If you have been following our article series on South Korea’s Q-Code requirements, it’s time for another update. In our last article on the Q-Code requirements, we summarized the policy update for inbound visitors to Korea applied during the third quarter of 2026 (July to September 2026).

At the end of September 2026, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) published another update to the list of countries under quarantine inspection. The list is set to be effective from October 1, 2026 and expected to be valid until the end of year of 2026.

Notes on Latest Q-Code Requirements (October 2026)

The important notes from KDCA Q-Code policy update in September 2026, to be applied starting from October 1, 2026, are as follows:

• There has been no change on quarantine inspection level as a basis of Q-Code registration. Q-Code registration requirements are still implemented based on two quarantine inspection levels: strict quarantine inspection for the region where quarantinable infectious disease is highly fatal or contagious and general quarantine inspection for the region where quarantinable infectious disease is prevalent or likely to become prevalent). Travelers coming from countries under strict quarantine inspection area are required to register Q-Code or fill out health questionnaire upon entering South Korea. In contrast, travelers coming from general quarantine inspection area are required to register Q-Code only when showing symptom of disease under monitoring.
• Five kinds of infectious diseases are considered highly fatal or contagious and thus leading to strict quarantine inspection: plague, animal influenza, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Nipah virus and Ebola virus. This is the same with the previous announcement.
• Diseases that are monitored via Q-Code based on the symptoms exhibited by travelers include cholera, yellow fever, polio, dengue fever, chikungunya fever, Zika virus, measles, Marburg hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (10 diseases). This is slight decrease from the previous announcement (11 diseases) since Ebola virus outbreak is considered highly contagious and all countries experiencing the outbreak have been put under strict quarantine inspection.
• There are 32 countries with strict quarantine inspection or compulsory Q-Code registration. Most of the countries are located in Middle East (13 countries) and Africa (12 countries). This is a significant increase compared to the previous announcement (25 countries).
• Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Zambia in Africa have been added into strict quarantine inspection area list due to Ebola virus outbreak.
• Brazil has been added into strict quarantine inspection area list due to animal influenza outbreak.
• Anhui and Jiangsu have been added to China’s regions under strict quarantine inspection due to animal influenza, while Henan has been removed from the strict quarantine inspection area list.
• Michigan has been added back to the list of regions in USA under strict quarantine inspection due to animal influenza outbreak.
• Symptom-based Q-Code registration is applied to 147 countries (including China and United States), which is the a slight decrease compared to the previous announcement (150 countries).

List of Countries with Mandatory Q-Code Registration Requirement (as of October 2026)

If you enter Korea from the following countries, you are required to complete Q-Code registration online or manually fill out the paper health declaration form when entering Korea. If you do Q-Code registration, your Q-Code will be scanned at the health screening gate. For the case that you decide to go with the manual route, which is filling out the yellow-colored paper health declaration form, you can hand in the completed health declaration form to the health officer at the health screening gate.

Mandatory Q-Code registration or health questionnaire submission is applied to passengers who embark from or transfer through any of the countries listed in the table below.

No	Continent	Country	Disease(s) under Monitoring	vs Prev. Update
1	Asia	Bahrain	MERS	Extended
2		Bangladesh	Animal influenza, nipah virus	Extended
3		Cambodia	Animal influenza	Extended
4		China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Anhui, Yunnan, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Tianjin, Hunan, Hubei)	Animal influenza	Extended
5		India	Nipah virus	Extended
6		Iran	MERS	Extended
7		Iraq	MERS	Extended
8		Israel	MERS	Extended
9		Jordan	MERS	Extended
10		Kuwait	MERS	Extended
11		Lebanon	MERS	Extended
12		Mongolia	Plague	Extended
13		Oman	MERS	Extended
14		Qatar	MERS	Extended
15		Saudi Arabia	MERS	Extended
16		Syria	MERS	Extended
17		United Arab Emirates	MERS	Extended
18		Yemen	MERS	Extended
19	Africa	Angola	Ebola virus	New
20		Burundi	Ebola virus	New
21		Central African Republic	Ebola virus	New
22		Democratic Republic of Congo	Plague, ebola virus	Extended
23		Ethiopia	Ebola virus	Extended
24		Madagascar	Plague	Extended
25		Republic of the Congo	Ebola virus	New
26		Rwanda	Ebola virus	Extended
27		South Sudan	Ebola virus	Extended
28		Tanzania	Ebola virus	New
29		Uganda	Ebola virus	Extended
30		Zambia	Ebola virus	New
31	America	United States (New Mexico, Michigan, Washington)	Plague, animal influenza	Extended
32		Brazil	Animal influenza	New

List of Countries with Symptom-based Q-Code Registration Requirement (as of October 2026)

If you enter Korea from the following countries, you will only be required to complete Q-Code registration if you exhibit symptom(s) of infectious disease under quarantine inspection, for example: high fever, red rash, or watery eyes. If your body temperature is normal and there is no noticeable symptom of disease under quarantine inspection, you do not need to do Q-Code registration upon entering Korea.

