Destination guide

North Korea visa requirements

For United States passport holders

Pyongyang18°COvercast Clouds

Entry requirements

Visa required

For holders of a passport from

Do I need a visa to visit North Korea with a United States passport?

Travel restricted by U.S. government/Admission refused for U.S. citizens with foreign nationality

Key entry notes

  • U.S. passports holders must obtain a special passport validation from the U.S. federal government before travel.
  • Such validations are only ever issued if travel is in the interests of US national security.
  • United States citizens require a visa when traveling to North Korea; as there is no North Korean diplomatic mission in the United States, US citizens must obtain a visa from a diplomatic mission in a third country.
Show 2 more source notes
  • U.S. secretary of state Rex Tillerson authorized a ban on American travel to North Korea that went into effect in August 2017, following the death of Otto Warmbier, a US student who was detained in North Korea and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster.
  • The U.S. government advises its citizens not to visit North Korea for any reason due to the continuing serious risk of arrest, long-term detention, and the threat of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals.

Data refreshed 06 Sep 2026

At a glance

Travel basics

Region
Eastern Asia
Capital
Pyongyang
Languages
Korean
Currency
KPW
Time zones
UTC+09:00
Area
120,538 km2
Population
25,155,000