Visa needed for trip to S. Korea?
 

Canadian citizen, born in Canada, with current valid Canadian passport. Middle-aged "WASP" male.

2 or 3 night stay. Business trip, sales related.

Would I need a visa?

Bonus question: Will they take biometrics (face scan, finger prints) upon entry?

No visa, will be fingerprinted

https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/korea-south

All answers on this page (including fingerprints).

Is there an easy way to do YYZ -> KWJ?

As this is a query about documentation needed to enter Korea rather than an airline specific question it's been relocated to the Korea forum for further discussion.

tcook052
Air Canada forum moderator

As far as I understand there are flights available out of ICN, but depending on arrival time I may be tempted to either overnight in Seoul and then take the train in the morning, or take the bus from ICN.

It seems brutal that there aren't direct flights between ICN and KWJ.

Instead there are direct flights between GMP and KWJ. I think all itins between ICN and KWJ go through GMP. GMP is supposed to be an "international" airport - so what are the direct flights out of there to which other countries?

I'm looking for a 1-stop itn from YYZ to KWJ that has a reasonable layover.

On the other hand - what is the ground transport situation between ICN and GMP?

(looks like ICN - KWJ by rail is like 5 hours)

Are there flights from Pusan to KWJ? Have you checked whether there are any nonstop flights from nearby international hubs such as NRT/HND, KIX, PEK, PVG, etc.?

More generally, it might not be wise to get visa advice from anonymous people on the internet. If you're traveling for work, you might be able to have your corporate travel office check the rules and apply for a visa for you with the visa service they use. Alternatively, for *A, IIRC you can the free TIMATIC link on the UA website. The South Korean consulate in Canada should have this information on its website, but this can be harder to find and might not be up to date.

> If you're traveling for work

Would having some sales meetings with potential Korean customers, whom are not paying me or my company for me being there, count as "work" to the extent that I would need a Korean work visa?

> your corporate travel office

We have no such thing in our small company. In fact, we've done next to no business-related travel since the so-called "end" of the "great recession" in what- 2009?

We're just exploring what the travel situation would be like if one of us were to some how get to Guanju (sp?). It's either that, or a couple Koreans from there are going to visit us here in Canada. And since having my finger prints scanned would be a major downer (nobody has my prints anywhere) I'm not favoring doing the travel thing.

Gimpo is an international airport
You can fly to/from PEK/SHA/HND/TSA ( and maybe some others).

If you are laying over in Seoul, then GMP is much more convenient to fly
from than ICN.

Ground transport between GMP and ICN is simple - subway will take around
30 minutes, express buses not much longer

Buses are an easy step out the door, subway involves a bit of a walk on each end. I'd take the busses (done this transfer 50+ times).

Book it all on Korean and for your return leg, they can check your bags through from KWJ-GMP-ICN-xxx and will handle the airport switch for you, no need to claim bags (they go on the same bus as you most of the time).

It seems somewhat limiting that you aren't willing to travel anywhere that would fingerprint you. The trend is for more countries to take biometrics, pretty soon you will end up just staying at home.