Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lush72]

Hello all,

A few years ago I lost (and subsequently found) my passport here. When I went to the US Embassy they treated me like a criminal suspect- it seems that US passports are one of the few that do not reference your "old" passport numbers on the new passport- if you lose/destroy/or have your passport stolen a new passport, with a new number, is issued to you. It seems that a few unemployable Americans here in Korea conveniently "lose" their passports to acquire a new number, and thus circumvent Korean Immigration.

I am wondering what your home countries do in this regard. What does Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, and the rest of your home countries do regarding passport numbers? As I have previously stated it is fairly easy to get a new US passport number. Additionally, I know that Canadian passports reference the old number in most cases except in cases where a name has been legally changed. In that case a "new" passport number is given with no mention of any previous number, thus allowing the bearer to enter Korea and say (and attest on the Visa application this "fact") that this is the first time they have been in Korea. Obviously this is a big loophole for unemployable Canadians, but the bulk of the Canadians I know would never have to do such a thing.

So I ask- what are our countries regulations regarding this?

[Gollum]

Well, I can tell you this...

I had to get a new passport last year, because my original was delayed for over a month in the mail.

When I came in on my new passport, I was stopped at customs, and they were able to cross-reference my name and see that I had come in under another passport before. I got asked several questions, but got through after 10 or 15 minutes of them fumbling around on computer and talking to each other.

So even if you change your passport number, they will know it at immigrations.

[OiGirl]

Interesting...I just entered Korea with a new passport for the first time with no porblems. Could they NOT see the link to my old passport number? Or could they tell that my old passport had been issued ten years ago?

[jazblanc77]

To avoid having problems when you get a new passport, you should ask to keep your old one (there is an area on the passport application for this purpose), and inform immigration of the change (you are required to do this anyways for your visa file).

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]