Korean Job Discussion Forums

[iggyb]

I'm in the US and looking to return to Korea to teach. Taught before 1996-2000.

Married to a Korean for over 10 years so far. Thus, she's here in the US with a permanent resident US visa...

I want to get the F-2-1 visa before I go back to Korea --- but here is the twist:

While I work in Korea for a year, my wife will remain in the US at her job and taking part-time college courses.....

....so.....how will that influence my ability to get an F-2-1???

I've searched around the internet for answers, but haven't found anything related to that --- getting an F-2-1 while the Korean spouse remains in a foreign country...

My guess is that I can go through her parents to prove the financial support requirement and my wife to prove the family connection to a Korean citizen.

Or, maybe I will need to get an E-2 visa showing I have a job or just get a signed and notarized contract with a school --- to prove I can support myself in order to get the F-2-1 before I leave...

???...

The whole F visa is new to me since I left Korea in 2000...

....but I actually have a little frame of reference from when we got my wife's visa to enter the US:

Because I had been in Korea for 4 years and didn't have a job lined up before returning home, and my wife of course didn't have a job lined up there either --- we had to get my sister to sign up and provide her paperwork showing her job and income before my wife could get the visa...

[Unposter]

If your wife is still a Korean citizen, you have a residence in Korea and your wife can fill out the required paperwork (and even better goes to immigration with you), just don't tell immigration where she will reside, and I would assume you would not have any problems.

[Cerriowen]

mmm... she might have to fill out some type of documents as to why she can't go with him to immigration. Or maybe they'll have to go to a K embassy together in the USA.

Sorry I can't be of more help except to say that I had to get my husband to go w/ me to Kimmi or get documents to prove why he couldn't go.

[T-J]

Don't know about her parents being the sponsor as we didn't go that route.

I can tell you that my wife had to surrender her green card at the U.S. embassy as part of the process of getting my F-2 here. Also had to surrender her Korean passport. Korea issues two types of passports, one for Koreans residing in Korea and traveling overseas and another for those that emigrate out of Korea yet retain their Korean citizenship. She had to relinquish the former and get the latter reissued.

In short, from my personal experience, I don't think it is possible for your wife to sponsor your F-2 while retaining her green card.

Good luck, hope this helps.

[iggyb]

Thanks all.

TJ = a few questions....

In your situation, was it identical to mine: You applied for the F-2 in another country (US or Canada or other), and your wife was going to remain there while you went to Korea?

Also - what do you mean by "surrender" her green card? They held onto her green card and passport until you returned? Or, she had to apply for a new green card when you returned (or when you return)?

Also, how long had the two of you been married?

My wife and I have been married for over 10 years and in the US for 8 of them. Maybe that will mean something at the Korean Consulate here in Atlanta when I go to apply.

I think the hangup will be with the "support while you're in Korea" thing rather than questions about whether our marriage is a sham or not.

I'd think we could take care of that through her family who still lives in Korea.

Or, maybe I could go ahead and secure an E-2 teaching visa then wait to go to Korea on it until I apply for the F-2 here in the US. --- I don't want to apply for the F-2 in Korea, because my wife won't be handy. Atlanta isn't too far from us and we can make multiple trips down to the consulate if need be.

Another question for future reference to all:

-- what if your wife gives up her Korean citizenship for American citizenship (or other)? Can you still get an F-2?

My guess from reading the Guidebook for Foreign Spouses - is that we'd have to be going back to Korea together and she'd first have to get an F-4 visa (returning Korean) or some other visa before I could get an F-2...???...

Luckily, we have been tardy in applying for her American citizenship so this isn't an issue - yet -- but will be in the future.

Or maybe it won't...

I'm a teacher here in the US, and my idea was that some summers I would take advantage of our long vacations to return to Korea to visit family and site see - maybe at times using Korea as a base to do short trips to Japan and China and so on...

Now, I seem to remember that another change in immigration law since I left Korea in 2000 is that the US and Korea finally reached an agreement on the 90-day no visa visit thing. So if I want to go to Korea during summer breaks, I can do it without having to go through the visa process at all...

