The Korea Student Visa for GKS Scholars

D-4 — if you start the Korean language program

An initial six-month visa, issued to every scholar who begins the mandatory language year. The year is twelve months and the visa is six, so you renew it in Korea at your own cost.

D-2 — if you are exempt from it

Issued to scholars who go straight into the degree program. Whether you are exempt is decided by your track and your TOPIK level, not by preference.

Both 2026 scholar notices also say a D-2-7 visa is available to GKS scholars on request, without explaining what changes. Section 5 sets out what we could and could not source about it.

What this page answers

1. Do GKS scholars get a D-2 or a D-4 visa?
2. What decides whether you are exempt from the Korean language program?
3. What do GKS scholars not have to prove?
4. Which documents do the notices list?
5. What is D-2-7, and what does requesting it change?
6. What if you are already living in Korea?
7. How does the D-4 become a D-2?
8. When does the first stipend arrive?

StudySunbae is independent and not affiliated with GKS, NIIED, or the South Korean government. We do not give visa, immigration, or legal advice.

This page summarises the cited first-party documents for the 2026 cycle; rules vary by country, by Korean embassy or consulate, by university, and by cycle, and they change. Confirm current requirements with the Korean embassy or consulate handling your application before you file.

The 2026 GKS scholar notices direct scholars who start the Korean language program to an initial six-month D-4, not a D-2, and say scholars are responsible for renewing it during the language year at their own cost. Scholars who are exempt from the language program start their degree program on a D-2.

The same notices add that a D-2-7 visa is available to GKS scholars on request. Which one applies to you follows from the exemption rules in the next section, and the Korean embassy or consulate handling your application decides the final category.

The 2026 GKS-G scholar notice — the instruction sheet NIIED attaches to a final-result announcement, addressed to people who have already been selected — states:

D-4 visa is for those who will start a Korean language program. (All scholars will be initially issued with a 6 months D-4 visa, and scholars are responsible to renew their visa during their Korean language program. NIIED does not support visa renewal fee.)

D-2 visa is for those who are exempt from the Korean language program and start their degree program.

The 2026 GKS-U notice gives the same rule in slightly different wording — “renewal fees” plural, and “have started their degree program”. The D-2-7 sentence appears in identical words in both notices.

The six-month figure is corroborated from a different direction. The student-visa document lists published by the Korean Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City and by the Korean Embassy in Vietnam both set the period of stay for 한국어연수 D-4-1 — the language-training sub-code — at “체류기간 6개월 이내, 단수”: within six months, single entry.

Two consequences people miss

• The initial visa is 6 months, but the Korean language program is 12. The notices say scholars are responsible for renewing it during the program and that NIIED does not cover the renewal fee. They do not describe the renewal procedure, so confirm that with the immigration office with jurisdiction over your university.
• You start on a D-2 only if you are exempt from the language program — and the exemption rules are not the same for undergraduate and graduate scholars.

Which programs sit outside the language year: the 2026 GKS-G application guideline's scholarship-period note lists the Research Program and the Global Network Program among the categories exempt from the Korean language program. That is the guideline, not the scholar notice — the next section quotes it.

Everything on this page describes the 2026 cycle, which is what NIIED had published when we checked. Check the first-party instructions issued for your own cycle before you apply.

The exemption is what decides D-4 or D-2, and the criteria differ by track. The 2026 GKS-U guideline names one route: a submitted TOPIK level 5 or 6.

The 2026 GKS-G guideline's scholarship-period note lists five — the Research Program, the Global Network Program, TOPIK level 5 or 6, current academic professors in a 100% English-taught program who file a Korean Language Exemption Application, and IRTS Korean Language Program graduates with TOPIK level 3 or higher — and elsewhere in the same document treats R&D Program applicants to a 100% English-taught program the same way.

GKS-U (undergraduate)

The 2026 GKS-U application guideline's scholarship-period note states:

Applicants who submitted TOPIK level 5 or 6 will be exempt from a Korean language program

The same guideline's FAQ states the rule as a closed one with a single exception:

A yearlong Korean language program is an important part of the GKS program. All GKS scholars must take a Korean language program regardless of the curriculum of the degree program. However, if you have already attained advanced level (Level 5 or 6) on TOPIK when applying for the program, you must submit your valid TOPIK certificate to be exempt from Korean language program.

So for GKS-U, TOPIK level 5 or 6 is the only exemption route the 2026 guideline names.

