Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Unposter]

I am not much for telling every little experience one has in Korea, but I just want to discuss this with some people who might find it as interesting as I did (i.e. people who are not Koreans).

For background information, I have a F-5 visa.

Anyway, I am checking in at the airport. The check-in clerk, who just happened to be male, asks for my passport. I give it to him. Without even looking at my passport, he says something like you know you probably need a re-entry visa. I say something like I don't think so... Anyway, he looks at my passport and he says yep, you need a re-entry visa. So, I tell him I don't think so, I have an F-5 visa. So, he goes no, I think you need a re-entry stamp.

Now, here is where things get interesting...

Again, I give him the funny look and say are you sure? And, he says ok, I'll call immigration. So, he gets on the phone and says a lot of things in Korean -- about all I understand is F-5 visa, which he says in English.

Anyway, he gets off the phone and says yes, you do have to get a re-entry stamp.

So, I'm a little suprised but take his word for it - what am I supposed to do? So, I ask where can I get this stamp? And, he asks me, can you read Korean?

I say yes, and he writes something in Hangeul on my itinerary paper.

At this time, a female check-in clerk turns to him and says in English, what kind of visa does he have? And the male check-in clerk attending me says an F-5 and she goes I don't think he needs a re-entry stamp. And, she proceeds to hand him a notebook. I see that there is a lot of handwriting on it and you can see a spot where it is written, "F2 F5."

He looks at the paper and turns to me and says you don't need a re-entry stamp.

So, I look at him and I ask him are you sure, you just talked to immigration. And, he tells me no, you don't need a re-entry stamp. He hands me my boarding pass, my frequent flyer card, passport etc...

And, I say thank you, you have been very kind and his face just kind of fell.

Anyway, what I want to know is:

1) Did he lie about calling immigration?
2) Did the immigration officer he talked to not know immigration law?
3) Was he trying to harrass me?
4) Was the guy just a total idiot or half-asleep?
5) Was he stoned out of his mind?
6) Something else?
7) Some combination of the above?

[shaunew]

This is Korea, you ask one officer one thing they tell you what they think and then you ask another and they will tell you something totally different. My experience is if you ask a question and don't like the result wait and ask again and you should get the information you want.

[laogaiguk]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[the eye]

[Hollywoodaction]

[Major Kong]

Immi would never give info freely!

[Ilsanman]

#2 for sure. But it's a sad and almost frightening thing to see. I don't blame the guy at the desk, he's probably never even seen an F-5 visa before. But the immigration officer should be fired.

[Unposter]

Okay, fair enough. But, I still wonder why he believed his co-worker over the immigration officer. Wouldn't one think the immigration officer know what he or she is talking about? I mean as soon as his co-worker showed him her notebook that was all he needed to be certain that what the immigration officer said was wrong.

Anyway, all is speculation and I guess I should just assume it was one of those strange cases where the check-in clerk was just trying to inform me of what I needed to do but got all his information incorrect.

[dannylelievre]

I have had stupid fights with immigration at the airport. I dont know, I thought it was absurd for them to require me to get a re-entry permit on my visa (i'm american, we are automatically issue multiple entry visas) simply because I had my visa extended. I figured, you extend a multiple entry visa into the same multiple entry visa, no? This happened to anyone else before?

[Cheonmunka]

Look, people, I've waited at Adelaide airport in Australia with my family, after arriving first in the queque, for one and a half hours at the desk because the Australians couldn't work out the customs situation for my wife. We only stayed in Australia seven days.
There might be staff who don't know better, but in other countries you can experience worse problems.
As the Op said it might be interesting for F people to know, agreed, but further bashing and extrapolating on the Korean condition is not necessary.

[MissSeoul]

[Hyeon Een]

[Beej]

[Otus]

Miss Seoul wrote: