Korean Job Discussion Forums

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

OK.. listen.. once and for all. DW is not here to contradict me now, so believe what I say.

1. I still have a F2-1 visa. I don't think it is a conditional visa. I've been married for 3 years. It seems like it is the standard visa now.

2. With a F-2-1, you do NOT need to apply for an E-2 visa if you do not want to. With a F-2-1 visa, you can simply go to the immigration and ask for *permission to engage in activities not covered by the status of sojourn*.

This simply means that you are TRANSFERRING your visa sponsorship from your employer to your husband / or wife.

With this work PERMIT (not VISA), you do NOT need a release letter.

PCTG, I don't think you need to cancel your E-2, just let it expire. In the meantime, transfer your sponsorship from any employer to your husband.

Erik, when you get a new job, get a contract, then go with your wife to the immigration. Make sure you take your wife's hojock with you. The form you fill in is not the visa application form, rather, it is a form that has *permission... etc. etc. on the top right hand corner*. Fill that in and that will transfer your sposnorship to your wife.

I hope this is clear. I believe what I have written above is true and correct because I've done this for 3 years now. I must state, however, that each immigration does things differently and you may come across one that isn't as helpful and/or nice.

I wish you luck.

PolyChronic Time Girl · Joined: 15 Dec 2004 Location: Korea Exited

pegpig · Joined: 10 May 2005

I too have an F-2-1 visa and have been married for going on 3 years. I went to renew my f2 again in April and have to go tomorrow to renew my E2 again.

You're right. If you don't want an E2, you don't need to have it. That is if you don't want to work.

I thought about just doing the part time thing too. But, when you factor in all of the little things and the fact that you may have to race all over kimchi land to make the same money, I'm happy to just be where I am. Well, as happy as I can be in kimchi land.

Kyrei · Joined: 22 Jan 2003

I have been married to a Korean woman for over nine years. I applied for the F2-1 visa when it first came out and I am well into my third year of the five year period. After five years, the F2-1 will become something else; I have heard it called the F2 visa or F5 and a couple of others. The F2-1 is my primary visa. I have also been required to have an E2 visa - as a secondary visa - in order to legally work. My ARC was given to me before I applied for the F2-1 so it still says E2 on the front, yet has F2-1 on the back. The back of my ARC is getting rather full now and I will need a new one soon, but since I am not planning to change jobs or visa status anytime soon I will wait until the end of the F2-1 period and see what the visa morphs into.

As I understand this, the F2-1 gives my wife sponsorship responsibilities, thus freeing me from having to take a visa trip to change jobs, or being forced to leave the country if I quit. It does not give mepermission to work - that requires a different visa, depending on what type of work I engage in, be it E1, E2, E7, etc. It does seem that the rules are still different for men and women married to Koreans though, as it is assumed that men will be working to support the family and that women are working voluntarily, thus the regulations for women on an F2 (not F2-1 necessarily) are less stringent.

Having been here over 12 years now, this is what I have learned about immigration: it all depends on who you ask, what kind of mood they are in, and how nice to them you are about it.