GKS-G (graduate)

The 2026 GKS-G application guideline's scholarship-period note lists five routes:

Research Program, Global Network Program, scholars who have obtained TOPIK level 5 or 6, current academic professors enrolled in a 100% English-taught program with the submission of a Korean Language Exemption Application, as well as IRTS Korean Language Program graduates who achieved TOPIK/TOPIK IBT Level 3 or higher will be exempt from the Korean language program

That note is not the whole picture. A sixth category appears three times elsewhere in the same English guideline: twice in the scholarship-benefits section, and once in the FAQ answer that lists who does not have to reach Level 3. The two in the benefits section are the sharper ones. The Korean Proficiency Grant — the monthly top-up paid to scholars exempted by TOPIK level 5 or 6 — excludes:

GKS scholars in the Global Network Program, Research Program, current academic professors enrolled in a 100% English-taught program with the submission of a Korean Language Exemption Application, IRTS Korean Language Program graduates who achieved TOPIK/TOPIK IBT Level 3 or higher, or R&D Program applicants to 100% English-taught program

and the benefits notes state:

Korean language training fees are not provided to GKS scholars in Global Network Program, R&D Program applicants to 100% English-taught program

All three times, R&D English-track applicants are grouped with the categories the guideline elsewhere calls exempt. The Korean-language edition of the same guideline lists that route in the scholarship-period note itself.

Yet the FAQ answer aimed squarely at this question — whether a scholar admitted to a 100% English-taught program may be exempt — names only TOPIK 5 or 6 and does not mention R&D. If you are an R&D English-track applicant, do not settle the question from the scholarship-period note alone — ask NIIED or your university.

Both tracks — reaching level 5 or 6 during the language year

The GKS-U guideline puts it this way:

Those who receive TOPIK level 5 or 6 within the first 6 months of the Korean language program will be exempt from the remaining 6-month language program and must start their degree program in the following semester (September 2026)

The GKS-G guideline states the same mechanism with its own semester (March 2027).

One thing to know: for TOPIK 5/6 holders both guidelines phrase the exemption as required, not optional — each says you “must submit your valid TOPIK certificate to be exempt”.

Both 2026 scholar notices say that with NIIED's invitation letter you can apply without proof of your financial ability to support yourself, and both list the visa application fee as “generally exempt” for GKS scholars. Neither is stated as a guarantee: the same notices say each embassy may request additional documents if it considers them necessary.

Read this as paperwork being substituted, not abolished — the two Korean missions in Vietnam whose lists we checked still place a fully funded scholarship holder's evidence under their financial-capacity requirement, and accept the original scholarship certificate as that evidence.

Financial capacity

The 2026 GKS-G notice states:

With the NIIED's invitation letter, you can apply for a visa without a proof of your financial ability to support yourself.

The GKS-U notice says the same without the article — “without proof of your financial ability to support yourself.”

What that looks like at a mission that publishes its list

The Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City sets out its financial-capacity requirement (재정능력 입증서류) and then gives a scholarship-holder rule inside it:

5. 장학생의 경우 - 생활비 및 학비 모두 100% 지원 장학생의 경우: 장학증서 원본(표준입학허가서와 동일한 직인 날인) - 100% 미만 지원 장학생의 경우: 장학증서 원본 및 본인부담금에 대한 재정능력 입증서류

For a scholarship covering 100% of both living costs and tuition, the required financial-capacity document is the original scholarship certificate; below 100%, the certificate plus evidence for the self-funded remainder.

So the certificate does the work the bank statement would otherwise do. It is a substitution, not an absence — which is why bringing NIIED's documents matters even though the notices say you need no financial proof.

The visa application fee

Both notices list this among the visa documents, in identical words (the GKS-G notice adds a final full stop):

Visa Application Fee is generally exempt for GKS scholars

Note generally. It is not stated as a guarantee, and it is not the same as the renewal fee during your language year, which the notices say NIIED does not cover.

Both 2026 scholar notices give the same six items: a valid passport, a photo in a standard format, the visa application form from the Korean embassy or consulate, NIIED's invitation letter, a document indicating your final level of education, and the Standard Admission Letter issued by your university.

The notices do not present this as a complete list — both say each embassy may request additional documents, and Korea's own Visa Portal says the documents it publishes are “of the minimum requirements”. Get your list from the embassy or consulate handling your application.

