Korean Job Discussion Forums

[adzee1]

Hi I have a question and was looking for some help. I was wait listed by EPIK and so have been looking for new jobs. I am married and my wife will need a dependants visa. With EPIK her visa was going to be issued at the same time as mine in London, but if I apply for other jobs will she need a seperate visa issuance from mine sponsored by the school ? or can we simply get the visa for her using the marriage certificate and my issuance number.
Does anyone have experience of this ? I have gathered that being married limits the amount of jobs available to me but I cant believe that there are not schools who accept married teachers. Any help is appreciated.

[Lolimahro]

When you get your ARC card, you can sponsor your wife's dependant visa using your Alien Registration number. So, she may be in the country for 1~2 months without an ARC of her own. For my husband, who is from the U.S. (as am I), he could come into Korea for up to 90 days without a visa. You'll need to check to see whether that applies to your wife depending on what her nationality is. If she can come to Korea without a visa for up to 90 days, then she could accompany you and you could get her a visa later. If you are worried about things going awry then you could come by yourself and when you get your ARC send for her to come over and you can apply for her visa. The visa my husband (and son) have is the F3 dependants visa. F3 dependants are also eligible to be enrolled in National Health Insurance.

[adzee1]

Hey thanks for the reply, my wife is Mexican so she does not need to pre arrange a tourist visa and can get the 90 day entry. I also checked and she cant get the F3 in London as she does not have permanent residency for the UK so we are going to have to go with changing it over in Korea. Now my only concern I suppose is entering on a one way ticket so I may Just buy her a return ticket so they dont ask any questions.

Also our marriage certificate the original is in Spanish from Mexico but we have an apostille and I have a version translated into English along with a translation of the apostille. Does anyone know if this will be acceptable ? There is not really a great deal more I can do with the certificate to prove its genuine.

[ttompatz]

[adzee1]

Thanks Tom, yes i thought about that but then i also wondered that maybe immigration might think it strange that I have a work visa and my wife is going to go for a vacation in Korea followed by a trip to Japan.. but then I dont know how much they investigate or think about things like that really.

For the marriage certificate, the apostle is from Mexico and then its translated by a certified Mexican government translator into English so I hope that will be ok for them. I suppose I could go all out and get the translation notorised here in Engalnd aswell just be safe.
I still cease to be surprised by some of the various hoops I have had to jump through to get to this stage so I dont want anything to go wrong

[ttompatz]

[adzee1]

When you say government stamp do you mean from the English government or the Mexican government ?

It has a stamp from Mexico, Its just as it was issued in Mexico the most i can with it here in England is notorise it as being a true copy of the original from a lawyer.

[adzee1]

So my recruiter and the school want me to get my wifes F3 dependent visa in London which I am fine with but....

The London consulate say that they cannot issue the visa 100% because my wife has a tourist visa for England.

Korean immigration in Seoul say that they can 100% issue the visa regardless of what visa my wife has in England as long as she has the visa issuance number and our marriage certificate.

This is really frustrating how can 2 departments have totally different answers on such as simple question. Does anyone have experience of this or any idea as to who may be right ??

[adzee1]

[ttompatz]

[adzee1]

Hey thanks for the reply.

Yes I just called the consulate again and now they say that they can issue it as long as her visa issuance number is correct. Which I assume it will be

Then I said ok, " so if you dont issue it she is still ok to change her status from tourist to F3 visa?"

to which the woman replied " you cant change your visa status from tourist to F3 visa in Korea "
What is wrong with this goddamn consulate they seem really clueless !!

Just to confirm I can change the tourist visa to F3 right ?

I spoke to immigration in Seoul and I all the websites I read say that you can change it in Korea. I would just rather get it here so that I dont have to buy an onward ticket.

[ttompatz]