Visiting a Korean clinic as a foreign patient

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Factual information only, not a medical recommendation. SeoulSearch is not a registered medical-tourism agency, does not book or contact clinics on your behalf, and receives no payment from clinics.

Reviewed 2026-09-27 · Updated 2026-09-28 · Written from the public sources listed below

The register, and what it does and does not mean

Korea keeps a register of medical institutions that have signed up to receive foreign patients. An institution registers with its city or provincial government, applying through an information system run by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, and a registration lasts three years and has to be renewed.

To register, an institution needs at least one specialist for each department it wants to see foreign patients in, and malpractice insurance, or membership of a medical liability mutual aid scheme. That is what being on the register tells you. It is not the same as accreditation: a separate evaluation and accreditation scheme exists for that. Read the register as a signal that a clinic is set up to receive visitors, and nothing more.

Interpreters and the international desk

Some institutions have a coordinator or a desk for international patients, sometimes with an interpreter for specific languages and specific hours. Others do not. Ask which language, and ask whether that person will be there on your appointment day rather than in general.

Payment and tax

Ask whether an overseas card works before your appointment. A VAT refund on cosmetic procedures for foreign tourists at registered institutions exists in the law, but the current text covers only services received up to the end of 2025, so do not budget for one, and ask the desk if anyone mentions it.

Help from a public service

The Medical Korea Support Center, run by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, helps foreign patients with information on medical institutions, booking, medical interpreters and questions about that VAT refund.

After you fly home

Plan the timing around follow up visits, stitch removal and check ups, and ask before you book how the clinic handles contact once you have left the country.

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