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pwhopper
Joined: 06 Apr 2013
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 Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 11:57 am Post subject: F-42 Visa? Has anybody been issued this? |
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Hello everyone,
Recently applied for and received my F4 Visa... or so I thought.
Looking at the actual document in my passport, I noticed it's marked as follows:
Status: F42.
Period of Sojourn: 2Y
Entries: M
Issue Date: 2013/05/01
Final Entry Date: 2018/05/01
From what I gather, F4s are renewable every 2 years (a relatively painless process is the rumor)... and as it reads, my final entry date is 5 years from issuance.
But F42? Something better than the F4? Something worse?
Haven't found anything on the web regarding this. Just a really bad typo on an official gov't document? Any ideas?
Was happy to receive it but now I'm ever so slightly concerned.
Hope you're having a good weekend and appreciate your help/thoughts. |
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jjajangmyun
Joined: 31 Aug 2011
Location: way down south!
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| Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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issue date is when you get the visa.
final entry date is the last possible date you can enter Korea to start your (up-to) 2 year stay. That means you can stay at home and dick around until May 1st 2018, then board a plane that day for Korea and your visa will still be valid for the next 2 years.
period of sojourn is how long you can stay once in Korea. you must renew every 2 years. this process is very simple, tho. and you can renew as many times as you'd like.
no visa run to some other country necessary, btw. just go to your nearest consulate, wait in the line that's designated for F-class visa folks (it's much shorter), then just tell them you'd like to renew.
the "2" in F42 must be a typo. just to be sure, i looked up all possible visas that Korea issues, and there is no such thing as an F42. As a matter of fact, there are no visas that go past "10" (it's the D-10 visa).
i wouldn't worry about it. the typo's not going to prevent you from coming. |
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alongway
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 11:49 pm Post subject: |
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It's probably an F-4-2 they sometimes leave out the hyphen. Most people ignore the second -x because it's just a subcategory
Originally people who married Koreans got an F-2, but actually it was usually an F-2-1, people who married an F-5 also got F-2s, but in reality they got an F-2-3, beyond that they were functionally identical.
From a random immigration statistics chart I have, the F-4 is actually split into
the F-4-1 and the F-4-2
the first is 기여동포
the second is 일반동포
There are way more people in the -2 subcategory than the -1 category.
The F-5 has 14 subs running from -1 to -14
the biggest being F-5-7 동포국적요건
| Quote: |
| As a matter of fact, there are no visas that go past "10" (it's the D-10 visa). |
On the chart I have there is also an E10. but nothing higher than that on the first number, the subcategories can be numerous on some. |
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chrisinkorea2011
Joined: 16 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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| my visa must be special then because I have an F-4. The first time i renewed it was after two years, it is good for 3 more years and after that I dont have to renew it again according to immigration. i never heard of that F-4-2 thing |
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alongway
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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| chrisinkorea2011 wrote: |
| my visa must be special then because I have an F-4. The first time i renewed it was after two years, it is good for 3 more years and after that I dont have to renew it again according to immigration. i never heard of that F-4-2 thing |
Some times it's written simply as F-4. There is some inconsistencies in how it is written, but in the computer you are in one of the categories. There is no plain F-4 category in immigration, they all have a sub category even if it isn't written on the visa. Many people who had F-2-1 visas often had simply F-2 or F2 on their ARC card.
Though you should consider switching to an F-5 in the future when you are eligible, on the off chance that you ever marry a foreigner you can sponsor them for an F2, which you can't do on an F-4. |
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chrisinkorea2011
Joined: 16 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="alongway"]
| chrisinkorea2011 wrote: |
Though you should consider switching to an F-5 in the future when you are eligible, on the off chance that you ever marry a foreigner you can sponsor them for an F2, which you can't do on an F-4. |
Why would I ever change to an F-5? an F-4 is by far the best out of all the visas available. I have all the benefits of a korean without the hassles. Immigration takes me 3 minutes, in and out. Besides, im all about the korean girls anyway lol. |
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Yaya
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 11:03 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="chrisinkorea2011"]
| alongway wrote: |
| chrisinkorea2011 wrote: |
Though you should consider switching to an F-5 in the future when you are eligible, on the off chance that you ever marry a foreigner you can sponsor them for an F2, which you can't do on an F-4. |
Why would I ever change to an F-5? an F-4 is by far the best out of all the visas available. I have all the benefits of a korean without the hassles. Immigration takes me 3 minutes, in and out. Besides, im all about the korean girls anyway lol. |
Those with an F-4 are not eligible for an F-5 anyway.
I also wonder if an F-4 can bring a foreign spouse to live in Korea with an F-3. |
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alongway
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="chrisinkorea2011"]
| alongway wrote: |
| chrisinkorea2011 wrote: |
Though you should consider switching to an F-5 in the future when you are eligible, on the off chance that you ever marry a foreigner you can sponsor them for an F2, which you can't do on an F-4. |
Why would I ever change to an F-5? an F-4 is by far the best out of all the visas available. I have all the benefits of a korean without the hassles. Immigration takes me 3 minutes, in and out. Besides, im all about the korean girls anyway lol. |
Why would you say that an F-4 is the best? Once you get an F-5 you also do not have to renew your visa. Can you vote on an F-4?
Can you sponsor a spouse for an F-2 on an F-4?
The F-4 is slightly better than an F-6 or an F-2 points, but I don't think it's better than an F-5. They're very similar in many regards, but as far as I know the F-5 offers a couple of extra benefits.
| Quote: |
| Those with an F-4 are not eligible for an F-5 anyway. |
I've heard of at least one F-4 who transferred to an F-5.
I think they were on this forum actually. |
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pwhopper
Joined: 06 Apr 2013
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| Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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Just to give an update...
Called immigration today and it's confirmed... it's an F4-2 Visa. As noted above, every F4 is either a 4-1 or 4-2 but the amplifying info is often left off. So in my case, not a typo.
No benefits difference. Hung up the phone w/ the impression that it's more for internal tracking/statistical purposes.
Much obliged to all.
Also, to add to the discussion, have any of you heard of issues where a US passport was insufficient to prove citizenship in Korea? The issuance of the F4 should imply "good-to-go" status (esp since all req'd documents were sent in to immigration).
...But I've heard rumors of unreasonable officials when applying for the ARC.
Finally, I know there's a discussion about different F-visa benefits. Are F4 visa holders ever denied renewal (assuming noses are kept clean, etc.)? |
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