The top five teams in the World Ranking received automatic berths into the Olympics, South Korea has received an automatic berth as host, and all other member nations had an opportunity to qualify for the remaining two spots.
[1] To qualify directly, a nation had to be ranked in the top five following the 2016 IIHF Women's World Championship.
[1] Using the IIHF World Ranking points system, the 2016 received full value, and each preceding year was worth 25% less.
The winner of each group advanced to the preliminary round 3 as qualifiers five and six, ranked according their seeding.
The winners of each advanced to the final qualification tournaments as qualifiers three and four, ranked according to their seeding.