Korean Job Discussion Forums

[server1a]

Ok, now get this. I'm in Beijing right now, will be back in Korea in a few days and a Chinese friend shows me her passport.



"Look at my Korean Visa."
"Uh, where is it?
"Keep going."
What the hell!?! Page 26 and 27?"

She has a 32 page Passport, that is good until 2017. And she went to Korea for 4 months to teach Chinese at an international school. Guess where they put the stamp and Visa? Page 26 and page 27.

OF AN EMPTY PASSPORT!

Those of you who are up to speed on passports know that they go very much like a novel. Start at page 1 and go to the end. And those of you who have had the "pleasure" know that asian countries are not well know for being understanding when mistakes are made on official forms.

So what are the odds that the 22 empty pages before the Korean Visa are useless now? She has 4 empty pages after the mistake, and that's 2 visas when you include stamps.

Anyone else have this happen before? How did it pan out?

Long story Short: Korean embassy puts it's visa on page 26+27 of an empty passport. Potentially reducing a 10 year, 14 trip visa to three trips, assuming the worst.

Still taking bets that they put the next Korean visa on pages 30 and 31, further reducing the 32 page passport to two visas.

[HapKi]

Speaking as someone who has had extra pages put into my passport twice, I can tell you that your logic leaves a lot to be desired.

[server1a]

[Spliff's Son]

Passports are not like a 'novel'.

Immigration can use any empty page. Get a grip on reality.

As for your bet...... I'll wager that the next visa goes on page 4.

[pootle]

Haven't had a passport for very long, have you love?

Unless you are very desperate for reading material, passports are not generally considered by the sane to 'go like a novel'. Nobody cares which page your visa is on and visas and entry/exit stamps don't have to run in order of issuance.

If an immigration officer insists otherwise then s/he's looking for a bribe and you need to ask to see the boss, which will make the matter go away very rapidly (unless you're in Sierra Leone and it's advisable to just pay up and walk away quietly).

[maeil]

The first stamp I ever got in my passport was in the Channel Tunnel, just out of high school. They put it on page 15 of my empty (USA) passport, with empty pages beginning at page 8. No country since then (including Korea, Japan, and China) has ever had a problem going back and using the unused pages.

I really doubt those 22 pages are null and void.

[peppermint]

[re:cursive]

The first visa for my current passport was a Chinese visa and they went straight to the middle page (17) presumably because that is where the passport naturally opened due to the seam.

My other visas have since been stuck to earlier pages. For example, my 1st Korean visa was placed on page 9 and my current one on page 3.

I have various other official stamps on random pages throughout the passport.

I personally think that it is safe to say that this is a non issue.

[Milwaukiedave]

I have had entry and exit stamps and visas put throughout my passport and never had a problem with the sequence of those things have been out of order.

[R-Seoul]

[polonius]

Having travelled into Korea and out many times, and having travelled to over 30 countries, it does not matter where in your passport the immigration officer stamps an entry visa or working visa for that matter. Those prior pages are NOT void. Just as one page in your passport in NOT voided because the immigration officer stamped a visitor's visa on a page. That page can be used multiple times until there is no longer any space left. The only thing I would be worried about is when banks put in how much money you have transferred out of the country.

On a side note, when I recently left Korea for a vacation, my wife needed to get a re-entry visa put in her passport. She went to the immigration office at the airport, and because we were with our 10 month old son, rather than have us wait in line, they pushed us through secruity so that we could go to the office on the other side. (Just between the immigration officers and security.) So, she got her re-enty visa, on a page prior to other visa, I might add. The officer then stamped her visa stating that she had exited, but also gave her back the application form she had filled out, along with the 30,000 won. When I gave them my passport and my son's, they just whisked us through without stamping anything in our passport. Well, this made returning to Korea a little problematic. You see, we hadn't technically in the eyes of immigration, left the country. So upon our return to Korea, after 20 minutes of them figuring it all out, the let us through and blamed the officer that pushed us through. That said though, we do get VIP treatment when travelling with an infant, i.e. bypass all the lines. What we have to endure with angry passengers because of a crying baby is made better by our treatment of the officials. Sorry to all those that have had to endure a crying baby on a flight. As parents, we feel for you, but what choice do we have.