Mongolian Students Third-Largest Group in South Korea's Record D-2 Overstays

International students on South Korean degree programmes who have overstayed their visas reached a record 9,946 as of August 2026, according to Ministry of Justice data submitted to the National Assembly. Some universities report that more than 40% of their degree-seeking international students are staying illegally.

Key facts

• 9,946 degree-programme (D-2) visa overstayers as of August 2026 — the highest figure recorded
• Annual totals: 9,408 in 2022, 9,579 in 2023, 9,580 in 2024, 9,867 in 2025
• Top nationalities: Vietnam 6,807 (68.4%), Uzbekistan 1,412 (14.2%), Mongolia 738 (7.4%)
• Language training (D-4-1 and D-4-7) overstayers fell to 21,719, but the rate rose to 29.2%
• Seven universities had degree-programme overstayer rates above 10%

Which students are affected?

The figures cover two visa categories. The D-2 visa applies to international students in degree programmes at South Korean universities, while D-4-1 and D-4-7 visas cover language training.

Among degree students, Vietnamese nationals accounted for the largest share of overstayers at 6,807 people, or 68.4%. Uzbekistan followed with 1,412 (14.2%), then Mongolia with 738 (7.4%), Nepal with 318 (3.2%) and China with 236 (2.4%).

What do the numbers show?

Degree-programme overstayers have risen every year since 2022. For language training, the raw number of overstayers fell from 22,546 last year to 21,719 as of August this year, but the overstayer rate climbed from 25.3% to 29.2%, an increase of 3.9 percentage points.

Vietnamese students made up 19,413 of the language-training cases (89.4%). By overstayer rate, Uzbekistan was highest at 40.2%, followed by Vietnam at 39.7% — rises of 3.9 and 5.9 percentage points respectively compared with last year.

Which universities and provinces are most affected?

Seven universities had degree-programme overstayer rates above 10%. One college in Gangwon Province reported 179 illegal overstayers out of 420 international students, a rate of 42.6%, while a college in South Chungcheong Province recorded 69 out of 235, or 29.4%. Seventy-four universities reported rates above 10% among language trainees.

Over the past year, Gyeonggi Province recorded the highest numbers in both categories: 395 degree-programme overstayers and 599 language-training overstayers. North Chungcheong saw degree-programme cases triple from 70 to 213, while Gyeonggi's language-training figure rose from 340 to 599 and Seoul's from 143 to 235.

What is being called for?

Rep. Kim Hee-jung, who chairs the National Assembly's Education Committee, said universities had become "detours for illegal overstayers" and called for reform of visa management. She urged the Ministry of Education to work with the Ministry of Justice and other agencies on inspections covering visa screening, enrolment, stay management and post-study oversight, and for universities to shift from quantitative expansion to qualitative management of international student recruitment.

No new rules, deadlines or enforcement measures have been announced. The Ministry of Justice supplied the data to Rep. Kim's office.