your visa has expired but your US status continues, obtain a specific document check; do not assume the two are equivalent.
- Korean immigration retains the admission decision.
More details and examples ExpandCollapse
What remains to check
The airport’s summary is not a full eligibility checklist. Confirm nationality exclusions, acceptable document types and validity, permitted Korean stay, intervening-country limits, and any prior immigration-history conditions with the Korean mission. A five-day example is a proposed itinerary to assess, not pre-approved entry.
Sources and provider examples
External sources may use another language.
Sources last checked: . Rules, hours and services can change.