[DHC]

Part of the application process for the F-2 requires a copy of your wife's jumin deungbon. This is a document separate from her family registration that shows that she lives at a particular address in Korea. Without this document she will be considered an overseas Korean (F-4) and that makes you ineligible for an F-2 visa unless she renounces her US citizenship.

[Mr. Pink]

[iggyb]

Thanks all for the help.

On why I'm going the way I am --- there are several reasons:

1. Teaching jobs here in the US are scarce in this economy - as are any jobs. I live in Georgia. There are always a few teaching jobs open in parts of Atlanta and some rural areas of south Georgia, but there aren't any this year in the area of Georgia where we want to live. And if we have to relocate somewhere for a year or two before I find a teaching job in an area I prefer, I'd just as soon as do it abroad. It's been awhile since I've traveled.

2. Learning Korean. My wife and I have put off having children so far but will likely change that in the next few years. We want the kids to grow up naturally bilingual, but my Korean is low and I'm simply not learning it here.

3. My wife's job. My wife's job isn't a high paying one or anything, but she likes it and doesn't want to give it up and look for another one after a year living in Korea. She'd also not be thrilled with the kind of job in Korea she'd likely get if she were only going to be there for a year.

4. Savings -- Since we're preparing to have kids, its important for both of us to be working and saving all we can. The salary in Korea isn't high compared to the US but expenses for an ESLer are much lower. I found before, even back in the 1990s when the Korean Won tanked, I could save a good bit more money in Korea than I could in the US.

5. NK-related NGOs: I've been wanting to do something related to North Korea Human Rights for the past few years, but it has been difficult to do much of anything from where I live in the US. One goal I have in going back to Korea is to do some quality volunteer work with some of the groups located in Seoul.

6. My wife's father has been diagnosed with cancer. My wife doesn't want to leave her job, but she would like it if I were able to visit her parents from time to time and she will pay a visit for a week or two sometime during the year.

My wife and I living apart for the better part of a year will not be ideal, but we have done this twice before for a shorter period of time:

6 months when I went to study Korean as part of a MA in Korean Studies.

4 or 5 months after my grandfather died and I returned to the US then looked for another teaching job to return to Korea.

[iggyb]

I've emailed a few of the Korean consulates here in the US asking the specific question.

I'm starting to wonder about how much or little the Korean government wants people applying for the F-2-1 visa --

-- because on several Embassy and Consulate websites I've looked at in English for the US, Canada, Australia and the UK -- they skip the F-2 visa altogether.

They'll list info about the other visas and when you get to the F series you see the F-1 and F-4 and I seem to remember seeing an F-3 but nothing on the F-2....

Maybe we can time my wife's visit for early on instead of later so I can apply for the F-2 in Korea.

But I'd really like to have it for the full time. It offers so much more protection from the worst the hakwon industry can throw at you than the E-2...

[iggyb]

I'm still looking and not sure...

http://www.hikorea.go.kr/pt/InfoDetailR_en.pt?categoryId=2&parentId=382&catSeq=385&showMenuId=374

Several of the websites that give info describe the process for applying for the visa from outside Korea.

They mention "Inviting parties staying in Korea" ---

--- Now, since that does not specifically say, "The inviting spouse" ---

--- I am taking it that the "inviting party" can include in-laws - the Korean spouse's family living in Korea...

Oh the world were only simpler.....

You would think being married for 10 years would be proof enough that you aren't running a scam or something ---- and the fact that Korea is desperate for ESL teachers would be enough to convince them that you aren't going to live off the state.....

....but we're talking about national bureaucracies...

[nobbyken]

Just thought I'd chip in with a reminder.

The F2-1 is only valid for a year. If you don't get it renewed after 12 months, you will have to re-apply.
After you've had the F2-1 visa renewed 2 times and been in the country for 24 months, can you apply for the F5 visa.
F5 is the permanent residence visa.
It may not be worthwhile if you cannot renew every 12 months over the next 24 months upon getting the F2-1.