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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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donathanlee
Joined: 19 Jan 2012
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 Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 12:18 am Post subject: F-4 Visa Question (Korea-born Gyopo) |
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Hello everyone,
I'm a brand new member of this forum, and it's great to see many helpful people helping each other out. Hopefully, I can contribute more in the future. Since I plan to apply for an F-4 visa while in Korea, I have a question about the process. First, here is my background. I'm hoping this can help other people who have a background similar to that of my own.
Male
22 years old
Born in Korea (Moved to the States at the age of 3 and lived under a green card until the age of 16)
Became a naturalized American citizen at the age of 16.
Graduated from UCSD and now have a B.A. in Linguistics.
Obtained a TEFL Certificate
Parents were born in Korea but now both are naturalized US citizens.
If I were to do the visa application process in Korea, what documents would I need compared to the documents I would need if I were to do this process in the U.S?
In addition, I read on several posts that Korean gyopo men like me have to serve in the army, but read on other posts that becoming a naturalized US citizen renounces my Korean citizenship, leaving me with no military obligations. What is the definite answer on this?
Finally, if the visa process requires documents related to my parents, can I just provide the documents for one parent if another one is out of contact?
Sorry for the long post and immediate apologies if these questions have been asked before. The searches I've done on the F4 visa led me to backgrounds of Koreans BORN in the US and not Koreans born in Korea. Thank you! |
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bobrocket
Joined: 26 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 2:26 am Post subject: |
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| Wouldn't being born in Korea with Korean parents make you Korean? |
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NohopeSeriously
Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea
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| Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 6:56 am Post subject: |
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F-4 visa here. I'm a Canadian citizen who was born in Korea. I already renounced my Korean citizenship very long time ago. My parents are naturalized Canadian citizens. When I was a kid, my family moved to Moscow, Russia for a short time and attended a British school. I have a B.A. in Linguistics.
For your question on the dreadful conscription.... Play safe! If you're a Korean male, always renounce your Korean citizenship. It's a rule of thumb. Always play safe or you'll experience something unpleasant. |
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Mr.Duck
Joined: 01 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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Regarding the history on one or both parents, when I went to go get my F4, they required me to supply my fathers death certificate, which I thought was a bit odd, but I did it anyways.
I was under the impression that you only needed to provide information from one side of the family, but they kept asking questions about my deceased father, and if we had his naturalization papers and everything even after we disclosed the fact that he was deceased. So I'm still not 100% sure what they require since my mom was doing most of the talking (my korean is pretty bad) but they required me to fax in a copy of my fathers death certificate. So you may need information from both parents, but lets see if anyone else can chime in on that matter for you. |
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pkjh
Joined: 23 May 2008
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| Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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A new law a couple years ago states that if you were born after May 1988, in a foreign country, and your father was still a Korean citizen at the time of your birth you might not be eligible for an F-4 Visa.
If you were born before May 1988, or you were born after May 1988 and your father/mother was not a Korean citizen you should be eligible for the F-4 visa.
I was born well before that magical year of 1988, and was born in a foreign country, so I'm not sure what you would need to do to resolve any issues. Also, it's a lot easier to walk into an immigration office in Seoul/Gyeonggi-do and get your visa. Consider trying to get your visa in country. |
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FPCPineapple
Joined: 10 Mar 2012
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| Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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I have a problem with getting an F4 visa... They want to see the actual day and month and year of my father becoming a korean citizen. However, there is only the year on his citizenship card...I called the Canadian immigration office in Canada and they told me it would take 4 months for them to send us an official letter stating the day he became a citizen...Any ideas on what to do?
Also has anyone applied for an F4 visa in Korea and bringing their parents renouncement application/receipt? |
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alongway
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Also, it's a lot easier to walk into an immigration office in Seoul/Gyeonggi-do and get your visa. Consider trying to get your visa in country. |
which might also get them picked up by the military. if you're a guy, you really shouldn't come here until you have every assurance you're not going into service (unless you want to) |
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amoonbot
Joined: 29 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 8:57 am Post subject: |
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What pkjh said is true about the age change. If you were born BEFORE May 1988, then it doesn't matter whether or not your parents were Korean citizens at the time. As long as you show proof that you are a descendant of a Korean citizen, you are eligible for an F-4 Visa.
