Korean Job Discussion Forums

Woden · Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Location: Eurasia

I have searched for the answer to this, but couldn't find the specific information. Any help appreciated. I am on an E2 Visa and recently married in Korea. The marriage is not yet registered in the UK, but I have the necessary docs from UK Embassy to say the marriage is legit.

I was married in Korea to a Korean. We got all the docs sorted and went to the immi office yday. Everything was in order, but I was told that because we were married in Korea and don't have a UK marriage certificate, they would have to investigate it. They said this could take from 1 to 6 months.

Is it normal to be told this long, or are they just telling me the maximum so if things are held up I can be prepared for it? Has anyone been in the same situation, and if so how long was it before you received your Visa?

Woden · Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Location: Eurasia

Should this be moved to the visa sticky?

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

When I got married to a Korean in Korea in 1998, we were required to register with the U.S. Embassy. The result was a marriage certificate from the U.S. Embassy.

viciousdinosaur · Joined: 30 Apr 2012

No this does not need to be a sticky. Having the legitimacy of your marriage investigated is standard procedure. It is their job after all to seek out and stop fraud. You want to speed up the procedure. Bring them overwhelming evidence that you are in fact in love and married for the right reasons and not trying to game the system. Wedding photos, in-laws, your lease, a baby, friends,....etc...

Woden · Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Location: Eurasia

We are registered wth the UK Embassy. We have done everything as procedure dictates. I am not even questioning the right of the authorities to investigate the marriage at all. All I am asking is, although they say it could take 6 months, is this normal? They said it could take that long as we were legally married in Korea, rather than in the UK.

I obviously don't want to wait 6 months, so I a hoping they have just given us that as a maximum date to cover their backs if it does drag on. Does anyone have experience of this? I was expecting anything up to 2 months, but to be told it could take up to 6 is a bit of a shock.

viciousdinosaur · Joined: 30 Apr 2012

Anything and everything is normal for immigration. If you don't like the way they are handling your file, I'm sorry to say there is nothing you can do about it. This isn't England. You can't sue the government. Saying you filed the paper work so that's that is a western way of thinking. My question is, what's the rush? You still have a visa. If your visa expires soon that might be an issue, but if you still got lots of months left, just chill.

artyom · Joined: 28 Jul 2007

I recently got married, and like you it wasn't in Korea, so I didn't have the UK marriage certificate. We went to the immigration office and just like in your situation we were told that it would probably take about 3 months, maybe more. However, the guy at immigration told us that if you send the Korean marriage certificate to the GRO in the UK, the UK will be able to 'verify' it, or something along those lines - I think you need to get the embassy to send it to the GRO for you.

The GRO sent us the 'verified' certificate back which was essentially the Korean marriage certificate copied with the GRO header at the top. I think it took the GRO about 3 weeks.

The guy at immigration was really good and helpful and told us exactly what else we needed to bring such as a story about how we met, proof of income from my job, pictures from our wedding etc. and of course the Korean wedding certificate which had been copied by the GRO.

When we went back to immigration, the guy recognised us immediately, and called us straight over so we didn't have to wait in line. The immigration officer told me there and then that there was no problem with the application and that he was putting it straight to the top of the pile, and that I'd only have to wait two weeks for them to do the new ARC. 2 weeks later it arrived by taekbae.

I'm in Daegu by the way so I'm talking here about the Daegu immigration office. I have been to the immigration office several times before and the guy this time is hands down the best immigration officer I have dealt with, he's polite and obviously knows what he's talking about, and seems willing to give information to help.

Woden · Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Location: Eurasia

Thanks for your responses. I was aware there was variation and I wasn`t expecting anything, beyond hoping it would be as quick as possible. I also have lived here for a while and was not expecting it to be the UK. Thankfully it is far better, at least where I live. I am fully prepared to wait, I just wanted to see what other people`s experiences were. Cheers.

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

Does filing the Korean marriage certificate with the UK Embassy not legalize the marriage in the UK too?

I guess not from what has been written here.

Years ago, immediately after we got the paperwork stamped at the Korean government office right behind the US Embassy that made us officially married in Korea - we took it directly to the US Embassy where they gave us a certificate of marriage written in English and Korean. I am pretty sure that meant we were then considered officially married by the US government too...

Woden · Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Location: Eurasia

We have filed our docs with the UK Embassy and they have been sent to the UK. That process could take 3 months. That is different though from the internal investigation the Korean authorities will undertake.

artyom · Joined: 28 Jul 2007

fezmond · Joined: 27 Oct 2008

woden - i'm in the same boat..

got married in korea (the legal bit last august) and then did a kind-of ceremony in europe in march.

went to immigration 6 weeks ago with all the papers except the UK marriage certificate - as we were not married there we got the letter from the embassy saying it was registered etc.

sent a copy back to the GRO but never heard from them again and i was told by the embassy that it would take 18 months to request a marriage certificate from the GRO.

anyway, handed all our forms to immigration 6 weeks ago, were never asked for 30m in the bank, though our jobs both pay well. wrote the story of our falling in love, gave them the pictures, all was accepted.

i got worried why it was taking so long last week and so the wife called - they said they would only speak to the applicant (me) and that it usually takes 2-3 months. i have friends who did the same visa in 2 weeks and another guy i know who got it overnight in hongkong.

no idea why it is so slow. seems we are in the same boat because the uk embassy doesn't give marriage certificates any more.

i will be waiting for immi to call me. don't see why they would deny my visa as i've done all they've asked of me, just sucks waiting around.

will keep you updated if anything changes

Woden · Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Location: Eurasia

Fezmond - cheers for that. Seems it is a bit of a lucky dip! I'll also let you know if there is any progress on mine. I'm still hoping it will be one month, rather than six! More the fool me!

DHC · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

When my wife and I registered our foreign marriage we first registered it with the local office where she is registered (family book). We took the official marriage certificate, translated into Korean by a Korean notary, directly to the Korean office after having the Korean notary's signature certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US Embassy. After registering with the Korean government we went to Immigration in Seoul (for the Mapo area) and my visa was changed to F-2 the same day.

Recently, I heard that there has been an increase in fraudulent marriages so that may explain the increased waiting time/investigation. Hope you receive your visa soon.

Otus · Joined: 09 Feb 2006

There was a long thread about a similar problem a few months ago. It sounds as though the situation with immigration has improved a little. At the beginning of [edit] last year K-immigration made a radical move (at least in some cases) of actually refusing to accept documentation from the embassies in Korea and only accepting marriage certificates from outside Korea.

This caused absolute chaos for some because once having done the documentation in Korea, it could not be done again outside of Korea. It was one of the most complicated legal messes I have ever seen and even the embassies were supposed to be trying to come up with some alternative documentation that would solve the problem for those caught in limbo.

In my case, I scraped in just before the so called policy change - but not without a drilling from K immigration for not having the marriage cert from New Zealand and also a strong warning from the NZ embassy not to lose the document they were issuing because it could not be issued again as K immigration were no longer going to recognize it beginning [edit]2011.

The stress this caused with my wife at the time was terrible ... but I imagine not as bad as it was for those who got caught after the deadline. It sounds as tho' Korean immigration has come up with the alternative of 'investigating' the legitimacy of the marriages, which at least is a more rational move.

There certainly was a problem before with foreigners running around on fraudulent F visas. I knew of a couple of cases and initially felt angry about that 'cause I knew there was going to be a backlash from K-immi. Typically, there was a backlash and as with other similar immigration visa issues in the past, they tried to make it too black and white without realizing the full legal implications at the time.