The Ministry of Justice (Acting Minister and Vice Minister Lee Jin-soo) announced that its policy to expand the use of automated immigration gates—implemented to enhance entry convenience for foreigners and alleviate congestion at immigration checkpoints—is leading to a substantial increase in actual usage by foreign visitors.

The Korea Immigration Service of the Ministry of Justice established an 'Automated Immigration Registration Center' at the Incheon Airport immigration checkpoint in November 2025, enabling nationals from four countries and regions—Hong Kong, Macau, Germany, and Taiwan—to pre-register for and use the automated immigration gates.

After expanding the eligible countries and regions to 18 in December 2025, the Ministry further broadened the eligibility to include European Union (EU) and Schengen Agreement member states as well as Canada in March of this year, allowing citizens from a total of 42 countries and regions to use the automated gates.

Following the expansion of eligible users, the number of automated screening registrants from the 42 countries and regions reached 1,419,960 over a 10-month period (from November 2025 to August 2026). This is 4.7 times the total cumulative number of registrants (302,050) recorded over the preceding 13 years (2012 to October 2025). During these 10 months, out of a total of 4,673,784 inbound travelers from the 42 countries and regions, 1,801,045 used the automated immigration gates, resulting in an utilization rate of 38.5% among inbound travelers.

Broadening the scope to include all foreign nationals, the total number of automated immigration gate users during the same period stood at 2,854,058. The number of users over this 10-month span more than tripled the total number of users for the entire year of 2024 (912,619).

Notably, during the recent Chuseok holiday period (September 24–27, 2026), 484,873 out of 777,766 Korean and foreign travelers who entered and departed through Incheon Airport—62.3% of the total—used the automated gates. This significantly exceeded the utilization rate of 55.3% recorded during last year's Chuseok holiday, clearly demonstrating the positive impact of expanding eligible countries and regions for the automated immigration gates.

The expansion of automated immigration services not only enhances entry convenience for short-term visitors such as tourists, but also contributes to improving travel convenience for returning foreign visitors to Korea. In particular, the re-utilization rate—the percentage of foreigners who, having completed registration once, use the automated gates again upon revisiting—stands at 79.2% for Incheon Airport and 66.6% for regional airports such as Gimpo and Gimhae. Automated immigration screening is steadily establishing itself as a foundation for providing continuous entry convenience to foreign nationals returning to South Korea.

Acting Minister of Justice Lee Jin-soo stated, "It is deeply meaningful that the policy to expand the use of automated immigration gates has led to record-breaking achievements in both users and registrants in just over half a year since its implementation." He added, "We will continue to innovate our immigration services so that foreigners can visit South Korea more conveniently and return, thereby contributing to the promotion and revitalization of foreign tourism and adding momentum to the local economy."

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