Departure

Departure inspection
- A foreign student who intends to depart from the ROK shall undergo departure inspection by an immigration official at the port through which he departs (Article 28.(1) of the 「Immigration Control Act」).
※ A person who attempts to depart from the ROK without undergoing departure inspection may be deported from the ROK, and shall be imprisoned with labor for not more than three years or fined up to KRW 20 million (Article 46.(1).11 and Subparagraph 18 of Article 94 of the 「Immigration Control Act」).
- On arrival at an entry and departure port in Republic of Korea, a foreign student shall submit his passport to an immigration official and answer his questions. The immigration official shall determine whether to permit departure by checking whether the student is the person indicated on the passport, the passport has been forged or falsified, and restrictions exist on entry and departure, etc. (Article 28 of the Immigration Control Act, Article 35 (1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Control Act, and Article 39 of the Enforcement Rule of the Immigration Control Act).
• However, foreign students who meet all the following requirements can take a departure inspection using an informatization device. In this case, any foreign student who has provided fingerprint and face information when receiving the entry inspection or completing alien registration and has no problem in departure inspection using the informatization device shall be deemed to meet the following requirements of subparagraph 2 (Article 35 (4) of the Enforcement Decree of Immigration Control Act).
1. Being 17 years of age and older, he/she shall be a person falling under any of the following
√ A person who is eligible for completing an alien registration under Article 31 of the Immigration Control Act
√ A person prescribed by the Minister of Justice, who is a national of a country with which the Republic of Korea has entered into a memorandum of understanding, agreement, etc. or has agreed otherwise so that both countries may mutually conduct entry and departure inspections using the informatization device
√ Other persons required to undergo an entry inspection using the informatization device by the Minister of Justice
2. Having registered information about his/her fingerprints and a photograph of his/her face, as prescribed by Article 19-2 of the Enforcement Rule of Immigration Control Act
3. In addition, having met the requirements under the Requirements and Procedures for Registration of Foreigners Eligible for Automated Immigration Inspection (Ministry of Justice Notice No. 2015-308 issued on October 30, 2015 and enforced on November 1, 2015 ).

Departure permission
- Upon granting departure permission, the immigration official shall stamp a departure inspection seal on the passport(Article 28 of the Immigration Control Act and Article 35 (1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Control Act).
• However, the departure inspection seal shall be omitted for a foreign student who has completed the departure inspection using the informatization device (Article 35 (4) and (5) of the Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Control Act).
Departure disallowance

Reasons for disallowance
- Departure by foreign students may be disallowed if they fall any of the following (Article 29.(1) of the 「Immigration Control Act」 and Article 1-3.(1) of the 「Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Control Act」):
1. A person who is involved in a pending criminal trial;
2. A person whose penal servitude or imprisonment has not yet been completed;
3. A person who has not paid a fine of not less than KRW 10 million or additional charge of not less than KRW 20 million;
4. A person who is in arrears on national taxes, customs, or local taxes in an amount of not less than KRW 50 million without any justifiable reason; and
5. Other persons corresponding to Subparagraphs 1 through 4 and whose departure is deemed by the Ordinance of the Ministry of Justice to be undue because of a risk of damage to the security, public safety, or economic order of the ROK.

Lifting of departure disallowance
- Departure shall be permitted when the reason for disallowance of departure or the need to disallow departure no longer exists (Article 4-3 of the 「Immigration Control Act」).
- When a foreign student who intends to depart from the country within the permitted sojourn period fails to do so on account of disallowance of departure, he may depart without fulfilling any other procedure, such as obtaining an extension of the sojourn period, within 10 days from the date of lifting of the disallowance of departure (Article 37 of the 「Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Control Act」).