Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pangaea]

I am American and my fiance is from Cameroon. We want to get married within the next couple of weeks and I just have a few questions.

Can the marriage be completed in one day? I would try to make the 1st appointment in the early morning. Would that give us enough time? I need to ask for time off from work and though I would prefer 2 days just in case, at least getting a Friday off would be good.

Is it possible to get married on a tourist visa? I have considered staying an extra week on a tourist visa after my E-2 expires, but I don't know if it's possible to get married on a tourist visa. The embassy website doesn't say.

Any advice would be great. Thanks!

[Draz]

Have you tried calling the embassy?

[pangaea]

No, because I just assumed that calling the embassy is about as useful as calling the IRS. If there are actually people who answer the phone and can actually answer my questions, I will certainly give it a try. I don't have hours to spend pressing different buttons and waiting on hold.

[CentralCali]

Instead of making assumptions, you could check out this bit of information from the United Sates Embassy in Seoul.

For Cameroon, there is no diplomatic mission in South Korea. According to the Wiki, the Cameroon mission with jurisdiction is in Tokyo. Here is that mission's page for consular services, including the procedure to obtain documentation to get married overseas.

FWIW: My experiences with both the US Embassy and the IRS have not been adverse. I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly the IRS folks were when I contacted them about an issue. Here is the information for contacting the US Embassy in Seoul via telephone or E-mail (they recommend E-mail). And, just for fun, here is the contact information for the IRS.

Now, if you don't mind, a question or two:

1. Why do you wish to contract this marriage in South Korea?
2. Is it not possible for you to apply for a fianc�e visa for your intended and then you two contract the marriage in the United States?
3. Have you considered contracting the marriage in Cameroon?

[pangaea]

CentralCali - Obviously, I posted my question on this site because I assume there are other people who have gotten married in Korea and might be able to offer advice. I have already checked on the embassy website, as I stated in my post. Thank you for your attempt to help, though the condescension was completely unnecessary. As for your 3 questions, the answers to those questions are my business and I fail to see why they should concern you.

[CentralCali]

Actually, they should concern you. I wasn't condescending. You made snide comments about an outfit that can and does help people who do what you wish to do. It's not my fault that you blew by the information about telephone contact there.

I can tell you, though, that you're not going to get it done in a couple of days, what with no diplomatic mission from Cameroon in South Korea. There's another issue, too. If you and your intended cannot get married under Cameroon law, then their embassy will not issue you anything at all for you to get married in Japan, in Korea, or anywhere else for that matter.

So, your assumptions are two for zero, both wrong.

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

I know that the American side of things can be done in one day. My husband is from the UK, and he was also able to get all of his stuff done in one day. We made appointments (don't do walk in in the afternoon or it will take more than one day) for the morning for our respective appointments.

Then you take your signed affidavits to the ward office (close to the US embassy) and have 2 witnesses sign (we grabbed a random one because we only brought one friend) and you're married in a matter of minutes.

Then you take that across the street to one of several legal translators. You should first check that it's one who is recognized by both embassies, but most are. They will translate it (get several copies) and have each copy notarized. Then take your copies back to your embassies and do whatever process they require. The US embassy will then notarize or authenticate your copies, but I don't know what the Cameroon office will do. For this part, you will go during walk in hours after lunch, likely. I kept one copy here, and mailed one set of documents to my parents to hold in a safe deposit box for when I visit, so that I can register it. It is possible to register it here by applying for a spousal visa, but, as we aren't going home for a bit, I'm waiting until I visit home and will just register it then.

Take photos and save all old emails, for the visa and green card process later on.

Most importantly: CONGRATULATIONS!

[pangaea]

Thank you! I think I've managed to get a Friday off and I made an early morning appointment for that day. My fiance is free more during the week so he should be able to visit his consulate before then. Keeping my fingers crossed that everything works out!