Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Chicago

H-1 Visa

Introduction

• The Working Holiday Program (WHP) was created under the mutual cooperation and establishment of Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) between the Republic of Korea and 6 participating countries (Australia, France, Canada, Japan, and New Zealand, United States) with the purpose of providing opportunities to individuals from each respective country to travel to Korea, while allowing them to earn and save money through short-term employment.

Visa Information

General Information

Ineligibility

• Individuals of the WHP cannot engage in the following job categories that are against the spirit of the WHP agreement or national laws:
• Adult entertainment-related businesses Dancer, singer, musician or acrobat Requiring specific licenses or skills, such as in the field of medical practices, lawyer, professor, pilot, etc.
• Foreign language instruction (if an individual desires to work as a foreign language instructor after their arrival in Korea under WHP, the individual will be required to change their visa status to E-2); and Those who desire to take training or educational course in pursuit of an academic degree other than a Korean language training course will be required to apply for a student visa (D-2).
• Related to journalism, religion, academic research, or instruction of engineering-related technical skills.
• Those whose main objectives for coming to Korea are not travel, but solely to seek employment, will be ineligible to participate in WHP. More detail information (click) - H1 Visa file

Required Documents

• Valid Passport & copy of passport
• A passport size photo for the application (2"x 2" available)
• Completed visa applications (click)-H1 Visa file
• Proof of a roundtrip airline ticket
• Travel plan (click) -H1 Visa file
• Proof of financial support(over $6,000) or other documents that show you have sufficient funds to support yourself (for at least 3 months)
• Proof of student status or proof of highest academic qualifications (Reciprocity)
• Official transcripe issued within a month
• Original hardcopy of diploma (will return to the applicant) or Apostilled diploma
• Japan, U.S. (U.S passport holders must be a current university student or a university graduate within less than a year) National ONLY
•  ☞ Criminal Record(Reciprocity)
• Canada, New Zealand, France Nationals ONLY
•  ☞ Medical Exam (Reciprocity)
• Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and France Nationals ONLY
•  ☞ The required documents may differ, so please contact the nearest embassies for detailed information.

Application Process

• You can apply for a visa at the nearest Korean Embassy in your country.
• Once you submit all the required documents to the Korean Embassy in your country and apply for a visa, your visa will be issued upon review.
• Please ensure that you have correctly completed all the required information before submission. Any inconsistencies or false information within the submitted documents may result in visa denial.
• Upon your visa application, you may be asked to submit additional documents or be requested for an interview, so please ensure that you apply with plenty of time.
• Please note that submitted documents will not be returned.
• For more detailed information, please contact the Korean embassy nearest you. Submitting your visa application via mail (The Consulate is not responsible for any items delayed or lost in the mail). After submitting your visa application via mail, if you wish to have your passport with the visa mailed back to you, please enclose a self-addressed and pre-paid return envelope (Must be something with tracking number from only Fedex or UPS).