Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jonw8uk]

A guy that I work with wants to marry his girlfriend here in Korea.

He's British, though also holds an Australian and Canadian passport. He's here on a D-9 visa.

His gf is Angolan, on a C-3 visa (tourist?)

He's hoping to marry in a registry office (gu-cheoung?), is this possible?

He's had a Korean call the local office (Ulsan) and apparently they said they cant help unless it involves a Korean...

Sounds unlikely to me, and I think something was lost in translation, as when he asked her to ask them "can I marry there, at the office?" she replied with "they don't have a function room available..."

As I understand if you marry in a church here, then the paperwork issued at the church has to be taken and registered at the same office, to make it legal. If a church did the service, would the registry office accept and process it?

He's visited some churches around here, to see if they would perform the service, but struggling with the language barrier.

He seems to be going round and round getting nowhere fast with this, and is considering flying to Australia to marry there.

I can't belive it's not possible, so I thought I'd ask you guys...

thoughts?

[pkang0202]

Go to city hall. Get marriage license. Take said marriage license to where you want to have your ceremony.

[ttompatz]

He would also need to involve both the Angolan embassy and the (which ever passport he is using here for his residence) embassy before anything can be done then it needs to be taken back to those same embassies after the fact to confirm and legalize it.

It is a whole lot easier and more sure to just go to Australia, Canada, the UK or Angola to get it done and be sure that it is legal and recognized.

Even at that they will still need to involve at least one embassy prior to the wedding.

International weddings are not easy and the paperwork can be a killer (especially for those getting married to people from Africa - the documentation becomes a significant issue as does the bureaucracy).

There are also, often, residency requirements prior to the wedding. It is not just a matter of bouncing down the isle and saying, "I do."

.

[CentralCali]

You misunderstand. Unlike in the US and a few other countries, a minister cannot officiate at a wedding. The minister can, however, officiate at whatever his faith group calls a religious wedding. In South Korea, the only legal marriage, if contracted in South Korea, is the civil marriage.

Two foreigners can marry provided that the ebassies for both parties will issue the necessary documentation for the marriage to be effected. As you mentioned, one party is a British citizen and the other is Angolan. That means that they need to contact both the UK Embassy and the Angolan Embassy. Your aquaintance, being in South Korea on a visa issued to him as a citizen of the UK, must go through the UK embassy for this procedure.

Each country has its own laws and regulations regarding the issuance of affidavits to its citizens. The only way to know if the Angolan Embassy will provide one to the young lady in question is to contact that embassy.

[ttompatz]

[CentralCali]

Sure was. Korea doesn't issue marriage licenses.

pkang0202: You're oh for two with your information lately. What you posted in the KATUSA student thread and what you posted in this thread are absolutely incorrect and something someone with even a cursory knowledge of the subject at hand would not say.

[pkang0202]