If Korea’s mobile foreigner residence ID is missing after you replace your phone, begin with the physical residence card, not a repeat download of every identity app. The government’s current mobile foreigner ID guide gives two reissue routes. An IC card can be tapped on a supported new phone to reissue after identity checks; an older card without IC requires another visit to an immigration office for a new QR issuance. Neither route means copying an old screenshot or transferring the ID file to the new handset.
Identify which physical card you have
The guide identifies an IC card by the mobile-ID logo at its lower left. Follow the official Mobile ID app’s reissue prompts if you have one. Without that mark, take the physical card to the immigration-office QR route. Ask what your visit requires before traveling. Replacing the physical card with IC is a separate application with its own documents and fee.
The phone itself matters separately. The Ministry of Justice’s foreigner-ID launch guidance and issuance leaflet describe issuance on a phone registered in the holder’s own name, with supported operating system, biometric and NFC conditions. Their leaflet names exceptions and carrier restrictions, but those technical details were published in 2025; check the app’s current requirements before treating a particular model or plan as supported. A phone that receives SMS on someone else’s line does not establish that the own-name check will pass. The IC tap also does not fix a carrier-name mismatch.
Separate a new handset from a changed phone number
A new handset triggers the card-type reissue decision above. If you kept the handset but changed the number or carrier, first find which step now fails: Mobile ID sign-in, the own-name mobile check, or an unrelated bank or merchant verification. Ask the carrier to verify how the line is registered and contact the official Mobile ID customer center with the exact error, physical-card type and change date. Its public page lists telephone 1688-0990 and an inquiry route. The official materials do not say that a new number alone always requires a QR visit or that changing a number automatically restores issuance. Do not try a companion’s line as a workaround.
If the phone route remains unavailable, keep the valid physical residence card for in-person identity checks and ask the institution whether it accepts that card for the task you need to complete. If the problem is a bank app’s own-name verification rather than Mobile ID issuance, the bank-app phone verification guide covers that separate account route. For the mobile ID itself, ask Mobile ID support or the immigration office for the correct next step; no app retry can replace the office’s QR issuance for an older card.
Before contacting support, make a short record: physical-card type, whether the handset or number changed, the exact failed step, and the error text. Keep identity numbers out of public messages. A completed issuance status is stronger evidence than the app merely being installed.
Official Mobile ID and Ministry of Justice guidance checked September 29, 2026 KST. Confirm the live app and office requirements for your card, phone and status.