Strict Response to Illegal Preemption of Appointment Bookings
Summary
The Korea Immigration Service is cracking down on the illegal preemption of appointment bookings using others' personal information. Illegally booked appointments must be canceled by November 30, or the offenders will face investigation and potential legal penalties, including fines and imprisonment. The aim is to ensure fair access to appointments for all applicants.
Notice Regarding Strict Response to Illegal Preemption of Appointment Bookings
○ Recently, instances have been identified where certain administrative agents, travel agencies, and individual foreigners are illegally preempting appointment bookings using the personal information of others (Alien Registration Number, Passport Number, etc.).
○ This obstructs fair civil complaint processing and is a clear illegal act involving the unauthorized use of personal information. Some cases of reservation preemption are currently under investigation, and we plan to respond strictly to similar cases in the future.
○ In this regard, if illegally preempted reservations are not voluntarily canceled by November 30, the reservation information (IP, log records, etc.) will be analyzed and referred to investigative authorities.
○ If fraudulent reservations are confirmed, the corresponding reservations will be canceled ex officio. Illegal bookers may face imprisonment for up to 5 years or a fine of up to 50 million KRW, according to the Personal Information Protection Act and the Criminal Act (Forgery and Use of Private Electronic Records, etc.).
○ To prevent innocent applicants from being harmed by fraudulent reservations, all users are requested to cooperate in maintaining a fair reservation order.
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Source: Hi Korea (hikorea.go.kr) • Published: October 23, 2025
Content provided under Korea Open Government License (공공누리).