Korean Job Discussion Forums

[new challenga]

I'm in Korea with a Korean girlfriend. She is stressing right now because she's afraid she won't be able to get a visa to go to the US. How difficult is that by the way? What are the qualifications and are they strict w/ them? She's applying for a student visa by the way.

Anyway, the main question I wanted to ask was this. Just in case she doesn't receive her visa, what would the process be like for me to marry her here and bring her back to the states with me?

[spliff]

The process the Us is concerned about is her marrying you getting a visa to the US and disappearing to work as a porn actress or hooker.

[Atavistic]

[OBXman7]

That is not a grenade you want to jump on buddy. Plenty of fish in the sea.

[itaewonguy]

[Atavistic]

[kprrok]

[Atavistic]

[David Wieder]

Having gone through this process (with a Peruvian, not a Korean) here's the real story.

If you get married outside the U.S. your probably screwed - my friend has been living in Mexico for the past 3 years because he got married to a Mexican woman in Mexico and she cant get a visa - she comes from a wealthy family, used to live/work in Switzerland, and they even have a kid.

You want to get your spouse into the country legally on a tourist or student visa. Then you get married in the states. You'll need a lawyer to process the change of visa status. Your new spouse will continue to be legal because the visa will be "in process". But she can't work or leave the country until she gets her work permit and 2 year green card, respectively. After 2 years you apply for a 10 year visa.

The whole process is a serious hastle - The INS won't even answer/return your phone calls.

The real problem is that this whole thing working out is theoretical (seriously, you have no rights as an American). My Lawyer said my wife would have her 10 year green card 18 months after the marriage. Here's what happened with my attempt: I got married in Cali and then changed my address with the INS to New Mexico - they lost the application, in transfer, for 6 months and we couldn't reapply during that time. After a year the wife finally got a work visa. The 2 year green card took close to 2 years to get - my wife couldn't go home to visit her family during this time and has been repeatedly rejected visas for her family to come and visit (likely because she came and stayed on a tourist visa). After close to 4 years, her application for the 10 year visa was dropped due to a clerical error on the INS's part (not really worth explaining what happened but I guarantee you everything was legit on our end - our new attorney was even on the state supreme court). So, after being in the U.S. for 4.5 years she is now an illegal alien - luckily she lives somewhere safe and her boss is employing her regardless.

Luckily for my @ss, our divorce should be done in a month and it's no longer my problem - sounds harsh, I know, but the ex did some pretty f**ked up s#!t after we broke up. Which brings me to another piece of advice - don't do it unless your planning on spending the rest of your life with this person and you don't care about dealing with the immigration issues. I know a lot of other couples who have gone through this stuff and my story is not the exception, its the norm - especially since 9/11.

Hope this helped, good luck.

[bejarano-korea]

[David Wieder]

Hey Bejarano - si, son psicotico, pero tienen mucho sabor. The whole angry thing can be sexy, for a while. But seriously, to the OP, cultural differences can be more tricky than people think. I'm not saying don't do it. I'm not saying I won't end up getting married to a foreigner again. Just make sure that the communication works really well first - I don't mean cross language, I mean solid interpersonal cross-cultural communication.

[Litlbul]

I married a Korean girl in December/2006. Applied for the Immigration Visa in May/2007. Received the VISA approval in October/2007. I could of got the VISA sooner (July/2007), but I rescheduled due to conflicting schedules with my work. The process is pretty basic. Also, once you get approved, you have to enter the U.S. within 6 months.

Shoot me an email if you want more information. [email protected]

[nicholas_chiasson]

I was going to marry a alcoholic russian chick but she wanted to cut things I need off of me with scissors. So we broke up. Be very careful getting married to people from other countries. They have wierd customs they don't tell you about.