Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Baron]

This is an unusual case, would appreciate a response from someone that has a wife in Korea on a spouse F3 Visa.

I got married to my wife last December 2010. The marriage was conducted in Korea so therefore we have a Korean marriage certificate certified in Seoul. We are both foreigners.

All the information we are getting since that date however is that two foreigners can not legally get married in Korea.

We have the cert though and as far as we are concerned, it is a bona fide genuine document certificed at Jongno Marriage Hall.

My wife (from a nation whose citizens require a visa to enter Korea) tried to apply for a toursit visa to Korea at her local Korean Embassy using the marriage cert to join me in Korea. They maintained however that two foreigners could not legally get married in Korea.

However, Korean Immi. at Mokdong said my wife would be able to apply for an F3 spousal Visa if she was already in Korea.

Im afriad however that it will come to light when we apply for the F3 Visa in Korea that the marriage is not in fact legit. and that perhaps someone at Mokdong Immi. made a mistake. No foreign marriages are recognised in my country or her country. You can not register them. Are Korean Immi. going to ask for stamps from my embassy or her embassy to prove that the marriage is legit?

We are thus thinking of making contingency plans to go to Thailand to get married (which I hear is quite easy) if in fact, our marriage in Korea is not legit. Does Korean Immi. for the purposes of F3 Visas only recognise marriages conducted in either the spouse or groom's nation? I actually can not legally get married again as far as Im concerned. Im reliably informed that it is illegal to get married twice (even to the same person) without first getting a divorce.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Im just hoping that Immi. at Mokdong will recognise our Korean marriage.

[ttompatz]

If the marriage was legal in Korea AND you have your ARC you can apply for a visa confirmation number for her.

You will need:
Your passport
Your ARC
employment certificate (proof that you are still working)

copy of her passport
the original and a copy of the wedding certificate (from the GU office (legal marriage) and not the wedding hall (which is not a legal wedding - just a showy ceremony).

They will issue a visa confirmation number.
She takes the number + her passport, passport photo, application and fee to the K-embassy/consulate and gets her F3.
Then she books a ticket and flies to Korea.

Depending on her country of origin she may need to satisfy the emigration requirements of her country to be allowed out as a married women.

.

[Sinnerman]

If you received a marriage certificate from a gu office, then you had to go to your respective embassies as well to fill out a whole lot of forms as well. This is what happened to me when I married my foreign wife in Korea. This is a legit wedding in the eyes of the Korean and XYZ governments.

[Baron]

The marriage cert. is from Jongno-Gu office.

I rang Immi. yesterday in relation to the issue. Her English wasn't great but I think she states that we have to get the signature and stamp from our embassies in order to process the spouse visa.

I don't think we will be able to get this. Her embassy has said that they don't recognise foriegn marriages and won't give her a stamp or signature recognising the marriage. I can't see her embassy co-operating with us at all.

I think we may have to get married in her country which is going to be a beaucratic nightmare that makes dealing with Korean Immi. look like a peace of cake.