Now, judging by your age, you were obviously born after 1988, which, unfortunately, does not qualify you for an F-4 Visa. I'm not sure why immigration decided to do this because it singles out a lot of future gyopos coming to Korea. The only way you'd be eligible for an F-4 Visa is if your father was a U.S. citizen at the time of your birth.
Now, if you still want to work in Korea, you still can. The only thing is that you wouldn't come to Korea on any visa but you'd have to actually register for dual citizenship. And yes, you can get military exemption, so that won't be an issue (although you might want to make sure since you were actually born in Korea).
What you'd have to do is apply for a Korean passport at your nearest consulate and you'd be put on the hojuk (family registry). When you come to Korea, you'd be considered a full Korean citizen and although it wouldn't affect your current U.S. citizenship, during your time of stay in Korea, you are subject to Korea's laws as any Korean citizen would. The biggest disadvantage of having dual citizenship is the difficulty of getting a job as an ESL teacher. Most public schools don't hire dual citizens because (1) They think of you as a Korean more than a foreigner OR (2) It could get complicated with visa issues OR (3) Both.
Your best bet would be to look into hagwons that take dual citizens or aim for a Korean company job. It really depends what kind of job you want and how long you want stay in Korea. If you plan on a one year trip then I don't recommend the hassle. However, if you plan on staying here for awhile, it may be worth it. Hope this helps. |
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FPCPineapple
Joined: 10 Mar 2012
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| Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 1:16 pm Post subject: |
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| amoonbot wrote: |
What pkjh said is true about the age change. If you were born BEFORE May 1988, then it doesn't matter whether or not your parents were Korean citizens at the time. As long as you show proof that you are a descendant of a Korean citizen, you are eligible for an F-4 Visa.
Now, judging by your age, you were obviously born after 1988, which, unfortunately, does not qualify you for an F-4 Visa. I'm not sure why immigration decided to do this because it singles out a lot of future gyopos coming to Korea. The only way you'd be eligible for an F-4 Visa is if your father was a U.S. citizen at the time of your birth.
Now, if you still want to work in Korea, you still can. The only thing is that you wouldn't come to Korea on any visa but you'd have to actually register for dual citizenship. And yes, you can get military exemption, so that won't be an issue (although you might want to make sure since you were actually born in Korea).
What you'd have to do is apply for a Korean passport at your nearest consulate and you'd be put on the hojuk (family registry). When you come to Korea, you'd be considered a full Korean citizen and although it wouldn't affect your current U.S. citizenship, during your time of stay in Korea, you are subject to Korea's laws as any Korean citizen would. The biggest disadvantage of having dual citizenship is the difficulty of getting a job as an ESL teacher. Most public schools don't hire dual citizens because (1) They think of you as a Korean more than a foreigner OR (2) It could get complicated with visa issues OR (3) Both.
Your best bet would be to look into hagwons that take dual citizens or aim for a Korean company job. It really depends what kind of job you want and how long you want stay in Korea. If you plan on a one year trip then I don't recommend the hassle. However, if you plan on staying here for awhile, it may be worth it. Hope this helps. |
So what about the Korean military service then? How do you get military exemption? I was born in Canada and my father was a Canadian citizen before I was born. The immigration office is being really anal tho because they want the actual date and month and year showing when he became a Canadian citizen. My father's citizenship card only shows the year on it...A hagown I am suppose to work for actually suggested this, but I am afraid that after I finish working there this summer and if I come back to Korea that I would get picked and shipped off to military service, is this true? |
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sml7285
Joined: 26 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 5:51 am Post subject: |
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| amoonbot wrote: |
| And yes, you can get military exemption, so that won't be an issue (although you might want to make sure since you were actually born in Korea). |
I'm an American-born dual citizen (Parents were Korean nationals when I was born and have since become naturalized US citizens.) and when I was looking at job offers in Korea, I asked around about getting a military exemption. Pretty much what I was told was that the only way any Korean male citizen (regardless of place of birth, foreign nationality, etc.) would be exempt from military service would be if he had suffered some sort of major injury that would prevent him from going through basic training - things like a torn ACL/MCL, loss of a limb, etc.
