Gwangju Immigration Office Allows Voluntary Departure Reporting Without Airline Ticket

Online Reporting Requires a Flight Ticket

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Chunsu Kim] The Gwangju Immigration Office (Director: Jinyoung Kim) announced on the 23rd that since the 20th, it has implemented a measure allowing illegal foreign residents who cannot voluntarily report their departure due to canceled flights caused by COVID-19 to report their departure voluntarily without a return flight ticket.

Illegal foreign residents who have not yet booked a return flight can visit the immigration office in charge of their residence, submit their passport, voluntary departure report form, and voluntary departure pledge, and then report their departure voluntarily.

This measure considers the lack of immediate return flights due to COVID-19, allowing a 30-day departure deferral; however, once flights resume, they must depart immediately.

In this case, they do not need to revisit the immigration office where they initially reported; they can simply visit the immigration office at airports such as Incheon or Muan Airport on the day of departure to leave immediately.

However, if flights do not resume within the 30-day deferral period, they must revisit the immigration office where they initially reported to request an extension. Failure to comply will result in deportation, so special caution is required.

For those wishing to pre-report online (HiKorea), a flight ticket is still required as per current regulations.

A Gwangju Immigration Office official emphasized, “After the voluntary departure reporting period (June 30) ends, illegal foreign residents who depart voluntarily will be fined, so please hurry to report your voluntary departure within the remaining two months.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.