Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ed Provencher]

I had no clue the ARC was that important to immi. My co-worker dropped his wife and two toddlers off at Incheon Int. and got on a bus back to Daegu. A few hours after he arrives to work, his wife and kids come through the door.

It turns out that immi didn't let his wife and kids board the plane without handing over her ARC card. She doesn't teach English, but she has a spouse's ARC.

She totally didn't think the card was important for leaving the country, so naturally didn't bring it with her.

That's a $3,000 mistake.

But is it reasonable for immi to force you to stay in Korea if you don't hand over your ARC on the way out?

[PatrickGHBusan]

Could be something to do with international kidnapping rules.

A friend of mine was detained in Chicago on his way to Korea with his son. His wife had gone to Korea on her own ahead of time due to family illness.

He was traveling with his son but did not have his son's birth certificate with him or a letter of authorisation. Customs stopped him and he was detained at O'Hare until he could prove it was his son, even if the passports matched. Lucky for him, his mother faxed over some documents, problem solved.

The ARC issue you described may be something like that...who knows.

Morale of the story: bring more paperwork instead of less when you travel!

Expensive mistake indeed.

[ttompatz]

[kprrok]

Since you're supposed to have your ARC with you at all times while in Korea, why would she not have them when she goes to the airport?

[Seoulio]

what the last poster said, youre suppposed to have it on you at all times, and it pretty common sense that unless you have a re entry stamp in your passport that you are surrendering yor ARC at the gate.

[bobbybigfoot]

Should of said she lost them, paid the fine and went on her way.

[Unposter]

Patrick,

There has to be more to your story. Did he not have full custody of his son or where there reasons to believe he did not have full custody of his son? Obviously, I am not a lawyer but I would think Customs would have to have a reason to be concerned. I really don't know much about these things but I would think the burden of proof would be on Customs that there was a problem.

[DHC]

In Korea the burden of proof is yours. If you go to exit Korea and have a single entry visa then you must surrender your ARC card or obtain a multiple entry stamp at the airport. If you have an ARC card issued it must be presented at Immigration. The lady was clearly in violation of Korean law in attempting to leave without presenting her ARC card. The res[responsibility for knowing the law is hers.

[ekimswish]

I had this problem in Taiwan, or at least similar.

My daughter was born at a small hospital in southern Taiwan, and they gave us a Chinese and an English birth certificate. Actually they gave us a bunch of 'em. I looked on the internet about the immigration rules or rules about foreigners having a baby, and couldn't find any information.

Eventually I did find a website with info about registering your kid within a certain amount of time, but told myself I'd come back to the site later, and forgot.

So fast-forward to 4 or 5 weeks after she was born, and we're at the Taipei airport heading for my job which starts in Korea the next day. We were stopped at customs because my daughter didn't have an exit permit in her passport. The rule in Taiwan was if the baby was older than 3 weeks, she needed Taiwan identity and/or an exit permit. I had forgotten about the website in all my scrambling for other things, and thought a passport was enough.

So I got in an argument with the customs officer's supervisor, telling him she had a Canadian passport and he had no right to stop her, and why was he trying to kidnap her, etc. He was telling me I had to go back to Kaohsiung and get the proper documents. After a bit of a stand off and some back and forth arguments, the other officers took my side and told their SUPERIOR to just let us through, which he did. He said, "I'll let you go, but I'm not supposed to. It's because I like your baby, but I don't like you." hahah... It didn't matter, because I now loved him.

We came to Korea and have lived happily ever after.... kind of.

[pkang0202]

OP,

sorry that happened to you, but at least letting peopel who read this thread knows that the ARC is important to carry, especially to the airport.

[PatrickGHBusan]

[CentralCali]

[Unposter]

Do you have a link to one of the websites with a permission letter? I plan to travel with my kids soon. My wife will meet us later.

[Ed Provencher]

[PatrickGHBusan]