Lost passport in Korea — China

Key facts

Search first, or reissue?

That gap is worth using. Reporting a loss and searching are not in conflict here the way they are for most countries, so there is less reason to rush the decision.

Reissue. The 旅行证 is quick and inexpensive. Standard service is four working days, urgent is three, extra-urgent is two, at ₩20,000, ₩44,000 and ₩55,000. For an urgent 旅行证 you can walk in to the Seoul embassy without an appointment. If you are flying home soon, take that route.

Identity checks can extend those times, so treat them as the usual case rather than a guarantee.

Searching first is worth it if the passport holds visas you still need, or if it went missing with a bag or a wallet — things lost together are handed in together.

Because the passport stays valid until you apply, you can file the police report, look for a few days, and only then decide. That option is genuinely yours, and it is not available to travellers from most other countries.

Use it deliberately rather than by drifting. Decide now how many days you are prepared to wait, and book the embassy visit for the end of that window. An urgent 旅行证 takes two working days, so count backwards from your flight and leave a margin for the identity checks.

If the passport turns up before you apply, nothing has been lost — no fee, no cancelled document, no replacement to deal with at home.

Where to apply in Korea

Four offices cover Korea. The embassy in Seoul handles the capital region. Busan covers Busan, Daegu, Ulsan, Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk. Gwangju covers Gwangju, Jeonnam and Jeonbuk. There is an office on Jeju.

Seoul takes walk-ins for an urgent 旅行证. Busan and Gwangju run about a week, so if you are outside the capital and in a hurry, travelling to Seoul may be faster than applying locally.

Our source for the Gwangju address conflicts, so we are not printing one. Call 062-351-8857 and confirm before you travel.

Bring three photos at 33×48mm, glossy, on a white background. Bring your 身份证 or 户口本, and a copy of the lost passport if you have one.

Before you go to the embassy

File the Korean police report first. It is free, you can do it online through 경찰민원24 or at any police station, and the receipt is issued immediately. It does not cancel your passport — it records that you lost it.

Several embassies will not issue an emergency document without that receipt, so doing it first saves a second trip.

Found property is held for six months. Worth knowing: an item handed in at a hotel, a restaurant or a taxi company does not appear in the system that day. It can take several days to get there. A search a week after the loss is not a wasted search.

If you live in Korea rather than visiting: once you have a new passport, the new number has to be reported to immigration within fifteen days. That is 출입국관리법 제35조, and the fine for missing it runs to ₩1,000,000. It does not apply to short-stay visitors.

After you get home

A replacement costs ¥120 and takes seven working days, applied for in your home province.

Questions