Passport issuance

• When getting an issuance or a reissuance of a passport

Passport Shortcut

Passport Re-Issuance

• When getting a new passport before the date of expiry due to the following reasons: change or revise passport information, lost passport, damaged passport, lack of pages, mistake by an administrative organization
  ※ Old passport (is required when the effective period remains)

Passport Re-Issuance Shortcut

Passport Photo Requirements

• 3.5 x 4.5 cm, recently taken in the last 6 months to reflect your current appearance, size of head must be between 3.2 and 3.6 cm from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head, in color, directly facing the camera with your full face in view
• Background must be plain white or off-white.

Main contents of revision on January 25, 2018

• Delete differential hair length items in infant photos
• Delete item to keep shoulders level
• Items about avoiding horn-rimmed glasses and covering eyebrows were deleted.
• Delete items that cannot be used in existing uniforms or military uniforms
• Wig items and items to avoid wearing accessories were deleted.
• Delete the item exposing both ears (the outline of the face should be visible, so long hair should be brushed lightly.)

Passport Photo Requirements Shortcut

Convention for Writing the Name of the Holder

• Q&A about Name in English on Passport

How to Write Name in English on Passport

• According to ICAO DOC 9309, the Korean name should be transcribed in the English alphabet as it sounds and the change of an English name on a passport is strictly prohibited except for cases that are allowed within the scope of the passport law in order to prevent international crime and terror or to raise the International Standing of the passports issued by the Republic of Korea.
• English pronunciation of the Korean name should be written phonetically in Latin letters.
• Latin letters for names should follow the rules of writing Romanized Korean.
• English name should be written without space and can be hyphened (-) in-between.
  Ex) GILDONG, GIL-DONG
• The English name which has had a space in-between is allowed to maintain its original form.
  ※ Contact the passport issuing agency for more details about an English name on a passport.

Matters to be attended to when writing a name in English and information about changes to a Romanized name

• The English name should follow the Roman Alphabet Notation for Korean names and the passport holder (or an agent) should notate the name correctly as the change of the English name is strictly limited.
• Write the Romanized name you have used on the latest passport when re-issuing.
• The Romanized name is prohibited from being revised without an acceptable reason according to the passport-related laws and regulations; it could disadvantage the passport holder by being misunderstood as a forged or falsified passport.
• Prefixes and suffixes such as titles, qualifications, orders, commendations and hereditary cannot be added.
• Numbers cannot be added to the name.
• Married women can identify the surname of her spouse on her request (type of notation: SPOUSE OF KIM)
• Required documents should be submitted to the passport issuing agency to change an English name.
  • Ex.) Overseas admission letter, overseas certificate of school registration, overseas graduate certificate, overseas official certification, permanent residency, certificate of baptism, passport of family member
    ※ Check with the consulate before preparing the documents issued overseas
  • Mothers often run into difficulty in overseas travel with their children if they do not have the same surname of their spouse on the passport.

FAQs about Passport

• Inquiry about passport? Refer to the FAQs from passport issuance to lost passports.
  (Passport issuance, passport photograph requirements, name, passport use, lost passport-related information)