Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pocariboy73]

My Korean wife will have our child soon and I'd like some information with regards to obtaining a Canadian Birth Certificate and/or Canadian Passport. The official website is vague, they don't respond to emails, and don't answer my phone calls. So helpful....

Anyways, from the website it seems to state that the Passport and Birth Certificate MUST be applied for at the same time. To me that doesn't make sense as the Passport requires a Birth Certificate number when filling out the application, which one doesn't know until the birth certificate is returned back to you.

Anybody with first hand experiences, please let me know. Thanks in advance

[Typhoon]

It is easier to do both at the same time, but you don't have to. It is actually really easy. The hardest part is getting the right dimensions for the pics (different sizes for citizenship and passport). Get the pics done as soon as you can, make sure they are the right size. Then fill out the forms from the website. Mail them in with the fee. You will get the passport first (3 weeks I think...it was nearly 4 years ago now that I did this). It is a temporary one for one year and can be extended to the full term once you get your kid's citizenship. The citizenship takes about 10 months if I remember correctly. The reason they tell you to do it at the same time is so you can travel with your kid and get visas for them if you need to. They will grant the temporary passport because you are applying for citizenship at the same time, but if you apply for a passport seperately from the citizenship (before citizenship is granted) it is more of a hassle.

[cmr]

I went through the whole process... twice, but don't really remember how it all actually went. It was a few years ago.

If you are in Seoul, then just go to the consulate and you'll get all the forms to fill out and they tell you exactly what to do. I am not surprised that you don't get replies through email, but I am surprised they won't answer your calls. They don't seem like it, but they are nice helpful people at the consulate.

Anyway, what I do remember is that you will need the birth certificate from the hospital and your passport to prove that one parent is Canadian. You will have to register the child in Korea as well; don't forget. You will apply for the passport and citizenship card (or whatever the right name is) and will (should!) get the passport within 2 months, but as for the citizenship card it may take up to a year. Anyway, it is much better to go to the consulte, even if you need to make a trip for that only, than to trust whatever is on their website, believe me.

Also, the lady at the front desk at the consultate is Korean, so you can ask your wife to call and it'll be even better that way because she will/may have to provide some documents... or maybe I'm getting mixed up with the wedding. Anyway, my advice is to either go in person or have your wife call. At any rate, I think you will end up having to go at some point.

[smwood]

We did this eight months ago. We are still waiting for our son's citizenship, although there's a story to follow about that.

The Seoul Embassy staff are all but useless. Certainly the front line counter staff can be rude and unhelpful, although you will have to go through them, of course, to get the ball rolling.

The passport is relatively straightforward, but, as a previous poster stated, it's the photos that are the tricky bit, but get them done as soon as you can and you should be sorted. The information about them is on the embassy's web site.

Because the passport is valid only one year, getting the citizenship card is where the fun really starts. And I should warn you in advance that you can expect no assistance, even obstruction, from the counter staff (at least, that's our experience). Emailing is all but pointless, and calling will not guarantee your problem will be attended to.

The current waiting/processing time for citizenship is minimum 15 months from the application's receipt in Canada. You'll need a proof of family document which you can get at the Embassy, different sized photos and a bunch of other stuff which the embassy's site lists. Plus money. With Canada's government, it's always money, right?

In our experience, the citizenship is the sticking point. It's extremely important to get this, as you'll need it to extend your child's passport beyond the initial one year period, and also if you want to get a SIN card and health care back in Canada for him/her. We experienced very little help from the [Korean] embassy staff, and I was never able to even speak to a Canadian, even after waiting 2 hours at the Embassy to do so at one point.

Given that our son cannot get a new visa at the end of February because his one-year passport has less than 6 month's validity remaining, I tried repeatedly to enlist the help of the staff at the embassy. This time I got zero help. By that, I mean emails were either ignored, bounced back, or erroneous or useless information given. By this point I no longer trusted calling the Embassy. Traveling to the Embassy can only be done on a working day, and for me it's a 3-hour's trip each way and a day off work.

In desperation we contacted our MP in Canada, and against all expectations, they have kicked both CIC (Canadian Immigration) and the embassy's asses.

The upshot is that one day after our MP's office contacted Immigration, our son's citizenship was granted. I registered a formal complaint about the embassy which has now been forwarded by my MP's office to the Minister for Immigration. Yeah, things were that bad. In the meantime we had to just nervously wait and hope for the best.

I'm sorry my post is off-putting. I wish someone had told me what to expect from the Embassy - not that I would have believed them! Perhaps things may change after my complaint was instigated, although I seriously doubt that. And perhaps your experience will be more positive.

All's well that end's well, I guess, and apparently it's just a matter of days before we get our son's citizenship certificate. But, and I cannot stress this enough, you may have to expect to take a firm line with the Embassy if things stall and they are not forthcoming with assisting you. And don't be afraid to enlist the help of your MP's office if you need help.

Please feel free to PM me if you need more information. Get the ball rolling as soon as you can if you are expecting to stay on in Korea a year after your child is born.

Cheers,

~ smw

[ursus_rex]

You need an English language version of the birth certificate from your doctor. I didn't have one initially, but simply went back to the hospital and asked for one. Had to pay a small fee for the English duplicate.

[supernick]

The Older Korean lady at the front desk is a real cow and I'm sure she hates everybody. That said, I have had to do my dealings there a few times in the past 6 years, and never a problem. I remember one time, a staff memeber was really helping me out even though the embassy was closing for the day, and her Canadian boss was telling her to tell me to come back and finish the next day, when we were only a minute or so away from completing the documents.

Anyway, if we all send letters to our MPs, it is likely that the old cow can be removed. She really does make a person feel miserable.

[ursus_rex]

as for getting a passport... my son has yet to get a Canadian passport. When we went to Canada last year, we simply got him a Korean passport... it took a week and was fairly simple to get.

[polonius]

[torronto]

Thanks for all the information, I was going to post asking about this as I am also going to register my child's birth soon. I guess the hardest part is getting the right sized pictures.

Oh also I just read about new Canadian citizenship rules that might effect children born outside of Canada going into effect April 17th of this year. You can read more about this at the Marmot's Hole.