South Korea to Iran visa requirements

A South Korean ordinary passport holder needs a visa for Iran. The standard route is Iran's official electronic visa (eVisa) from evisa.mfa.ir for a short tourist stay. CRITICAL: as of 5 March 2026 South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has placed all of Iran under a Level 4 travel ban; Korean citizens are legally prohibited from traveling to Iran without special passport authorization, and violators face penalties under the Passport Act. Practical recommendation today: do not travel. For tourism, South Korea is NOT on Iran's visa-free list (the only visa-free entry is a separate 14-day arrangement limited to designated free-trade/island zones such as Kish and Qeshm). Ordinary Korean passport holders must obtain a tourist visa, and Iran's standard channel is the electronic visa: applicants register on the official Ministry of Foreign Affairs portal (evisa.mfa.ir), receive a visa grant notice / authorization code after review (typically several business days to about two weeks), and the visa is then issued/collected — commonly stamped at the Iranian mission or, for eligible applicants, as a visa on arrival linked to the prior eVisa approval. The visa is single-entry, allows a stay of up to 30 days (extendable in-country), and the grant is generally valid for use within about three months. Iran no longer stamps the visa into the passport for most travelers, issuing it on a separate sheet. The overriding issue, however, is the destination-side advisory from Seoul: following the escalation of regional conflict, on 5 March 2026 South Korea's MOFA raised Iran to a Level 4 (travel ban) advisory covering the entire country, replacing the June 2025 Level 3. Under the Korean Passport Act, traveling to or staying in a Level 4 banned country without prior special passport authorization is unlawful and can result in penalties (fines or imprisonment), and the government has urged nationals already in Iran to evacuate. Therefore, although Iran itself would issue an eVisa, a Korean traveler cannot lawfully use it for ordinary tourism while the ban is in force.