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Agencies & brokers: stop at these signals

Agencies are a legal business, and many are honest. The problem: Korea has no licensing or oversight system for study-abroad agencies, so there is no official filter on the Korean side. Your home country may license or register agencies (it varies by country): if so, check your education authority’s website first to see whether the agency is registered. After that, the filter has to be you.

Seven red flags

FLAG 1

"100% visa guarantee"

No school or agency can guarantee a visa: consulates and immigration decide. The moment someone sells a "guarantee," they are selling something untrue.

FLAG 2

"You can earn your tuition working there"

Student part-time work needs advance permission with hour and industry limits. D-4 students can start only 6 months after arrival, at one workplace. This pitch assumes you will break the rules: which can end in deportation.

FLAG 3

One lump-sum fee, no breakdown

If they cannot give you a quote separating school payments from their own service fee, stop. Tuition should go directly to the school’s account.

FLAG 4

Offers to "prepare" documents

Staged bank balances, fake diplomas, proxy test-takers: all crimes. The broker forges, but the punishment and entry ban land on you.

FLAG 5

Cash up front, no contract or receipt

Collect-and-vanish is the most reported scam pattern across sending countries. Never pay without a contract and receipt.

FLAG 6

A "script" for your visa interview

Being coached to answer differently from your documents means joining a false application. It is grounds for refusal and goes on record.

FLAG 7

Using a university’s name without authorization

Universities have publicly warned about agencies impersonating them (e.g., Yeungnam Univ., Nov 2024). Call the school’s official admissions contact and ask whether the agency really is a partner.

This page does not rate individual companies. For a specific agency’s reputation, your best current checks are your student community (university or national student associations) and the school’s own international office.

Already paid and something feels wrong?

Back up your contract, receipts, and chat logs now. Disputes are won or lost on records.
Verify directly with the school: was an admission certificate actually issued in your name, and did your tuition actually reach the school?
If problems continue after arriving in Korea: ☎1345 (multilingual) for stay issues, ☎1350 for unpaid wages. Fraud that happened in your home country should be reported to your local police there.

For what a legitimate fee structure looks like, see the cost page.