Apart from the fee note above, both notices give the same six items. The GKS-G notice introduces them with “in general, you will need the following documents”; the GKS-U notice uses “would need”:

• Valid Passport
• A photo in a standard format
• Visa application form (available at the Korean Embassy/Consulate)
• An invitation letter issued by NIIED
• Document indicating the final level of education
• Standard Admission Letter issued by universities

This is not a complete checklist and the notices do not present it as one. The GKS-G notice says:

The documents required for visa application may vary by each embassy, and it is strongly recommended that you contact the Korean embassy to confirm the required documents before applying for a visa.

The GKS-U notice gives equivalent guidance in different wording. Both notices also carry this passage in identical words:

NIIED sent an official letter to all Korean embassies around the world, asking for their cooperation in visa processing for this year's GKS scholars. However, each embassy may request additional documents if it is deemed necessary for visa evaluation.

The Korea Visa Portal makes the same point for visa applications generally, in three passages drawn from two different procedures — the first about confirming visa issuance through a Korean immigration office, the other two about applying at a mission:

The required documents mentioned on the Visa Navigator are of the minimum requirements. The head of the immigration office may request/exempt additional documents for further evaluation.

Depending on the circumstances of one's country, the head of the Korean diplomatic mission may request/exempt additional documents for further evaluation.

Therefore, in the case that required documents on the Visa Navigator do not match with those of the diplomatic mission, please follow the instructions and requirements provided by the respective diplomatic mission.

Both 2026 scholar notices say a D-2-7 visa is available to GKS scholars on request, and neither explains why. The Ministry of Justice code table registers D-2-7 as 일-학습연계 유학.

Two Korean missions in Vietnam publish student-visa document lists showing what changes on that route: the filing takes a shorter document set than the ordinary degree tracks, and the academic-qualification and financial-capacity documents are replaced by NIIED's government scholarship certificate.

No source we found defines D-2-7 as a scholarship visa or gives it an English name, so ask the embassy or consulate handling your application whether it applies to you.

Every GKS scholar notice we checked — 2026 GKS-U and 2026 GKS-G — carries this line, with no explanation:

※ D-2-7 visa is available for GKS scholars upon their request.

What the code register says

The Ministry of Justice's residence-status code table, version dated 2026-03-31, lists D-2-7 · 일-학습연계 유학. We found no English rendering of that label on any government source we reached; read literally it is something like work-study-linked study, but that is our translation, not an authorised one.

For comparison, the same missions' lists name the sub-codes it sits alongside: 전문학사과정 D-2-1 (associate), 학사과정 D-2-2 (bachelor's), 석사 D-2-3 (master's), 박사 D-2-4 (doctoral), 특정연구과정 D-2-5 (research), 교환학생 D-2-6 (exchange), 일-학습연계 유학 D-2-7, and 방문학생 D-2-8 (visiting student).

The Visa Portal does not list it

The Visa Portal's public category index runs D-2-1 through D-2-6 only. That absence is not evidence D-2-7 is not issued — two Korean missions publish document lists that include it. We could not establish why the public index stops at D-2-6.

What changes on a D-2-7 filing

The Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City attaches this rule to its D-2-7 row:

• A shorter document set. The D-2-7 row takes items 1–4 and 6 only. The ordinary degree tracks (전문학사·학사·석사·박사, D-2-1 through D-2-4) take items 1 through 7.
• A substitution. The documents proving academic qualification and financial capacity are replaced by NIIED's government-scholarship certificate — two items that are separate requirements on the ordinary tracks.

The Embassy of Korea in Vietnam, updated 2026-06-11, publishes the same substitution in its own D-2-7 entry. Its list is not numbered, so the “items 1–4 and 6” shortening above is specific to the Ho Chi Minh City list and should not be read as a general rule.

Period of stay

Both lists put D-2-7 in the same stay-period group as the ordinary degree sub-codes — 전문학사·학사·석사·박사 and 일-학습연계 share one entry reading “체류기간 2년 이내, 단수” (within two years, single entry), with 연구과정 D-2-5, 교환학생 D-2-6 and 방문학생 D-2-8 at one year and D-4-1 at six months. It is not a D-2-7-specific term.

What we will not claim

The sources we cite do not define D-2-7 as a scholarship visa, do not give it an English name, and do not explain the gap between its registered name and the NIIED-certificate rule attached to it.

Both mission lists we read are Vietnamese posts; we did not establish that other missions apply the same rule. We report the mechanism, not a definition. Whether to request D-2-7 is a question for the embassy or consulate handling your application.

