Myanmar students face growing hurdles getting South Korea visas

The South Korean government has reportedly placed Myanmar student visa applicants under stricter monitoring, leading to increased visa denials. According to affected students, South Korea’s Ministry of Justice approved visas for only 15 of 105 Myanmar applicants intending to pursue postgraduate studies at the country’s Cheongju University in 2026. Beginning in May of last year, students from Yangon, Mandalay, Sagaing, and other parts of Myanmar arranged to enrol at Cheongju University through WorldEdupia Myanmar, a local agency that had established a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the university. Students applying through WorldEdupia Myanmar pay an initial 50 percent of the US$700 service fee upfront, with the remainder due later, while those using other agencies must pay the full fee of $800 to $1,000. For the March 2026 intake, students had applied and completed entrance interviews for programs in business management, hotel management, and commerce since October 2025. They also paid tuition of 2.8 million Korean won (around $1,900), according to a student in his 30s from Yangon who spoke on condition of anonymity. However, starting February 10 this year, the South Korean government reportedly denied visas to 90 of more than 100 students applying to Cheongju University, on the grounds that they lacked sufficient justification to enter the country. “Students feel completely powerless when their E-Visa [education visa] is rejected. They can no longer compete on equal footing with others. No matter how often they are told they can reapply for a later intake, it feels like trying to run a marathon with one leg cut off,” he said. “At this point, we have no other options. For students whose E-Visas were rejected, the chance of being accepted through another agency is only about one in ten, so it seems there’s little that can be done,” he added. Since September 2024, WorldEdupia Myanmar has been assisting Myanmar students with applications to Cheongju University, now marking its fourth round of service. In the first two rounds, all students were granted entry, while only 75 percent received visas in the third round. In the latest round, just 15 percent of applicants were issued visas, he said. When marketing its services to students this year, the agency reportedly used past visa approval rates to attract applicants, telling students that 70 percent of them were likely to receive visas, according to student reports. As a result, the students called on the agency to challenge the visa rejections, mentioning that other agencies had already made similar appeals. The complete visa rejections caused students to lose both the time and money they had invested in attending the university, leaving their aspirations unfulfilled, a female student who wished to remain anonymous reported. “We don’t even have a 50 percent chance of going to Korea. The situation has become that serious. Ninety out of 100 agencies refuse to accept students whose E-Visas were denied. When my visa was rejected, I contacted many agencies, and even universities with a 100 percent approval record couldn’t guarantee it would be accepted,” she recounted. She added that investing more time and money in reapplying would offer no assurance of approval. “We cannot risk taking this path again without any guarantee, spending more time and money. By ‘we,’ I mean my family. We didn’t choose this route because we have extra funds—our resources are limited, just like those of every other student,” she said. Given the extremely low visa approval rate, students argued that the agency should take responsibility and work to provide them a second opportunity. They also reported meeting with university officials about the issue, but no resolution was offered, and they were only told that their tuition fees would be refunded. In response to the situation, Myanmar Now contacted WorldEdupia Myanmar, but the staff said they would follow up later as the responsible officer was currently unavailable. A female workers’ rights activist, speaking on condition of anonymity, observed that the agency’s exaggeration of visa approval rates to attract students demonstrated a lack of accountability. She stated that many of the prospective students come from remote areas, and their parents, who had invested their hard-earned savings in their children’s education, have suffered losses as a result of the visa rejections. “Students applying to the university were full of hope. Many come from remote areas, and only a small number have affluent families. These universities should not destroy the lives of working-class households,” she said. She emphasised that, to prevent more people from facing the same situation, the responsible organisations must take accountability and work to ensure justice. South Korea is not the only country making it more difficult for Myanmar nationals to enter as students. On Tuesday, the British government announced that it would stop issuing education visas to applicants from Myanmar, Afghanistan, Cameroon, and Sudan, citing a surge in asylum seekers among students from those countries. A male officer of the South Korea-based Myanmar Federal Democratic Mission Coalition said that South Korea has several reasons to closely scrutinise the entry visas of Myanmar students. “More students are staying in South Korea illegally. Some enter on student, language, or university visas and later switch to G-199 humanitarian refugee visas, then start working. Many also take on unauthorised jobs, causing immigration authorities to lose trust and increase scrutiny, which has led to higher visa rejection rates,” the officer said. He added that Myanmar students are granted visas only after careful verification of their sponsors’ income, bank accounts, and other details to ensure they are genuine students planning to attend university. Additionally, agencies have fallen short in following the standards set by the South Korean government, often neglecting to properly evaluate student applicants and submitting visa applications based only on received service fees, leading to increased visa rejections, he said. “Caught in the middle, students have ended up as the victims, suffering substantial losses. In some instances, agencies failed to pay the university tuition fees, and when students sought refunds, the agencies refused and engaged in fraudulent practices,” he said.

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