Korean Job Discussion Forums

[soomin]

I am an American planning to get married to my Korean fiance this summer, and I've run across a lot of conflicting things online...

First off, I'm planning on living in Korea, and getting my F-2 visa...

Also, I heard that South Korea is no longer accepting sworn affidavits for certification of no previous marriages... does anyone know if this is the case? The US embassy sites all only give that as an option since that's all we have...

I found this list of documents, but it's 2 years old so I was wondering if it was still valid... (from here: http://matthew254.blogspot.com/2010/01/getting-married-in-korea-p4.html)

me:

Proof of US citizenship:
A completed Affidavit of Eligibility for Marriage.
Proof of identity:
Proof of termination of any prior marriage(s), including an original or certified copy of a divorce decree, annulment or death certificate for your previous spouse.
The fee for the notarizations

my fiance:

Family Relationship Certificate (가족관계 증명서):
Marriage/Single Status Certificate (혼인관계 증명서):
Valid Korean identification card (주민등록증)
Name stamp (도장)

Any help would be AWESOME! Thanks in advance!!

[DIsbell]

I recently got married and my Affidavit of Marriage Eligibility was accepted (at Guri City Hall, if it matters). We were able to receive the Report of Marriage immediately, and the Marriage Certificate a couple days later.

[fezmond]

i got married last august and the affidavit was good enough. might have been too long ago for the current regulations to still apply

[r122925]

[Julius]

[Koharski]

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[soomin]

Wow~~!! Thank you all so much for your quick responses!! I'm so stressed with all the marriage stuff ;.; All your help is so great!! <3


DIsbell: Could you tell me when exactly you got married? Also, how long did it take to do all the embassy and gucheong back and forth? I heard you had to go to the embassy, then gucheong, then embassy again? I don't live in Seoul so it's gonna be a real (expensive) hassle to go back and forth a bunch of times ;.;

Is there anything I need to be particularly aware of? I also heard you needed proof of having a bunch of money in the bank to get an f-2... is that true?

[DIsbell]

We were legally married this past Monday. I'm not going the F-2 route yet (we're gonna be heading to the US this summer).

To get the Affidavit, go to the Embassy site and print of the form. Fill it out, but DO NOT SIGN IT. Schedule an appointment with US citizen services via the Embassy website. If you do this, you shouldn't have any wait and the whole thing should only take about 15 minutes.

The marriage paperwork at city hall (or a gu-cheong/ward office) is pretty quick. You will need a translation of the Affidavit, and your spouse will need their folks' stamps. We actually did the translation ourselves, but you can probably get one done for cheap; it doesn't require a notary (or didn't in our case, at least).

For the F2, from my understanding, you'd need to get your Marriage Report and Marriage Certificate authenticated by the US Embassy, so that'd be one more trip to citizen services. Then you can submit things to Korean immigration.

[Drew10]

Quick note:

You won't get an F2 visa. You'll get an F6 visa.

F6's are for marriage immigrants, and all marriage-based F2 holders are being transitioned to F6 visas upon renewal.

The requirements are the same. As for the money requirement, well..You won't know until you go to immi, that's how it always goes. Just take employment records, apartment rental contracts (전세 or 월세) and bankbooks to show that you have a way to support yourself.

[soomin]

Wow thanks so much, you two! And congratulations DIsbell!

I heard that I could take his parents' bank receipts as well to show we had a way of supporting ourselves... is this really true as well? We don't have apartment rental contracts because we live together in the house our boss gave me...

[Drew10]

Wouldn't the housing show up on your employment contract then?

I have no idea how that works as I'm not a teacher and I have never taught.

[modernseoul]

You need to add "prove of financial capability", normally you need to prove you have or have access to assets of at least W10,000,000 ($10,000). This is the reason I have to wait until the summer when I have funds available

[soomin]

[12ax7]

We were married for three years before it occurred to Immigration to inform us about the F2. Back then, they just didn't want to give it to foreign men (it was still impossible for foreign men to get an F5).