Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chellovek]

[jazzmaster]

Cool. Thanks for the help.

[285285]

Hmm...the first time you go to the UK embassy you swear on a bible or affirm that you are single. This is officially documented and you get a letter to give to the Korean office at Jongno or wherever you go "proving" that you aren't already married.

After you get married under Korean law you go back to the embassy to give them a copy of some document, I guess a copy of the marriage certificate (memory is hazy, sorry) which gets sent to the UK in a diplomatic bag. It takes a few months to arrive, but at some point you'll then get notification that the document has been registered (I think...). This costs lots more money again, you are paying UK rates for paper pushing, not Korean rates.

This document is held on file at the UK registry office, so there is a record of your marriage - but I don't think this is recognized as marriage in the UK, you'd need to marry (legally) again in the UK, and you'd have to get your spouse a fiancee visa to enter the UK.

Be thankful that you have an E2 and can change visa within Korea, I had to leave the country to get an F6 - each embassy has different requirements. I was refused by one consulate (Hawaii) because they said only Americans can change visa there. This sounded like policy making on the spot, as anyone can change visa at the Korean embassy in Japan.

I applied for an F6 visa in London, there were lots of documents required, and I was supposed to have had $10,000 in a bank account for 6 months. I didn't have that, so supplied other financial evidence documents. My wife phoned the UK embassy and found out that that was possible, reading their website it seemed you definitely needed $10,000 untouched in a bank for 6 months (why the London embassy stipulates an amount in USD I'm not sure Because of that, they asked me to submit proof that I didn't have $10,000 in my bank account. Be prepared for some odd requests.

After that maybe you'll have the optional Korean immigration "Happy Start" program to look forward to, if it's still running.

[Benjamino]

You don't need to send your marriage certificate off the to UK registry nor do you need to get married again in the UK.

You marry once in Korea and if you plan to reside in the UK with your spouse then you get the Korean docs, translated, notarised etc here in Korea for proof of the marriage in the UK.


Assuming you've visited the embassy, then the UK Govt will already have a record of you and your future spouse on the affidavit of intent to marry.

[Benjamino]

BTW, I went through it all in December ....http://benglass.blogspot.kr/2015/01/from-marriage-to-f6-in-south-korea.html