Guidance

South Korea: Knowledge Base profile

Published 9 July 2025

About: South Korea

This document contains useful information about South Korea which will assist His Majesty’s Passport Office staff to process passport applications.

Contacts

If you have any questions about the document and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the document has factual errors then email HM Passport Office’s Guidance team.

If you notice any formatting errors in this document (broken links, spelling mistakes and so on) or have any comments about the layout or navigability of the document then you can email the Guidance team.

Publication

Below is information on when this version of the document was published:

• version 4.0
• published for Home Office staff on 3 July 2025

Changes from last version of this document

This document has been updated with formatting changes.

South Korea: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in South Korea.

Names in South Korea consist of:

• 1 forename
• 1 surname

A person in South Korea is not allowed a middle name.

Change of name

Name changes are allowed in South Korea. All name changes must be completed through a court process and receive approval from the judges.

Name alignment

HM Passport Office will not ask a customer to align the South Korea passport if the passport shows a name that matches the below section.

In South Korea, names in passports are restricted to 5 syllables unless:

• their father is a foreign national and they have taken the father’s family name, registered in their country
• they are already registered in South Korea with a forename containing more than five syllables
• they are naturalised as a South Korea citizen but they chose to continue using their original name

Due to this naming convention, a person’s name on their South Korea passport may be different to the name on their birth certificate. The South Korea passport should show the five-syllable name that is registered in court, but the birth certificate will show the name used by the hospital on the hospital notification record.

South Korea: nationality

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about nationality in South Korea.

Dual nationality is not allowed in South Korea, unless it is:  

• obtained from birth; and,
• they take an oath before they turn 22 years old, not to exercise their right as a foreign national while in South Korea. This is:
  • for people born outside South Korea while their parents were working or studying overseas
  • for people born in South Korea to multicultural families
  • not for people born in a country that offers automatic citizenship due solely to birth in a particular country
• for talented naturalised foreign nationals who may contribute to South Korea’s development
• for South Koreans over the age of 65 years who have returned to South Korea permanently and have taken the oath
• for people adopted overseas who could claim South Korean citizenship

A person who has formally renounced their South Korean citizenship can reacquire it if they have renounced their other nationality.

South Korea: legitimacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy in South Korea.

Legitimacy

South Korea recognises a difference between legitimate and illegitimate births.

A child is considered:

• legitimate if their parents:
  • are married at the time of birth
  • marry after the birth
• illegitimate if their parents never marry

South Korea: adoption

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about adoption in South Korea.

Adoption is legal in South Korea.

South Korea: surrogacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about surrogacy in South Korea.

There are no laws on surrogacy in South Korea.

South Korea: gender recognition

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about gender recognition in South Korea.

Transgender citizens are recognised in South Korea after they reach the age of 20 and can change their gender identity on official documents.

South Korea: civil partnerships and marriage

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about civil partnerships and marriage in South Korea.

Civil partnerships and same sex marriages are not recognised in South Korea.

South Korea: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents in South Korea.

Birth certificates

Births must be registered at the local city office (gu eup myun) where the child was born or where the parents are resident. If at least one of the parents is a South Korean citizen the birth must be registered within 1 month. Late registration is allowed.

If both parents are foreign nationals, it is not compulsory to register the birth.

To record a birth in the family relation register, a certificate of birth, issued by the hospital, doctor or midwife, must be provided by the parents. A birth certificate issued in South Korea is known as a family census register, or family relation register. This shows the:

• child’s:
  • full name
  • gender
  • place of birth
  • time of birth
• parents’ names

If an error is identified on a South Korea birth certificate, it will be amended by notes being added to the original document.

Hospital records are kept for a minimum of 10 years, these will record the mother’s name but not the father’s. Hospitals cannot give the records to anyone other than the child or their parents.

Date of birth conventions

In South Korea, there is a date of birth convention known as Korean age. Korean age increases by a year, on 1 January each year.

For example, if a child was born on 31 December 2021, they would be considered one year old immediately after birth and would turn two years old on 1 January 2022.

From 28 June 2023 age is based on the actual number of years lived. When a child is less than one year old, their age is represented in months, similar to how age is calculated in the UK.

This date of birth convention does not affect how the citizens date of birth is recorded on their official documents.

Time of birth when child born outside of South Korea

Where a child is born outside South Korea the time of birth in the county of birth is recorded on the birth registration form that is submitted to the local city office (gu eup myun). This is shown on the birth certificate as what the time of birth would be if the child were born in South Korea, meaning the child’s date of birth could be different on the South Korea birth certificate. For example, South Korea is 9 hours ahead of the UK, if a child is born in the UK at 6pm on 1 July this would show on the birth certificate as 3am 2 July in South Korea.

Marriage certificates

Only a civil marriage is legal in South Korea. All marriages must be registered within 3 months of the ceremony. Late registrations are not allowed.

Marriage records are held on an electronic system in the district office where the marriage was registered. These records are shared with other district offices, and copies of marriage certificates can be obtained from any district office.

There are 2 types of marriage certificate issued in South Korea, depending on the nationality of the couple. If the couple:

• includes 1 or more South Korean national, the marriage will be recorded on the South Korean national’s Family Census Register and the Marriage Status Certificate will be their marriage certificate
• are both foreign nationals, the district offices will issue a Verification of Marriage Registration (su-ri-jeung-myung-seo)

Death certificates

All deaths in South Korea must be registered with the local administrative office within one month of the date of death.

Death certificates are only issued following the registration of a death.

The death of a South Korea foreign national who holds a registration card must be reported to a district office or local office (Gu office or Don Sa Mu So) within one month.

Identity documents

South Korea issues:

• Identification Cards (“ju-min-deung-rok-jeung” 주민등록증) to South Korean citizens from the age of 19 years. These are issued by district offices and show the holder’s:
  • unique identification number
  • full name
  • thumb print
  • address
  • photo
• Alien Registration Cards to foreign nationals (of any age) resident in South Korea. These are issued by Immigration Offices and show the holder’s:
  • full name
  • nationality
  • gender
  • address
  • photo
  • registration number
  • purpose of stay
  • validity of the card

Since 1 November 2016 the Korea Immigration Service do not automatically stamp every passport, they will do it if a person asks for it to be stamped.