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Have any married people here naturalized?
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chungbukdo



Joined: 22 Aug 2010

PostPosted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:38 pm    Post subject: Have any married people here naturalized? Reply with quote

Since you are now legally able to hold dual citizenship:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korean_nationality_law#Dual_citizenship

And you are able to naturalize relatively easily compared to most other countries:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korean_nationality_law#Naturalization

Have you naturalized or know of anyone who has done it?

I was in the government Korean language program with a lot of foreigners who intended to become Korean citizens when I lived in the countryside. However, none of them were men so I never found out if military service would need to be served. Apparently you can file for a form and be exempt from service though:

http://askakorean.blogspot.ca/2011/08/do-naturalized-koreans-get-drafted.html
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john110375



Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Location: seoul

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm married to a Korean and I naturalized last year. But I'm over the military age so I didn't need to do any paperwork about getting the exception.
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chungbukdo



Joined: 22 Aug 2010

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awesome. Did you vote in the last election?

Do you mind sharing with us what you view as the benefits to naturalization?
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sublunari



Joined: 11 Jun 2009

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 4:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How old do you have to be to avoid getting drafted? I would get this if only because traveling to China is much cheaper on a Korean rather than an American passport...
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sml7285



Joined: 26 Apr 2012

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

sublunari wrote:
How old do you have to be to avoid getting drafted? I would get this if only because traveling to China is much cheaper on a Korean rather than an American passport...


If that's the reason you're trying to get naturalized, I'd highly suggest you reconsider...
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john110375



Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Location: seoul

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="chungbukdo"]Awesome. Did you vote in the last election?

Do you mind sharing with us what you view as the benefits to naturalization?[/quote]

Yes I voted for the national assembly members in the last election Smile

Well I think everyone's reason and benefit from naturalizing would be different.

For me Korea has been my home over 5 years and I have two dual citizen children so it made sense for me.

I also didn't want to be at the whim of all of these new laws they keep passing against foreign residents ( criminal and medical checks) just because a few people get in trouble it changes things for everyone.

Since I will live here for probably the next ten years I wanted to do it as an equal and for the benefit of my family.
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Dodge7



Joined: 21 Oct 2011

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I could but would NEVER become naturalized. These people would never accept me as a fellow citizen EVER, so why go through the dog and pony show to in the end still be considered a foreigner and outsider?
I'm a citizen of one country and one country only. I am a legal resident of Korea, as opposed to a guest worker, and that's as far as I'll go.
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john110375



Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Location: seoul

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="sublunari"]How old do you have to be to avoid getting drafted? I would get this if only because traveling to China is much cheaper on a Korean rather than an American passport...[/quote]

I don't think western looking people who naturalize have to worry about doing military service. It would be kinda disruptive to the other soldiers.

But I wouldn't have a problem doing military service if I wasn't too old. I think if you become a citizen you should have to do what other male citizens have to do.
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john110375



Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Location: seoul

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="Dodge7"]I could but would [b]NEVER[/b] become naturalized. These people would never accept me as a fellow citizen EVER, so why go through the dog and pony show to in the end still be considered a foreigner and outsider?.[/quote]


I haven't really had any problem with being treated like an outsider at all.
Everyone I've dealt with ( banks and government offices ) have bent over backwards to make sure I was being treated fairly. (In my humble opinion)
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Dodge7



Joined: 21 Oct 2011

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

john110375 wrote:
Dodge7 wrote:
I could but would NEVER become naturalized. These people would never accept me as a fellow citizen EVER, so why go through the dog and pony show to in the end still be considered a foreigner and outsider?.



I haven't really had any problem with being treated like an outsider at all.
Everyone I've dealt with ( banks and government offices ) have bent over backwards to make sure I was being treated fairly. (In my humble opinion)

Good for you. But that may not always be the case all the time in the future. I'm sure you'll still get the knucklehead working at a cell phone store who won't sell you phone because he doesn't get that you're now a citizen (or doesn't believe it).
But I was speaking more to the people on the street and strangers you meet everyday: taxi drivers, shop/restaurant owners, bus drivers, neighbors, co-workers, students. To these people you are an invader that stole one of their women (if you boil it down). You get no respect from them and nowhere damn close to having their acknowledgement you're now a citizen of this "great" country. You'll never get that. To them, you're a waegookin through and through and always will be. 2nd class. Overlooked at restaurants. Served last. Taken advantage of. And there's nothing much you can do as you stand there next to your wife like a little boy holding his mommy's hand, emasculated, because she has to do all the talking. Although this may not apply to you because you may actually know more Korean than I do.


