Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SeoulNate]

Getting married at the end of this month back in the states and will get the marriage registered there (as well as back here when we return in February).

For those of you who have gone through the process of getting your Korean wife the spousal visa with work permission in the states, I was wondering how it went?

From what I have heard and read, the best way to go about it is to get married in the states, get the paper work, then come back here, apply at the US embassy and wait out the visa application period. However, after reading pages and pages of laws and comments, I still am a little confused about how the whole thing works.

[SeoulNate]

No one?

[nicwr2002]

I'm curious about this too...I'll need to start this process eventually as well.

[Brooks]

Get the visa no more than two years after being married.
Then spouse gets the K1 visa. After that, it sucks.

You MUST have a job in the US at the least. Otherwise you will wait.
You have to do the affidavit. How much in assets do you have in the US?
You need at least 20,000 bucks in a US bank, without a job.
What is your American address?

Do not pay the 300 bucks to apply for a visa until you have a job offer, or until you know you will move to the US in less than six months.

Basically you may have to move to the US first. Have a place to live, then you can get the visa.

If you live in Korea a while it is easier for the spouse to get a student visa at a community college even for just one course, then apply for the green card.

I know one woman with a Japanese husband. Been waiting since August, 2013. Stuck in Japan.

The paperwork sucks. Only do the medical check if you are absolutely moving back. Otherwise wait since the check just lasts six months then spouse must do it again.

[nicwr2002]

Damn....and we complain about getting the F6 in Korea...

[Died By Bear]

Back in '98 I applied for a fiancé visa. It took six months almost to the day. The fiance' visa allows her to come to the states to get married. My father was on the application as a sponsor. I had a job when I applied, and about 40K in the bank.

We stayed in the states instead of coming back to Korea. Back then, you had to apply for permission for her to travel. That permission slip took over three months to get and it was only good for a short time (30 days if memory serves). It took about 4 months to get "work permission" (not a green card). The green card took much longer, over a year.

Permanent resident status took another 2 years to get. The permanent resident thing is more of a case by case situation.


I knew another guy that just had his wife come down through Canada and they got married, (no fiance' visa application) then he hired an immigration attorney and everything went much faster.



Of course all of that was before 9/11 and I think things have changed since then.

[Brooks]

The visa must be issued from the US which means that the closest place to Korea is either Saipan or Guam.
Flights to Honolulu are more expensive.

It is really annoying that the only other ways for spouses to go to the US are either a student visa or a job offer from a company, whether American or a Korean one in the US.

The rationale in being tough is not to be a potential drain on taxpayers.
I guess permanent residents are eligible for welfare.

It seems it is easier to be tougher on foreign people who marry Americans than on people who cross the Mexican border illegally.

The US consul in Tokyo told my wife that it could take a week to issue the visa as long as I have work in the US, I think since we have been married ten years.
There are fake marriages, so I guess that is why they are tough.

[Shimokitazawa]

Are you planning on really moving back to the US? Otherwise, what's the point. I wouldn't even bother messing with it. What a huge pain in the ass.

[Leon]

I have done it, lots of these replies are not fully accurate or giving great advice. Get her to research it, lots of Korean women have done it and written about their experiences online and it will be a good guide. It took us like 6 months, fairly easy. If you do not have the means to sponsor her, you can get someone else to do so, like your parents. Do it in Korea, not in the states, the wait times are much longer in the states because more people are applying in the states vs. Korea. It is actually fairly straight forward and the U.S. Korean embassy has all the info you need on their webpage.

[SeoulNate]

Excellent, thanks Leon. We are going to do it here as soon as we get back just to have options in the fall as far as where we will go.

I've got the cash here, but wouldnt be too much of a problem to send it back home into an account for verification.

[trueblue]

You should contact tob55....(I think that is his online name).

He knows ALL about these matters.