Korean Job Discussion Forums

marckot · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Location: Mokpo

I am getting married soon so I phoned the embassy for information on registering the marriage in South Africa. They told me that they do not recognize Korean weddings and that I should actually go to South Africa and get married there and then come back and get married in Korea.

The reason for this is that Korean immigration requires a South African marriage certificate when you apply for an F2. The embassy can�t register your wedding in South Africa so there is no way I can a marriage certificate while in Korea. The only way is to go home and get married there first.

Can any South African who has gone through all of this please give me some advice?

cunning_stunt · Joined: 16 Dec 2007

Advice regarding marriage ?

Don't do it .

Passions · Joined: 31 May 2006

Yah...don't do it. Save yourself from insanity.

adeline · Joined: 19 Nov 2007

congratulations, but i wouldn't ask for advice here...people are asses. maybe do an internet search, or join a wedding forum.

Atavistic

marckot · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Location: Mokpo

Yeah a friend of mine phoned the department of home affairs in South Africa and they told him a totally different story. So between the embassy here and the department back home I am sitting with two conflicting stories. South Africa and Korea are the same when it comes to government officers telling you different stories Laughing

I am phoning korean immigration tomorrow and I bet you they will have a totally different story. That will make things interesting!!! Laughing

I am not to stressed about it. Sooner of later it will be sorted.

Atavistic · Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:05 am Post subject:

paquebot · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Location: Northern Gyeonggi-do

entersman · Joined: 02 Dec 2007

good luck and congradulations

Otherside · Joined: 06 Sep 2007

Good luck

I'll be watching this thread with interest, if I ever wind up going down this road!

From the last stats I saw showing foriegners with F series visa's there are 20 south africans with an F visa... only two of which are women!! I doubt anyone on either side of the Indian Ocean has any clue what the actual process is!

skindleshanks · Joined: 10 May 2004

I think if you registered your marriage in Korea at your wife's local gu office, and get your name added to her register, that would suffice in lieu of a marriage certificate--I can't imagine why they would require a foreign document for a local wedding. (Except perhaps to prove that you are not already married back home??)

MissSeoul · Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: Somewhere in America

marckot · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Location: Mokpo

There are many asian people living in South Africa and there are many more going there for vacation.

Most of the asians who live in SA come from China. There are some Koreans in the country and even less Japanese. I have met Koreans in SA who work for one of the big Korean companies, own shops or restaurants or attend university. I actually ran into a Korean guy down here in Mokpo who lives in Cape Twon with his whole family. He came back to visit his parents for a short time.

So asians are just another group of people who live in my country and they are viewed by most people as part of our society. No worries.

marckot · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Location: Mokpo

Well today I got all the answers I needed.

For those South Africans who might get married to a Korean there is bad news and there is good news.

The whole thing works like this:

The South African government do not supply you with a marriage certificate if you get married to a Korean in Korea. They do register you as married in the database at home affairs but your spouse's information is not entered into the database. The only thing that changes is your status from single to married.

To apply for an F2 visa in Korea you need to show immigration your South African marriage certificate. As you can see from the above explanation that will be impossible if you get married in Korea.

You and your future spouse need to hop on a plane to South Africa and get married there. Then the SA government will supply you with a marriage certificate. You can then take the marriage certificate to the distrcit office in your Korean city and they will ad you to your spouse's family tree. The Korean government do recognize marriages taken place in SA between a South African and a Korean.

A friend of mine spoke to home affairs and they told him a SA marriage certificate takes between 6-8 weeks to be issued. I think it will be possible to get another family member to collect the certificate for you if you need to come back to Korea. I am not sure about this but I will find out.

Atavistic