Korea's Student-Visa Certification System Takes Full Effect — 181 Certified Universities Get Simpler Visas, While "Visa Precision-Review" Schools Face a One-Year Visa Freeze from Fall 2026

A policy that every prospective international student from Vietnam — and their parents — needs to understand has now moved into full effect. On February 13, 2026, Korea's Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Justice (MOJ) released the results of the 2025 International Education Quality Assurance certification review and the accompanying field survey of how universities recruit and manage international students. The core idea is straightforward: Korean universities are graded according to their capacity to recruit and look after international students, and that grade then feeds directly into how Korean student visas are screened. In practice, the university you are admitted to can change how easy or difficult it is to obtain your visa. With the number of international students rising quickly, the system is designed to weed out poorly run institutions.

Start with the good news. In 2025 there are 181 certified universities offering degree programs — up 23 from 158 the previous year. Within that group, the number of "outstanding" certified universities rose to 39, a sharp jump from 27 a year earlier. Certified institutions offering language-training (Korean-language) courses also increased, reaching 123. Students admitted to a certified university can be screened for a visa on the strength of a standard admission letter alone, which makes the process considerably simpler. The 39 outstanding certified universities get an extra benefit: in addition to the streamlined, admission-letter-only visa screening, they are eligible to be selected as host institutions for the Global Korea Scholarship (GKS), Korea's government-sponsored scholarship program.

There is one caveat that students from Vietnam in particular should note. Even at a certified university among the 181, applicants from countries designated by the Minister of Justice — so-called notified countries or priority-management countries — must additionally submit documents proving their financial capacity. In other words, admission to a certified school does not automatically erase every paperwork requirement. It is wise to confirm in advance which category your nationality falls into and to prepare proof-of-funds documents ahead of time.

On the other side, screening clearly becomes tougher. The 134 non-certified general universities are assessed comprehensively on their management capacity, on applicants' academic qualifications, and on financial ability. A further 13 universities flagged for enhanced visa screening — the "consulting" universities — face precision review that adds, on top of the academic and financial checks, interviews probing the risk of illegal employment as well as on-site field inspections. The strongest measure applies to the "visa precision-review" universities: 16 degree-program institutions and 4 language-training institutions will, in principle, have visa issuance restricted (effectively suspended) for one year starting in the second semester of 2026. Universities that wish to improve can receive consulting from the National Research Foundation of Korea.

Here is the point students and parents must grasp above all. The government publishes the names of certified universities and outstanding certified universities — but it does not publish the names of the non-certified general universities, the consulting universities, or the visa precision-review universities. That means there is no official list that singles out any school as "dangerous." Any so-called "list of restricted universities" circulating online is therefore not a government announcement and should not be trusted. The surest check a student can make is not to hunt for a negative list, but to verify directly whether the school they intend to apply to appears on the certified list.

The verification method is simple. The list of certified universities — the 181 degree-program institutions, including the 39 outstanding ones — is posted on the Study in Korea information system (studyinkorea.go.kr) and on the National Research Foundation website (nrf.re.kr), and is also provided to Korean overseas missions. So before submitting an application, a student preparing to study in Korea from Vietnam should go to studyinkorea.go.kr and confirm whether the target school is listed as a "certified" or "outstanding certified" university. If it is on the list, the visa process is simpler; if it is not visible there, it may be a school subject to tougher visa screening, which is a reasonable signal to weigh the decision more carefully. And because applicants from notified or priority-management countries such as Vietnam may need extra financial documents, it is safest to keep proof-of-funds paperwork ready even when the school you are admitted to is a certified one.

The government has also strengthened its enforcement powers. For universities that fail to properly recruit and manage international students — including violations of the Immigration Act — sanctions can now run up to a maximum of 3 years, up from the previous one year. The mechanism for screening out poorly run institutions has, in short, become far more rigorous.

One final point deserves to be stated plainly. This certification scheme and the tiered visa treatment are based strictly on a university's capacity to recruit and manage international students. They are not a guarantee of the educational quality of any individual department, nor of employment after graduation. Certification status is an important yardstick for gauging how favorable the visa process will be — but rather than treating it as the single criterion for choosing a school, students should weigh it alongside their intended major, tuition, and career prospects. For the visa itself, however, building the habit of checking certification status directly at studyinkorea.go.kr before applying will be the most dependable starting point for studying in Korea.