Korean Job Discussion Forums

[iggyb]

Thought some might be interested in this example:

I was told by the Korean Consulate in Atlanta that the F-2 was a no-go for me because my wife did not have a job in Korea and would not be living with me my first year back in Korea.

(She'll remain at her job in the US and taking part-time college classes as I help her mother who is facing living alone for the first time perhaps in her lifetime....)

Now that I'm in Korea looking for work in person, and don't have to go through the Consulate in Atlanta, I wanted to contact Immigration directly as a side-issue when I had time.

I used the contact info in the Sticky thread here about getting the apostille - I believe it was - and contacted a deputy director in immigration.

He said Atlanta was wrong. He said my wife being absent for all but a couple of short visits (she's here now for 3 weeks) would be an issue, but he said (or strongly implied) it could be worked around if I got an immigration lawyer to help.

He said he couldn't go further than that in giving advice since he worked for the ministry as a lawyer, but he recommended an English-speaking immigration lawyer for me and forwarded my origional email.

Nice of him...

And now what was a deadend has been reopended.

It might hit a wall again in the end --- but it is at least viable for now....

[OneWayTraffic]

Just to make you feel better I'm applying for a NZ visa for my wife. Total cost so far is roughly 350,000 won.

200,000 for the visa; 50,000 for X rays, 50,000 for a guy at immigration to watch me sign a bit of paper.

4-6 weeks for HongKong office to consider it.

All this for a 1 year work visa.

In Korea it's to immigration every other year, hand over the marriage paper from the local office. Sign, stamp, done; 30,000 won.

Korea isn't all that in red tape. In some things it's pretty bad but the F2 process is smooth once you're living in the country together.

I guess that's the only issue for you. She doesn't need a job in Korea, many of us F2s have wifes at home looking after the kids.

[iggyb]

Yeah, we went through the process of getting an immigrant visa to the US for my wife in 1999. We had to get my sister to "sponsor" it because I did not have a job in the US, because I'd been working in Korea for 4 years...

When we wanted to have a wedding ceremony in the US after getting married in Korea, it actually complicated getting my wife a tourist visa to the US (this was before the no-visa waiver deal), because they said the marriage showed she had an intent to stay in America long-term...

...We had to get proof of my work in Korea and our bank account and a round-trip airplane ticket for us both and I think a couple of other contracts I had with things like the phone company or whatnot to prove we were planning to return to Korea....

You would think one idea about something like an F-2 visa would be that spouses of Koreans would not have trouble getting into Korea when it is necessary for family concerns --- like a dead father-in-law....

I'll update this weeks from now when I learn more after getting in contact with at least 1 immigration lawyer....

[Carla]

[tzechuk]

[yeremy]

I am not sure that your mother-in-law could sponsor you because she is not your spouse. My ARC says the F2 visa is sponsored by my spouse. Your mother-in-law is not your spouse. Good luck.

[blackjack]

I know that you probably don't want to go down that route, but could you just get an e2 for a year?

[iggyb]

I figure I will get an E2. I've understood that since I talked to the Korean Consulate in Atlanta and did a little checking here and elsewhere....I'm just making sure I don't leave any useful options behind...

On the mother thing --- that was one question I had for Atlanta, and they said no. But, they also said my wife had to have a job in Korea, and a deputy director at immigration just said that was wrong - so I can't go much by what else Atlanta said.

I think an important point is that we are also talking between the difference of an immigration off and a court - and by court, I don't mean really standing in front of a judge, I'm talking about a personal lawyer sitting down with the immigration people or immigration judge...

....this is where some of the flexibility in the system likely takes place - like it does in other countries.

I am thinking my mother's bank account and my wife's marriage certificate might end up getting me the F-2. I think there is at least a shot...

And I think that is what the DD at Immigration was saying --- that a good immigration lawyer (who speaks English) will be able to work it out with the immigration authorities.

I explained everything about my situation in detail in my first email to the DD and I am pretty sure if the situation were fairly hopeless, he would have said sorry and told me that --- he wouldn't have put me in contact with a lawyer he recommends...

Logically, there is no reason for them to withhold the F-2: I'm married to a Korean national and I have proof I won't be a drain on the Korean tax payer...

If it requires $30,000 USD in the bank to prove the 2nd, I don't know if my mother-in-law has it, but I'd give it a coin toss or better ---

Koreans put their money in the bank -- especially older Koreans. They live off the interest - or at least that is how it was 10 years ago - and since key money is still done, I am taking it there are still higher interst rate accounts that older Koreans would take advantage of...

[Carla]

[Demophobe]

[Carla]

[iggyb]

Demophobe and Carla,

We've been married since 1998. I'd have to think how we could prove that if some official wanted to doubt it....

On my wife being able to sponsor me, even the US would say no to that. They did when we got her immigration visa before going to the US in early 2000. We had to get my sister to be the financial sponor since she had a job in the US and we didn't since we'd been in Korea since 1996 and didn't have a huge savings account.

Korea isn't the US. The Consulate in Atlanta said my mother-in-law could not be the financial backer of record, it had to be my wife and that she had to have a job in Korea (and that it wouldn't matter if I had a job in Korea or not...).

The Deptuy Director in the Immigration Department said that was incorrect. He said a job for either wasn't key. (He and Atlanta didn't mention at all the $30,000 in the bank as an alternative I've heard mentioned here at Dave's and elsewhere in the K-blogs....)

He said phycial location would be the problem, but he strongly implied that could be made flexible by taking it to an immigration lawyer who would advocate for me....

And I think that is how it works in the US and in most countries: The higher up you go in a bureacracy, the more flexibility you find as the higher ups gain in authority --- and then in the courts, the judge also has greater authority to provide flexibility.

I've gotten scholarships and thousands of dollars more in grants (instead of loans) and other kinds of things done for me over the years in the US by just plugging along on this principle....

I've even found justing continuing to ask why something works the way it works until I found someone who could explain it well can open doors when they finally get tired of you and realize they can't explain why something that doesn't really make sense works the way it does -- and you finally ask why to someone who has the authority to give you what you wanted to start with...