Your Address in Korea on the e-Arrival Card and K-ETA
Updated
Both of Korea's online entry forms ask where you will stay, and both fill the main address line from a built-in address search. You search, pick a match, then add details. If your booking only shows a hotel name or a romanized address without a postal code, this is how to get it right. Everything below was checked on the official sites on 22 September 2026. Entry rules change, so check again before you fly.
Which form do I need?
- e-Arrival Card (e-arrivalcard.go.kr) replaces the paper arrival card. It is free, and you can file it from 3 days before arrival, Korean time. The paper card is still an option at the airport.
- K-ETA (k-eta.go.kr) is a travel authorization for visa-free visitors. It costs 10,000 won plus an online payment fee of about 3%, must be approved before you board, and is valid for 3 years or until your passport expires.
You rarely need both. A valid K-ETA exempts you from the arrival card, unless you are entering on a visa. Citizens of countries under Korea's temporary K-ETA exemption, which runs until 31 December 2026, fill in the e-Arrival Card (or the paper card) instead. The K-ETA notice does not list those countries; the application shows an exemption pop-up when you scan your passport. You may still apply and pay for a K-ETA to skip the arrival card.
What does the address field want?
On the e-Arrival Card, the stay information section asks for an address and a phone number. The official guide tells you to use the address lookup to enter "the street address and postal code", and the lookup takes a street name or a 5-digit postal code. You can type in Korean or English only. If you will stay in several places, enter the main one; if there is no main one, enter the first.
On the K-ETA, the field is called 체류 예정지 (intended place of stay). The KOR and ENG buttons
open an address search that accepts a postal code, a road name and number, a lot number, or a
building name. Below it is a detail box for the apartment or hotel name. If there is nothing to
add, the manual says to type NONE.
How do I find the right address for my hotel?
Search by road name and building number, not by postal code alone. In the ministry's August 2026 data, 6,424,089 addresses share 34,400 postal codes, so one code covers about 187 addresses on average. Hotel names are less reliable: the name a building is registered under in the address data is in Korean and can differ from the brand on your booking.
Take the road and number from your booking, search it on this site, and note the postal code. For
example, Lotte Hotel Seoul is at
30 Eulji-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, postal code
04533, and its registered name is 롯데호텔. Postal code 04533 alone matches 18 addresses. In the form,
search Eulji-ro 30, pick the line with 04533, and put the hotel name in the detail box.
What if I'm staying in an apartment or with friends?
Search the building's road address the same way, then put the building and unit in the detail
box, for example 101-dong 1203-ho. Our guide to
Korean apartment addresses explains dong, ho,
floors and basement units. Your host can read you the Korean address; paste it into this site's
search to get the English form and the postal code.
What about same-day transit?
If you pass through immigration on a same-day layover, the e-Arrival FAQ tells you to enter the airport's address. Its Incheon example is "272 Gonghang-ro, Jung-gu, Incheon (22382)". The ministry's August 2026 data and Korea Post's search now list the same building as 272 Gonghang-ro, Yeongjong-gu, Incheon, postal code 23358, after Incheon's districts were reorganized. Search the road and number in the form's lookup and use whatever it returns.
Watch out for look-alike sites
The e-Arrival Card is free, and its official notice warns that sites with similar names may ask for payment. The K-ETA site says it has appointed no official agencies, so pay the fee on k-eta.go.kr itself. If you still need a postal code, our postal code guide covers the common pitfalls.