Region	Countries
Asia (25 countries)	Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, China, East Timor, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Taiwan, Thailand, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Vietnam
Africa (41 countries)	Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, French Réunion, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Zimbabwe
America & Oceania (62 countries)	Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Kiribati, Martinique, Mexico, Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Polynesia (French), Puerto Rico, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sint Maarten, Sólomon Íslands, Suriname, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, U.S. Virgin Islands, United States, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Wallis-et-Futuna
Europe (19 countries)	Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Ukraine

Similar with the previous announcement for July 2026, only passengers arriving from certain regions in China and United States are required to register for Q-Code. A passenger arriving from other regions in China and United States that are not included in strict quarantine inspection should register Q-Code only when the person exhibits symptom(s) of a disease under quarantine inspection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the change in the latest Q-Code requirement update compared to the previous one?
A: In the September 2026 update set to be effective from October 1, 2026 and remains effective until the next announcement, seven countries have been added into the list of strict quarantine inspection areas: Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Zambia, and Brazil. For United States, Michigan has been added back into strict quarantine inspection area list due to animal influenza outbreak.

Q: I am flying from United States to Korea. Do I need Q-Code?
A: Since January 2025, some states in the USA have been included in the strict quarantine area list. Starting from October 1, 2026 until the next announcement, if you fly to Korea from one of these states: New Mexico, Michigan, and Washington, you will be required to complete Q-Code registration or fill out the health declaration form. If you fly to Korea from other states, you are not required to register Q-Code unless you exhibit symptom(s) of any disease under monitoring.

Q: I am flying from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Seoul, Incheon (ICN). Do I need Q-Code?
A: Starting from April 1, 2026, Q-Code registration is not required when flying from California. This means that if you fly from LAX, you don’t need to submit Q-Code upon entry in Korea.

Q: I am flying from San Fransisco International Airport (SFO) to Seoul, Incheon (ICN). Do I need Q-Code?
A: Starting from April 1, 2026, Q-Code registration is not required for passengers embarking from or transiting through California. So, if you fly from SFO to ICN, you don’t need to submit Q-Code when arriving in Korea.

Q: I am flying from Mexico to Seoul, Incheon. Am I required to submit Q-Code?
A: Effective from April 1st, 2026, passengers traveling from Mexico to Korea is not required to submit Q-Code when entering Korea.

Q: I am flying to Korea from London (LHR), do I need Q-Code?
A: As of January 2025, UK has been removed from the list of countries with strict quarantine inspection. You will only need to complete Q-Code registration prior to entering Korea from UK if you exhibit symptom(s) of disease under monitoring.

Q: I am flying to Korea from London with layover at Dubai airport, do I need Q-Code?
A: Even though UK is not in the list of countries under strict quarantine inspection in July 2025, United Arab Emirates is still included the strict quarantine inspection area list. You will be required to register Q-Code once arriving in Korea from Dubai.

Q: I will be having a flight from Philippines to South Korea, am I required to register Q-Code?
A: No, travelers from Philippines are not required to complete register Q-Code when entering South Korea. However, if you exhibit certain symptom, for e.g. high fever, red rash, or watery eyes, you are expected to complete Q-Code registration.

Q: I am flying to Korea from India. Do I need to submit Q-Code?
A: Since October 1st, 2025 and extended in December 2025, March 2026, June 2026, and September 2026 Q-Code update, passengers flying from or transiting through India are required to submit Q-Code or health questionnaire form when arriving in Korea.

Q: I have filled out the health declaration form. Do I have to complete Q-Code registration?
A: Q-Code and health declaration form serve the same purpose, which is for infectious disease quarantine inspection. If you have filled out the health declaration form, you do not need to complete Q-Code registration. You can submit the health declaration form to the health officer at the health screening gate.