Apostille Korea handles renewal of international driving permits for people abroad The permit is valid for one year, and until now expiry or loss overseas left only two options: flying home or appointing a proxy in Korea.

Apostille Korea said it has set up a document service for people who need to renew or replace an international driving permit while overseas. Issuing the permit inside Korea is relatively simple, but from abroad there were effectively only two routes, both costly in time and money. Apostille Korea said the process was redesigned to reduce the burden of mailing identity documents to Korea and back.

Why renewal stalls when you are abroad

The international driving permit is issued under the international convention on road traffic so that travellers can drive while temporarily overseas. Applying inside Korea requires a passport copy, a passport photo and the original driving licence, and the permit is issued at driver licence examination offices and police stations nationwide. During its one-year validity, carrying the permit together with the Korean driving licence and a passport allows the holder to drive in countries around the world. The difficulty arises when the permit expires or is lost or stolen and has to be replaced from abroad. In one case, a traveller whose bag containing the permit and emergency cash was stolen during a family trip contacted the consulate urgently, was told there was no way to help, and lost a rental car booking scheduled for the following day. Demand for the permit keeps rising, but the response available on the ground overseas remains limited.

The limits of flying home or using a proxy

People staying abroad had broadly two ways to renew or replace the permit. The first is to return to Korea in person, which costs time and money and is not a realistic option for someone in the middle of a business trip or holiday. The second is to ask an acquaintance in Korea to apply as a proxy. That route requires mailing the driving licence internationally, after which the proxy visits the immigration office for an entry-exit record certificate and then goes to a police station or licence examination office to file the proxy application. The issued permit then has to be posted overseas again, so the process physically takes at least a week and involves considerable effort and expense. Apostille Korea said it designed its proxy service for international driving permits to remove that complexity and the round trip of identity documents.

Frequently asked questions

Source: 디지털타임스 · 2017-03-30