🇰🇷 South Korea · Study Abroad
How to study in South Korea as an international student — application steps, student visas, and living costs.
International students apply directly to Korean universities, which offer programmes in Korean and English; Korean-taught programmes often require a TOPIK level. After admission you obtain a Certificate of Admission and apply for a student visa (D-2 for degree programmes, D-4 for language courses). The official Study in Korea portal (run by NIIED) centralises programme search, applications and the Global Korea Scholarship.
- Apply directly to each university; Korean-taught programmes often require a TOPIK level, while many degrees are also offered in English.
- After admission you apply for a student visa — D-2 for degree study, D-4 for language training — using your Certificate of Admission.
- The Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) is a fully-funded route; many universities also offer their own tuition reductions.
- Students may work part-time within set limits after obtaining permission — check current rules.
Official authorities
- Study in Korea (run by the Korean Government)
Official portal: programmes, applications and the GKS scholarship.
Official-information aggregation, not legal advice. Always verify on the authority's own site.
Government portals
- Government of Korea — Korea's integrated government portal — policy, administrative services, e-government
- Korea Immigration Service (HiKorea) — Visas, residence status changes, work permits, and alien registration in Korea
- National Tax Service (NTS) — Korean income tax, corporate tax, VAT filing; annual comprehensive tax return for foreigners (May); foreign taxpayer incentive lookup