Korean Job Discussion Forums

sonicmatt · Joined: 04 Oct 2007

thanks for the reply. that makes me feel a bit better about the whole routine. doesnt seem that bad at all.

nw25th · Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Location: Daejeon

eat_yeot · Joined: 11 Dec 2009

Rigamarole · Joined: 29 Mar 2006

My wife and I just got back from HI and got our certificate.

We went to apply for the visa on Thursday and immigration was still asking for a U.S. marriage certificate. I'll be getting my F2 next week.

War Eagle · Joined: 15 Feb 2009

Xuanzang · Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Sadang

Did you need witnesses (to the marriage) at the gu chung?

big_fella1 · Joined: 08 Dec 2005

Xuanzang · Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Sadang

I have a feeling this lady at Yongsan guchung is giving me the runaround. Having to translate the eligibility of marriage certificate into Korean and not giving us a format for it. Anyone else have difficulties?

big_fella1 · Joined: 08 Dec 2005

Xuanzang · Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Sadang

giraffe · Joined: 07 Apr 2009

ok a bit off topic. because I'm Canadian BUT...

In an other thread for F2 visas I said I was living in Canada and trying to apply for a F2 from Canada and that I thought i might have problems once i get to Korea. I thought in Canada they issued me some temporary 90 day stay and i thought they told me to apply for the F2 once i'm in Korea. After which i would have to prove that i had an employment in korea ( which i dont) , prove i had money in a bank account in korea ( which i dont cuz all my money is in canada and will be staying here for a little while )

ANYWAYS in the end it was just a BIG miscommunication between the embassy , a bunch of online website i was reading and lack of information.
Calling the immigration office in korea solved everything.

Essentially that 90 day visa thats in my passport right now IS the F2-1 visa and because I applied for it from Canada its only good for 90 days. Once I'm in Korea I just need to apply for an ARC card and Visa extension from the local immigration office and thats it.... Thought getting the F2-1 was going to be much harder in my case since I've got nothing setup in Korea and essentially no reason to be there other then following my wife.

Applying for it from Canada was easy.

- Go to embassy
- 1 passport picture
- My passport
- Fill out Application
- Our marriage certificate from the canadian embassy ( we got married in korea )
- Some korean document from korea proving our marriage ( we live in canada and had to get my mother in law to send it from korea.
- Need to show bank statement. At the time I didn't think this was important. I thought it was just for the 90 day visa and not the F2. So i didnt bother moving funds around from my other bank accounts to show them the full amount i have. In the statement it only showed that i had 12000$ in one of my accounts.
- Show my wife's passport + canadian PR card
- Pay the fee

10 days later got the visa in my passport.

Its a 90day F2-1 visa that i need to extend once i get in korea.
Very easy to do the whole process..

Too bad its not working out for US citizens in Korea =(.

definitely maybe · Joined: 16 Feb 2008

Xuanzang · Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Sadang

They want you to translate every SINGLE detail of the paper from the embassy. Not just the relevant parts. big_fella or any other people who have done this embassy-gu chung runaround. Did you also have to translate the Korean marriage certificate for the American embassy?

DJ Clae · Joined: 04 Mar 2009 Location: Seoul

I just finished this process in late March and got my ARC yesterday. I found the information about this online insufficient, so I decided to post here.

First of all, proof of 30,000,000 won in assets was completely necessary for me. It may be because I was unemployed and only had a guest visa at the time, so they were tougher on me. But both days we visited the immigration office (we didn't have everything required the first time) we were told it was absolutely necessary. This is in conflict with what I've read from some people online saying not to worry about it because they were not asked for this. It could also be because of recent tightening of the rules, But here's the important thing I found out: The money doesn't have to belong to you or your spouse. It can be in a family member's account. We used her father's bank statement and that was fine. It can just be from a family member, so when we learned this it was a huge relief.

The letter of referral/recommendation is just a form that the Korean spouse completes about you. It's not a big deal.

I'm surprised by all the questions about getting the English translation. That was the easy part for us. We got the marriage papers done at the Jongno office, right next to the US embassy. There is a tiny one-room office right across the street from the Jongno-gu office entrance that will do the translation for you for 30,000 won. The office staff informed us about it. We just waited there a little while and it was all done for us. But be careful that all the information is accurate and not missing, because we had to go back later for a small correction.

Going back to the embassy after the marriage paperwork is completed is also super simple. We set an appointment at the embassy the day we went to pickup the marriage paperwork, and they stamped it at the embassy. There's no reason you wouldn't want to do this.

The pickup receipt for the ID card gave a date about 10 days after application to come back and get the card.