Living in Korea
Korea 101:
Driver’s License
Exchanging a Foreign License for a Korean License
You cannot drive in Korea with a license issued from a foreign country. You can exchange it for a Korean driver’s
license if it is issued by a recognized country according to the following procedures:
The Driver’s License Agency (DLA) reviews your application including a certificate from your embassy
- The DLA may ask you to submit additional documents in the process if the agency nds it necessary.
Aptitude (physical) test and written test
- You don’t have to take the written test if your country recognizes a Korean driver’s license.
* If you’re from Oregon or Idaho of the United States, you have to take the written test although the states
recognize a Korean driver’s license.
Exchange of a foreign country license for a Korean license
*
Your foreign country license must be a full and valid license. It cannot be a temporary license, a learner’s license,
or a driving permit/certicate.
*
A certicate from your embassy or an apostille: To verify your foreign country license, you are required to submit
one of the following documents issued within a year of the date of application.
- A certicate issued in Korean or English by your country’s embassy in Korea or Korean embassy in your country
- A certicate
Foreign driver’s licenses that can be exchanged for a Korean lciense
- A Korean driver license in exchange for a foreign
country drvier’s license is limited to Level 2 - Regular
- A license issued by countries with mutual recognition
agreements with Korea (Belgium, Poland, Spain, Italy)
can be exchanged for an equivalent in Korea
②
③
①
25
26
Classication Details
Location
Driver’s License Examination Oce (across the country)
KOTRA’s Investment Consulting Center (only countries recognizing Korean license)*
Documents to be
Submitted
Citizens and
citizenship
holders of countries
recognizing
Korean license
- Foreign driver’s license
- Passport with stamps conrming departure from home country and entry into Korea
- Alien registration card (certicate of the place of sojourn for Koreans with foreign nationality)
- Three color photos taken within 6 months
- A certicate of conrmation of your license from your embassy or an apostille
- A certicate of departure and entry from the year of birth to the present
Citizens and
citizenship
holders of
countries that
do not recognize
Korean license
- Driver’s license and passport with stamps conrming departure from home country and entry into Korea
- Original alien registration card (original certicate of the place of sojourn for Koreans with foreign nationality)
- Three color photos taken within 6 months (3.5cm×4.5cm)
- A certicate from your embassy or an apostille
- A certicate of departure and entry from the year of birth to the present
Fee
KRW 8,000 (KRW 10,000 for an English driver’s license) + KRW 10,000 for a written test*
*The written test is required of those from an unacknowledged country.
Classication Details
Asia
(27 countries)
Nepal, New Zealand, Taiwan, East Timor, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Brunei, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Australia,
Uzbekistan, India (Mumbai), Japan, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kiribati, Thailand, Tonga, Papua New
Guinea, Fiji, the Philippines, Hong Kong
America
(20 countries)
Guatemala, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Mexico (Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Guerrero,
Tlaxcala, Mexico City), Bahamas, Brazil, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Haiti, Antigua Barbuda, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Uruguay,
Chile, Canada, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, the United States (Maryland, Virginia, Washington, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida,
Oregon, Michigan, Idaho, Alabama, West Virginia, Iowa, Colorado, Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee, Hawaii,
Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Arizona)
Europe
(35 countries)
Greece, the Netherlands, Demark, Germany, Latvia, Romania, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Belgium,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Serbia, Switzerland, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ireland, Azerbaijan, Albania, Estonia, the UK,
Austria, Italy, Georgia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Turkey, Portugal, Poland, France, Finland, Hungary
Middle East
(13 countries)
Lebanon, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Afghanistan, Yemen, Oman, Jordan, Iraq (Arbil), Iran, Israel, Qatar, Kuwait
Africa
(36 countries)
Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Niger, Liberia, Rwanda, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali,
Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Botswana, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Swaziland, Algeria,
Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe, Cameron, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Tunisia
Living in Korea
* The driver’s license is issued only to D-8 and F-3 visa holders with a physical test certificate.
Countries Recognizing the Korean Driver’s License
(Notice of the Korean National Police Agency dated Feb. 4, 2019)
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Classication Details
Location
- A driver’s license examination oce or a police station across the country
- International Driving Permit Service Oce at Incheon International Airport (within police station on the 3rd oor of Terminal 1 or
Government Administration Center on the 2nd oor of Terminal 2)
- 220 local governments contracted with KoROAD (only when a person applies for a passport and an international driving permit)
* Should you want to apply to a police station, please check in advance if it can issue an international driving permit. If so, bring a credit/check
card with you.
Documents
to be
Submitted
- Passport (or a copy), driver’s license, a passport photo taken within the past 6 months (3.5x4.5cm)
* A proxy must bring his/her ID card and a power of attorney.
- When an applicant is overseas, a proxy can use the applicant’s passport copy with the his/her entry & departure certicate.
- For a foreigner holding a Korean driver’s license: Passport, driver’s license, a passport photo taken within the past six months
(3.5x4.5cm)
Validity
- One year from the date of issuance
- One year from the day when the suspension period has expired in the event that the application for international driving permit
is made by a driver whose domestic license is currently suspended.
Fee KRW 8,500
Note
- An international driving permit shall not be valid if the name or the signature is dierent between the person’s passport and
international driving permit.
- You need to have an ‘international driving permit’ to drive in Korea. You cannot drive in the country with an ‘international driving
license.’
- Korea is a Geneva Convention country. A person with a valid international driver’s permit issued by a Geneva Convention
country can drive in Korea for a year from the date of entry (Since January 1, 2002, the Republic of Korea has allowed a person
with an international permit to drive in Korea for a year).
Living in Korea
If you have further questions please contact +82-1600-7119
or visit www.investkorea.org
International Driving Permit
A Foreigner without a Driver’s License
- A foreigner without a driver’s license must go through the same procedures that Koreans do to obtain a driver’s
license in Korea.
- For details, visit the KoROAD website or phone its call center.
- KoROAD Call Center
(phone) +82-1577-1120
(website) www.koroad.or.kr/en_web/index.do
(languages) Korean, English