Both 2026 scholar notices warn that scholars already residing in Korea on a D-2, D-4, or other visa may have to return to their home country to obtain a new visa for the GKS program, and that the round-trip airfare will not be provided. Both add the same example: a scholar already in Korea on a D-4 may still have to obtain a new D-4 from home.

The notices tell these scholars to contact the immigration office with jurisdiction over their university to find out whether they can get the visa without leaving.

The GKS-G wording:

(Attention!!) Scholars who are currently residing in Korea with D-2, D-4, or other visa types may need to return to their home country to obtain a new visa for the GKS program. In this case, the round-trip airfare will not be provided to scholars. These scholars must contact the Immigration Office that has jurisdiction over their university to determine if they can obtain their visa without leaving the country.

The GKS-U notice gives the same warning in slightly different words, and both carry the same D-4 example. If this is your situation, the notices tell you to contact that immigration office before assuming anything.

The 2026 scholar notices do not say. They tell you the initial visa is a six-month D-4, that you are responsible for renewing it during the language year, and that scholars exempt from the language program start on a D-2 — but they never describe the step between the two.

Korea's immigration service publishes a change-of-status application (체류자격 변경허가) among its online civil applications, which is the category this step falls under, and the notices tell every scholar to contact their university's GKS representative immediately on arrival. Get the procedure and its timing from your university and your immigration office, not from this page.

This is the one part of the arc the first-party documents we read leave open, and we would rather say so than fill it in. What we can point at:

• The category exists. HiKorea's online civil-application list includes 등록외국인의 체류기간연장허가 (extension of stay), 등록외국인의 체류자격 변경허가 (change of residence status), and 체류지 변경 신고 (change of address). Those three are general items for registered foreign residents — not GKS-specific and not student-specific.
• Your university handles GKS scholars in cohorts. Both notices instruct scholars to contact their university's GKS representative on arrival, and the language institute and the degree program are at the same institution for almost all 2026 scholars.
• We could not source a timeline. No document we read gives a filing window, a fee, or a document list for the D-4 to D-2 change for GKS scholars specifically.

One item on the same list is student-specific: 유학생(D-2) 및 어학연수생(D-4-1) 시간제취업 허가 — part-time work permission for D-2 students and D-4-1 language trainees.

That matters during the language year for a reason the notices do not mention: on the D-4-1 side the permission cannot be applied for until six months after your status changed or, if you arrived on the visa, after your entry date — half the language year.

Not on arrival. Both 2026 scholar notices say scholarship funds are paid only after you open a Korean bank account, that you can open one only after your Residence Card is issued, and that the whole procedure takes one to three months.

Plan your own money against three months, not one: the GKS-G notice advises bringing funds for “the first month or two” while stating the delay can run to three, and the GKS-U notice says up to three months. The scholarship also does not cover the dormitory fee, and GKS medical insurance starts at the beginning of the semester.

The 2026 GKS-G notice states:

scholarship funds, including monthly stipend, will only be provided after a scholar opens a bank account in Korea. One can open a bank account after an issuance of ID card (Residence Card). This procedure may take 1 to 3 months depending on the individual's circumstances.

The GKS-U notice describes the same sequence in its own wording. The chain is Residence Card → bank account → first stipend, and the notices put it at one to three months.

The two notices give different reserve advice, and one of them is thinner than its own timeline:

2026 GKS-G notice

“bring additional funds to cover their living expenses for the first month or two in Korea”

2026 GKS-U notice

“bring additional funds that could cover their initial stay in Korea for up to 3 months”

Both notices put the delay at up to three months. A graduate scholar who brings two months' worth, exactly as their own notice advises, can land a month short. We are not overriding NIIED's advice — we are pointing at the gap between the two halves of the same document. Budget for the longer of the two figures.

Also from the same notices: the scholarship does not cover the dormitory fee, and GKS medical insurance begins at the start of the semester — the notices recommend travel insurance covering the period before that.

Do not treat this page as final. Check:

• The scholar notice attached to your own final-result announcement on the Study in Korea GKS notice board — that notice, not this page, is what governs your cycle
• The Korean embassy or consulate handling your application — it decides your documents, and the Visa Portal says its instructions govern where the two differ
• Korea Visa Portal (visa.go.kr) for general visa procedure
• HiKorea (hikorea.go.kr) — its online civil-application list includes extension of stay, change of residence status, address change, and part-time work permission for D-2 students and D-4-1 language trainees
• Your university's GKS representative — the notices tell you to contact them immediately on arrival

On the 2027 cycle: this page describes 2026.

