Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SHANE02]

Hi all,
I'm hoping some NZers will be able to help me out with 3 questions related to my new baby. I am married to a Korean, and our baby will be born here in two months.

I tried a search (don't ask)
I tried the embassy, still waiting to hear back.

How do I start the process of getting an NZ passport for baby?
How do I start the process of baby's NZ citizenship?
Will she have to give up her Korean passport/citizenship.


Thanks

[sojukettle]

http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Citizenship-Index?OpenDocument

Your baby will be eligible to be a NZ Citizen by Descent ( not able to pass citizenship on to their child unless born in NZ or in conjunction with a NZ born parent)

You fill out the forms for citizenship and passport at the same time - all original documents are required (birthcert; marriage cert etc) Downloaded forms from the site are ok.

Don't tell K authorities - they don't need to know anything about the other passport / citizenship.

I recently did this for my two older kids ( born in a third country of which neither parent were citizens) - got the citizenship papers and passports back in around two months. easi as bro!

SK

[Chris_Dixon]

Yeah, Korea only alllows your child to have one passport, so if the KR authorities know that she/he has a NZ passport youll have to give one up ><

hehe

[prairieboy]

My wife and I just had a baby (May 29).

His birth was registered with Korean authorities so he has Korean citizenship.

I just finished with the Canadian Embassy (I know, this is a NZ thread but maybe it will help a bit). I applied for my son's Canadian passport and citizenship at the same time.

Wasn't too difficult.

I found some information on the "HI Korea" website that might interest you about dual citizenship.

http://www.hikorea.go.kr/pt/InfoDetailR_en.pt?categoryId=2

click on Nationality/Naturalization. There are a couple of items regarding renunciation of citizenship and civic treatment of dual citizenship.

Dual citizenship is allowed but basically, your child must make a choice of one or the other by the time he/she is 20 years old (it mainly affects males because of the military service requirement).

Lots of Konglish on those pages so it will take some time to decode it.

Cheers and good luck.

PS...The Canadian government are very anal with regards to passports, yet they seem to be the most commonly counterfeited passports in the world

[SHANE02]

Sweet, thanks everyone. Great link by the way.

How was it doing baby passport photos. That must be interesting.

[sojukettle]

Both my kids were travelling within three months of being born so their passport photos ( passports valid for five years) were headshots of a 6week old baby wrapped in a blanket. Hilarious - especially travelling in the later years.

There is a lot to read on the forms amid all the official guff but they really are simple to complete. Nothing too tricky.

All the best for the impending birth.

SK

[SHANE02]

Thanks for the info SK, very helpfull. We are counting down to the special day.

[prairieboy]

For the passport photos (again, the Canadian government is extremely anal) they must be 5cmx7cm...most passport photos are 3.5cmx 4.5cm.

The head must fit within a particular dimension (3.0 cm to 3.5 cm in height).

Any type of shadow or non-neutral facial expression is no good.

Now, imagine trying to take a photo of a baby that will meet these requirements. It's tougher than you think.

You can go to a studio and be there for 30 minutes or more trying just to get the picture taken, or do it at home.

The thing with the Canadian passport photos is they actually give some example shots for adults on the website. No newborns though, except at the embassy. If I had seen an example of an acceptable newborn shot the whole photo process would have been much easier.

The Canadian government also requires a guarantor...someone in a professional position of respect (like a lawyer, judge, police officer, doctor, dentist...you get the idea). If you don't know or can't get to someone you do know who meets the requirements then you have to have personal references (at least they only required two for the newborn passport - they require 4 for the adult!!). I'm still amazed at how people are able to get Canadian passports with all of the crap we have to go through.

I hope it's much easier for NZ.