how to apply from Nepal
Korea's steps are not individually hard. They are strictly sequential, two of them run on other people's clocks, and starting them in the wrong order costs an intake.
Read this before the timeline, because the sequence is the whole difficulty.
Admission, then the MoEST NOC and tuition transfer, then Korean Embassy document verification, then the TB test, and only then the D-2 or D-4 visa application.
Two of those stages are outside your control once started — embassy document verification runs three to six weeks, and the TB test one to two — and neither can begin before the one in front of it is done. Students who treat the visa as the deadline rather than the finish line consistently discover this too late.
Work backwards from your intake date, not forwards from today.
Korea runs two intakes, and the guidance to start four to six months ahead is a floor rather than a target.
The intakes: March for spring and September for autumn
Minimum lead time: four to six months, and twelve months if you are applying for GKS
GKS, if you are a candidate
The Global Korea Scholarship runs roughly a year ahead of the intake it funds, through either the Embassy track or a university track. It is a separate, earlier application.
TOPIK or IELTS
TOPIK Level 3 or above for Korean-medium degrees; IELTS 5.5–6.0 or TOEFL iBT 71+ for English-taught. A D-4 language programme needs neither.
Apply to universities or language institutes
Choose licensed and accredited institutions only. Get the official acceptance letter.
Start document verification immediately
The day your acceptance arrives. This is the 3–6 week step, and it is the one that decides whether you make the intake.
MoEST NOC, then transfer tuition
Nepal's approval first. The university then issues the admission certificate the visa application needs.
Book the TB test
At a designated hospital in Nepal. Results take one to two weeks and must accompany the visa application.
Apply for the D-2 or D-4 visa
At the Korean Embassy in Kathmandu — individually, or through your university's batch submission if it has one.
Alien Registration Card
Register at your local immigration office within the required period, and enrol in national health insurance.
This deserves its own section because it is where Nepali applications actually stall, and because almost nothing else you read will give it the weight it has.
What it covers: your academic documents — transcripts and diplomas — confirmed by the Korean Embassy in Nepal
How long: three to six weeks, and it cannot start before you hold an acceptance letter
Why it exists here: Korea has no APS-style pre-screening body — admission plus embassy verification is the screen
There is no equivalent of Germany's APS pre-screening in Korea — no separate body that certifies your qualification before you apply. Embassy verification is the screen, and it happens after admission rather than before it, which is exactly why it lands on the critical path.
Get your transcripts, diplomas and character documents in order early. Anything that needs a notarised translation should be translated before verification begins, not during it.
Korean-medium degrees: TOPIK Level 3 as a minimum, with Level 4 or above preferred
English-taught degrees: IELTS Academic 5.5–6.0 or TOEFL iBT 71+, set by the institution
The D-4 language route: requires no prior Korean at all
Undergraduate entry from Nepal: Nepal's +2 — twelve years of schooling — plus TOPIK or an English test depending on the programme
The honest trade-off: an English-taught degree gets you in without Korean and removes the D-4 stage entirely, but Korean remains the gate for part-time work, for most graduate jobs and for the residency points system. Studying in English and never learning Korean is a route into Korea, not a route through it.
Most students who stay long-term arrive on one and build the other.
Acceptance letter / admission certificate
The university issues the immigration-facing version after tuition is paid.
Embassy-verified transcripts & diplomas
Verification is a separate step, not a formatting requirement. Start it first.
Financial proof
A bank balance or fixed deposit, in your own or a sponsor's account.
TB test certificate
From a designated hospital in Nepal. One to two weeks.
TOPIK or IELTS/TOEFL
Depending on your programme's language of instruction.
Study plan
Why this course, why Korea, and what follows.
Passport and photos
To the Embassy's current specification.
Scholarship certificate
Where you hold one — it affects the funds you must show.
Korea's ordering is unusual and worth restating: you transfer tuition before you apply for the visa, because the university issues the admission certificate the visa needs only after payment. The NOC therefore sits earlier in your sequence here than it does for most destinations in this guide.