Last edited by Dodge7 on Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:43 am; edited 1 time in total
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northway



Joined: 05 Jul 2010

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dodge7 wrote:
john110375 wrote:
Dodge7 wrote:
I could but would NEVER become naturalized. These people would never accept me as a fellow citizen EVER, so why go through the dog and pony show to in the end still be considered a foreigner and outsider?.



I haven't really had any problem with being treated like an outsider at all.
Everyone I've dealt with ( banks and government offices ) have bent over backwards to make sure I was being treated fairly. (In my humble opinion)

Good for you. But that may not always be the case all the time in the future. I'm sure you'll still get the knucklehead working at a cell phone store who won't sell you phone because he doesn't get that you're now a citizen (or doesn't believe it).
But I was speaking more to the people on the street and strangers you meet everyday: taxi drivers, shop/restaurant owners, bus drivers, neighbors, co-workers, students. To these people you are an invader that stole one of their women (if you boil it down). You get no respect from them and nowhere damn close to having their acknowledgement you're now a citizen of this "great" country. You'll never get that. To them, you're a waegookin through and through and always will be. 2nd class. Overlooked at restaurants. Served last. Taken advantage of. And there's nothing much you can do as you stand emasculated because your wife has to do all the talking while you just stand there like a lost little boy holding mommy's hand.


Oh please. Put a minimal effort into learning the language and a lot of your problems will be mitigated.
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Dodge7



Joined: 21 Oct 2011

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

northway wrote:
Dodge7 wrote:
john110375 wrote:
Dodge7 wrote:
I could but would NEVER become naturalized. These people would never accept me as a fellow citizen EVER, so why go through the dog and pony show to in the end still be considered a foreigner and outsider?.



I haven't really had any problem with being treated like an outsider at all.
Everyone I've dealt with ( banks and government offices ) have bent over backwards to make sure I was being treated fairly. (In my humble opinion)

Good for you. But that may not always be the case all the time in the future. I'm sure you'll still get the knucklehead working at a cell phone store who won't sell you phone because he doesn't get that you're now a citizen (or doesn't believe it).
But I was speaking more to the people on the street and strangers you meet everyday: taxi drivers, shop/restaurant owners, bus drivers, neighbors, co-workers, students. To these people you are an invader that stole one of their women (if you boil it down). You get no respect from them and nowhere damn close to having their acknowledgement you're now a citizen of this "great" country. You'll never get that. To them, you're a waegookin through and through and always will be. 2nd class. Overlooked at restaurants. Served last. Taken advantage of. And there's nothing much you can do as you stand emasculated because your wife has to do all the talking while you just stand there like a lost little boy holding mommy's hand.


Oh please. Put a minimal effort into learning the language and a lot of your problems will be mitigated.

I edited my post (probably as you were banging away on your keyboard to harp on me) to include what you just said. Besides, it's not like you can snap your finger and become conversational over night. Especially if you're busy with a family focusing on speaking English to your baby every waking hour of her life.
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northway



Joined: 05 Jul 2010

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 8:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Even so, you're still placing a blanket of blame upon Korean society for something that is ultimately your responsibility.
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Dodge7



Joined: 21 Oct 2011

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 8:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

northway wrote:
Even so, you're still placing a blanket of blame upon Korean society for something that is ultimately your responsibility.

It's my responsibility to make them respect me as one of their own if I were naturalized? What are you talking about? I can't make anyone respect me and making a Korean respect me in this Confucius society is twice as hard. Just because i run around with a little award stating I'm one of them is laughable. They'd probably smile and pat you on your back, but as soon as their out drinking and talking with their real friends...let's just say you'd probably not like what you heard them say about you.
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chungbukdo



Joined: 22 Aug 2010

PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dodge7 wrote:
I could but would NEVER become naturalized. These people would never accept me as a fellow citizen EVER, so why go through the dog and pony show to in the end still be considered a foreigner and outsider?


This has nothing to do with anything. Even if your assertion that nobody will ever treat you as a fellow citizen is true, which status would be better for the purpose of being treated as a fellow citizen: non-citizen or official citizen?

Then there's the topic of who cares what "people" think of you. I have never given an ounce of thought to what "Canadians" would think of me back home, so why should I care what "Koreans" think of me? I only care what individual people who I interact with in my life think of me. Some of those people may be Korean, some may not; it is really inconsequential because I care about whether "Yaeji" or "Minsu" like me, not whether "Koreans" like me. I do not have a huge psychological need to be "accepted" by strangers that I do not know. There are plenty of native born Korean citizens who are not "accepted" among other people in their society, and I don't see them giving up their citizenship. Simply put, "acceptance" by a large mass of random people should not have bearing over one's decision to enjoy more legal rights or not.
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