Korean Job Discussion Forums

[naturegirl321]

I left to go on vacation yesterday. I had renewed my visa until Feb 2012. Luckily I was able to renew farther in advance than the usual 90 days.

I went to the counter to check in and they asked if I was coming back. I told them they was. They looked through my passport and told me I couldn-t since my visa was expired. I said, I know, but my ARC is valid for another 14 months.

She looked at me with pity and explained again, slowly, like I was stupid. That my visa was expired. I told her that it doesn-t matter since my ARC is valid. She said they were different. (Duh! Your ARC is what counts!)

So she sent me to immigration. I went and they told me I was correct, Obvioulsy. BUt that wasn-t the issue. The issue is that poeple in Incheon airport don-t even understand about the new visaless renewal, so how can we expect people in foreign countries to know about it ?!

I can just imagine trying to get back to Korea and having them not believe me that the small written in remark on the back of my ARC substitutes for a visa. And either not letting me on the flight or having me by a return.

I don-t know if anyone else has had this issue, but I really hope they go back to putting stuff in our passport.

And to boot, all we need is for someone to keep their ARC, write on the back, go to KOrea only for kimmi to send him back at the airline's expense. Maybe then they'll put the visas back in our passport.

[lifeinkorea]

If I am not mistaken, your first visa is usually a single entry visa unless you specifically change it to multiple. So, wouldn't it make more sense on our end to get that multiple entry visa if we are going to renew? Then, it will be added in the passport.

In Japan, I would go to the post office each year and buy an orange $40 stamp. Then I would take it to the immigration office, and they would type "extension" with the time period on it. It didn't look like the first visa I got (same look as the Chinese one), just an bigger stamp than one you would use for snail mail. And the good thing, it doesn't cover the whole page like the visas do. You could put 4 on one page (5 years total).

[naturegirl321]

[Zeeto]

Leaving Incheon after a contract was finished, when I had been to immigration and gotten my 30-day visa extension, both the airline check-in and the immigration guy told me I had over-stayed my visa. I was able to convince them otherwise, but it was still a little annoying.

[sojukettle]

I renewed my contract in Dec and was concerned that there was no stamp / label placed in my passport so I asked if they could do that and after another 5min wait the Immigration staff printed out a label with the ending date on and stuck it in my passport.

( they also automatically added one month to the visa term so that I have one month after contract completion to leave Korea)

sk.

[tanklor1]

Had an American friend who went through this last year. He was on his second contract and wanted to take a faerie to Japan. He was stopped in Busan because he didn't have a re-entry permit. He politely mentioned that he did and pointed at his initial visa. The immigration officer stated that that particular visa was only good for one year and he had to get a re-entry permit. They gave it to him at the border and he went about his merry way.

[ttompatz]

[tanklor1]

[OculisOrbis]

yes.

[tanklor1]

[northway]

Meh, I was able to do leave and come back without issue.

[lifeinkorea]

[AsiaESLbound]

I was OK taking a vacation in August. You want to hand over the ARC with your passport; not just hand over your passport. Tell them you are returning and then make sure you get your ARC back with your passport. Upon returning, present both to the immigration officer. I paid extra for multiple entry when I applied for my ARC a few days after arriving knowing I'd want to travel 2 or 3 times.

My only concern is when I leave on March 1st, it's going to confuse them to see February 26th on my ARC even though I will have the online extension certificate printed. Expecting a hiccup on checking out the last time, I'll allow extra time to catch my flight if I am pulled aside to prove I didn't over stay.

[ttompatz]

[Skippy]

Always take your old passport with you too. It can prove to be helpful at times. Even thru it is expired.