Every quotation above comes from one of these documents. Each was opened on the date shown.

• Notice for the 2026 GKS-G Scholars (NIIED)2026 cycle, attached to the GKS-G Final Result Announcement (nttId=4509) · Checked 2026-08-11Addressed to scholars who have already been selected, not to applicants — a different document from the application guideline, and the one that carries the visa instructions. Supports the D-4/D-2/D-2-7 rule, the financial-proof and visa-fee sentences, the six-item document list, the already-in-Korea warning, and the Residence Card to bank account to stipend sequence with its one-to-three-month range.
• Important Notice for 2026 GKS-U Scholars (NIIED)2026 cycle, attached to the GKS-U Final Result Announcement (nttId=4417) · Checked 2026-08-11The undergraduate counterpart. It states the same rules in slightly different words — 'renewal fees' plural, 'have started their degree program', 'without proof' rather than 'without a proof' — which is why the page quotes one notice and describes the other rather than presenting a single composite quotation. It differs materially in one place: it advises bringing funds for up to three months where the GKS-G notice says one or two.
• 2026 GKS-G Application Guidelines (NIIED)2026 cycle, `_0220` revision, English and Korean editions (nttId=4420) · Checked 2026-08-11The revision suffix matters: embassy and university mirrors serve the pre-revision file. Supports the five language-program exemption routes. R&D applicants to a 100% English-taught program are a sixth category the English edition keeps OUT of the scholarship-period note while stating it three times elsewhere — twice in the scholarship-benefits notes and once in the FAQ answer on the Level 3 requirement — while the Korean edition puts it in the scholarship-period note itself. That split is why the page tells an R&D applicant to ask rather than to infer.
• 2026 GKS-U Application Guidelines (NIIED)2026 cycle (nttId=4385) · Checked 2026-08-11Names a single exemption route — a submitted TOPIK level 5 or 6 — and states in its FAQ that all other scholars must take the language program. Also the source for the mid-program exit at six months, which lands a GKS-U scholar in the September semester.
• Ministry of Justice — 체류자격 분류코드 (residence-status code table)version 2026-03-31 · Checked 2026-08-11The register of record for what a sub-code is called. It gives D-2-7 as 일-학습연계 유학 and no English rendering — which is why the page offers a literal translation and labels it as ours rather than as the code's name.
• Korea Visa Portal — visa category indexlive page · Checked 2026-08-11Its public index runs D-2-1 through D-2-6 only. The page reports that absence and explicitly does not read it as evidence that D-2-7 is not issued — two Korean missions publish document lists that include it. We could not establish why the index stops at six.
• Korea Visa Portal — visa application procedurelive page · Checked 2026-08-11Three separate sentences the page quotes rather than paraphrases, because they name different authorities: the Visa Navigator documents are 'of the minimum requirements' and the head of the immigration office may request or exempt more; the head of the diplomatic mission may do the same depending on the applicant's country; and where the two disagree, the mission's instructions govern.
• Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Ho Chi Minh City — student visa document listlast revised 2026-01-06 · Checked 2026-08-11The more detailed of the two Vietnamese lists, and the only one that numbers its required items. Supports the D-4-1 six-month single-entry stay period, the scholarship-holder rule under 재정능력 입증서류 (a 100% scholarship is evidenced by the original certificate), the D-2 sub-code names, and the D-2-7 substitution. Its current attachment is 「유학비자 구비서류 26.01.pdf」. Loads only for a client that accepts cookies — a cookie-less request redirects to itself indefinitely.
• Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Vietnam — student visa document listupdated 2026-06-11 · Checked 2026-08-11An independent publication of the same D-2-7 substitution and the same stay-period groupings, which is what makes the HCMC list more than a local quirk. It lists 공통제출서류 without numbering them, so the 'items 1-4 and 6' shortening must not be attributed to it.
• HiKorea — online civil applications (Korea Immigration Service)live page · Checked 2026-08-11Named for the category a D-4 to D-2 move falls under (체류자격 변경허가) and for the one list item that is student-specific: 유학생(D-2) 및 어학연수생(D-4-1) 시간제취업 허가. Extension of stay, change of status and change of address are general items for any registered foreign resident, so the page does not present them as student rules. No document we read gives a timeline or document list for the D-4 to D-2 change itself.

The four NIIED links open the notice post itself, attachments included. Study in Korea also publishes a second address for the same posts that redirects to its front page for anyone arriving from outside, so if you find one of these documents by search and land on the home page, that is why.