Unless you're willing to join the military or roll the dice and hope your record isn't on file at immigration (apparently when I called into Immigration in Korea, my name had already been red-flagged), then I'd recommend you look elsewhere for employment. I myself have been offered a dream job (not teaching) and am flying to Korea in June and joining the ROK Army in late July. |
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NohopeSeriously
Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea
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| Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 6:34 am Post subject: |
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| I don't know much about Korean-Americans, but it has been a common practice among Korean-Canadians to renounce your Korean citizenship once you get Canadian citizenship. |
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dsun1226
Joined: 27 May 2010
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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I was born and raised in the US (before 1988) to parents that were still Korean citizens at the time. They have become naturalized citizens but didn't actually renounce Korean citizenship until recently. I have the paperwork from the Korean Embassy in the US saying they renounced (or applied to renounce) so hopefully next week I can change my visa from an E-2 to an F-4 without much problem.
My father says that since his entire side of the family immigrated to the US years before I was born, meaning I am not in the family registry in South Korea anyways. |
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sml7285
Joined: 26 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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| dsun1226 wrote: |
I was born and raised in the US (before 1988) to parents that were still Korean citizens at the time. They have become naturalized citizens but didn't actually renounce Korean citizenship until recently. I have the paperwork from the Korean Embassy in the US saying they renounced (or applied to renounce) so hopefully next week I can change my visa from an E-2 to an F-4 without much problem.
My father says that since his entire side of the family immigrated to the US years before I was born, meaning I am not in the family registry in South Korea anyways. |
Depends on whether or not you were listed in your family's Hojuk at birth. Many people have grandparents who register them at birth. This may have been overlooked when you registered for an E-2 visa, so MAKE SURE that you are not listed in your family's hojuk (have a relative call in ahead of time) before going in with your documentation to try and get bumped up to an F-4 visa... you may find yourself being conscripted into the military instead. |
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wishfullthinkng
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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| sml7285 wrote: |
| amoonbot wrote: |
| And yes, you can get military exemption, so that won't be an issue (although you might want to make sure since you were actually born in Korea). |
I'm an American-born dual citizen (Parents were Korean nationals when I was born and have since become naturalized US citizens.) and when I was looking at job offers in Korea, I asked around about getting a military exemption. Pretty much what I was told was that the only way any Korean male citizen (regardless of place of birth, foreign nationality, etc.) would be exempt from military service would be if he had suffered some sort of major injury that would prevent him from going through basic training - things like a torn ACL/MCL, loss of a limb, etc.
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this is not true. many young guys at my company work there instead of going to the military. if you are very skilled in a certain field you can work for a handful of well established and respected companies instead of going to the military. i think korea's thinking is that they'd rather not lose brilliant minds and have them dulled in the military if they are willing to work for a company that will make korea "better". |
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sml7285
Joined: 26 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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| wishfullthinkng wrote: |
| sml7285 wrote: |
| amoonbot wrote: |
| And yes, you can get military exemption, so that won't be an issue (although you might want to make sure since you were actually born in Korea). |
I'm an American-born dual citizen (Parents were Korean nationals when I was born and have since become naturalized US citizens.) and when I was looking at job offers in Korea, I asked around about getting a military exemption. Pretty much what I was told was that the only way any Korean male citizen (regardless of place of birth, foreign nationality, etc.) would be exempt from military service would be if he had suffered some sort of major injury that would prevent him from going through basic training - things like a torn ACL/MCL, loss of a limb, etc.
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this is not true. many young guys at my company work there instead of going to the military. if you are very skilled in a certain field you can work for a handful of well established and respected companies instead of going to the military. i think korea's thinking is that they'd rather not lose brilliant minds and have them dulled in the military if they are willing to work for a company that will make korea "better". |
And how wealthy are their parents exactly? Trust me - I've exhausted every single avenue when looking for a military exemption. I have nearly perfect SAT scores, attend (will graduate in three weeks) a top research university and have had my research work published as an undergraduate. Yet with these qualifications, I did not qualify for a military exemption.
My cousin who attended Yonsei and had issues with flat feet also didn't qualify for military exemption. He is extremely bright and had a legitimate medical reason for an exemption and yet didn't get one.
I'm not sure where you work, so I don't know the type of employees your company hires, but unless they are sons of politicians/chaebols, I'd be extremely shocked that they were able to get a military exemption for just being "very skilled in a certain field." |
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