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| Tourists walk along a downtown street in Seoul, South Korea. —VNS Photo Nguyen Hang |
The South Korean ambassador to Vietnam Kim Do-hyun announced the new visa programme to the media on Monday, adding that it was “a milestone” in Korea’s visa policy for residents of the three major cities of Vietnam.
“Apply for a Korean visa once, pay US$80 and wait for no longer than one week, then residents will not need to apply for a Korean visa for the next five years,” he said, adding that visa holders could visit South Korea at any time and stay for a month. Once they return to Vietnam, they could revisit Korea.
The ambassador said that seeing Vietnamese people’s love for South Korean coach Park Hang Seo – head coach of the Vietnam national football team – inspired the Government of South Korea to make the visa decision.
Another reason for the visa change was the increasing demand of Vietnamese travelers to visit South Korea and purchase South Korean goods and food. Vietnamese tourists made 440,000 visits to South Korea this year, just behind Thai tourists.
Besides the change for tourist visas, South Korea will also start granting multiple entry visas valid for ten years for white-collar workers like lawyers, doctors and university lecturers coming from 11 Asian countries.
