Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thinker]

i just sent off my passport package and things have changed a lot from 5 years ago (due mainly to the 911 events), so i thought i'd share info with those of you who may be getting close to that expiration date, and find out which country has the toughest guidelines for acquiring a new passport (my guess is the states) and just how long do they last? Canadas are for 5 years and you need the following to get one:

-any travel doc. or passport issued in the last 5 years
-your original birth cert.
-a guarantor who is of a certain profession and has known you for at least 2 years to vouch for you
-another document to suport your identity (gov. issued ID, or heath care)
-two references who have known you for at least 2 years
-$85


what i find amusing is that, according to the government website, your passport is not proof of citizenship!

made a sticky by rudyflyer and moved to general discussion forum

[Zyzyfer]

Jesus, if that's the same system for U.S. passports, it's easier to just apply for your first passport!

[FierceInvalid]

I'm Canadian and just renewed a couple of months ago. I did it without a guarantor (technically my guarantor was the consulate-general at the Seoul embassy or something like that...they came in and said "hi" through a glass window then signed the forms) I think this makes it more expensive though, over a hundred bucks if I remember right.

The little bit of static I did recieve was because my passport still had almost six months of validity left, and they were curious as to why I wanted to renew so soon. In fact it was because I was about to travel abroad and had read that my destination country (Hongkers) sometimes refused passports with less than 6 months of validity left. After explaining this, things were cool.

For the record, you can pick up your passport exactly 2 weeks after filing all the paperwork (this was actually guaranteed by the embassy).

[matthews_world]

************* U.S. Residents *************

I did a little research and found this information from the US Embassy Website: www.usembassy.state.gov/seoul

You can renew your existing passport ***without*** a personal appearance at the Embassy if--

You are age 16 or over and
You can submit your most recent passport, and
Your most recent U.S. passport had a validity of 10 years, and
You were issued your most recent U.S. passport at age 16 or older and
within the past 15 years, and
Your name will remain the same as on your most recent passport.

If you do not meet the conditions, you must appear at the Embassy personally and execute a passport application.

All the documents you need to renew are:
***Application Form DS-82, printable from the website.
***Your previous U.S. passport.
***A way for them to return your passport to you, i.e. return envelope with postage.
***Two passport photographs, 5 cm x 5cm
***Application Fee of $55. No personal credit cards or checks. Do not send cash or cards in mail. Go to any bank, usually Citibank or Korea Exchange bank, that will issue you a junsinhwan or US Dollars Draft. The fee for the bank draft should be between 5,000-13,000 won. Make it payable to "Cashier FMB, US Embassy Seoul"


Contact the US Embassy:
Telephone: 02-397-4114
Fax: 02-397-4101

Address:
U.S. Embassy
Consular Section
32 Sejongno, Jongno-gu
Seoul 110-710, Rep. of Korea


It is a 5-10 minute walk from Gwanghwamun Station, Exit 2, across from Sejong Cultural Center.

[BTM]

I renewed my (Canadian) passport last month, and the requirements are exactly the same as they were 5 years ago when I renewed (also here in Seoul), and as they were 10 years ago and 15 years ago, the last two times I got passports before that (in Vancouver).

A 'Declaration in Lieu of a Guarantor' - one page form, which they will give you - is all you need if you haven't got anyone who meets the guarantor requirements here, which is probably the case with most of us.

[Anda]

The Australian and British are the same as for a Canadian visa if you applying here in Korea. It doesn't matter if you are holding a current passport, you still have to go through the hoops again.

[VC]

I have a US passport. I'll need to renew it.
Just a quick question- if your work visa is stamped in your old passport will they restamp it in your new passport? How does that work?

[Anda]

You have two weeks in which to front to your local immigration office with your new passport and get your E2 stamped into it. Longer than two weeks and you are fineable. I did the whole thing less than a year ago.

[funplanet]

Just got my new passport back in 8 days! (US)...pretty amazing since it is done in the US and was told it would take 3 weeks...went to Incheon, got my new E2 stamp and multiple entry stamp...easy process through and through....no problems

p.s. ask for the 48 page passport

[sickboy]

Filled up my 24 pager in 3 years...

Called the Canadian embassy and asked for extra pages... declined...

Asked to get a new passport....

Have to fill out extra paper work... apparently there must be a valid reason for getting a new one with so much time left on mine... I guess, well you told me I had to because you're stingy with the pages won't goddamn fly!!!

Stupid arseholes!

-sick

[rapier]

The problem is that so many countries are stamp-happy. they delight in taking up whole pages for glossy visas and stamps. Korea's no different. I propose that you only ever need one visa for a country, and that they simply stamp a new date on it when you renew it.
Either that, or they should make pasports with more pages as a matter of course. We're in the millenium now for pity's sake. People travel easily, and much more frequently than even 20 years ago- especially backpackers. I've only had my passport for 2 years and its already nearly full up.

[William Beckerson]

yeah, I'm getting worried about my ever shrinking passport pages. And It sounds like the Canuck government is continuing in their fine tradition of doing very little for you and charging you a lot to do it.

[some waygug-in]

Can I renew my Canadian passport in Busan? I hope I don't have to go to Seoul. Oh well, I've got 6 months to figure it out.
Cheers

[Moldy Rutabaga]

In Busan, go to Nampo-Dong and find the main street where there's a peace sculpture of people holding up a steel bird or TV antenna or something, in a three-way roundabout (next to a KFC). Turn right (away from the bridge/nightclub area) and walk down the road until you see the Canadian consulate on the right side of the road. You can renew your passport there, as long as you have the 76 forms and papal bull and pound of flesh required. #&@$ Canadian government. It is now law that we are not allowed to smile on our passport photographs--when I think of all that bureaucracy, smiling is not the first thing on my mind.

Ken:>

[some waygug-in]

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My passport is good until about March 4th, next, so I was thinking of renewing it here before I leave. I went to the Canadian consolate in Busan, but the lady there told me the guy in charge there has just quit.
She says they may hire a new guy in Dec., but she isn't sure. In the mean time, I have a couple of questions. (4 actually)

Do I have to be in Canada to have a guarantor? The information on the forms they gave me is a bit unclear in this regard.


If I go the non- guarantor route, and pay the extra fees, do the people I get to sign for me have to come into the Canadian consolate with me?
It says something about having the whole process witnessed by a government official of some kind.

I have no permanent address here, I was just laid off. Can I just give them my girlfriend's address?

Is it worth the hassle to do it here? Perhaps I should just wait and do it in Canada.

I'd like to have it done now, so that I can head straight for Mexico in January, but perhaps I will have to wait now.


Thanks in advance.
Some waygug-in