Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gang ah jee]

What are the requirements on getting an F4 visa? I tried a search....

oops... should this be in the QA forum?

[rumibaer]

hmm.. I saw this on a website about hagwons :

"Q: What is an F-4 visa?
A: As of December 2, 1999 the Immigration Offices under the directive of the Ministry of Justice started issuing F-4 visas. As a result, it is now very easy for Korean-Americans ("Kyopos") to get visas.
Prior to issuance of F-4 visas, Korean-Americans found it very difficult to maintain legal residency. Many people entered Korea on a tourist visa and left the country to renew their period of stay every three months, a costly and bothersome procedure. Usually a person would pass through the immigration check at Fukuoka, Japan and come back just to get a stamp on their passport in order to prolong their stay in Korea "

Is this legit then? Can a korean-american like myself ( someone born in the U.S. get an F-4 visa, and if so what are the advantages to it?)

[Grey17]

Check out this web page

http://www.teachkoreanz.com/terms/immigrat.htm

One thing it doesn't mention is that you must make sure your Korean citizenship is cancelled. It does not matter if you were born in Korea or not, if your parents did not officially cancel it after immigrating then technically you are still a Korean citizen. Go to or call the nearest consulate and ask for the 'family census forms' to cancel it. Then send that with the visa fee, passport, photo, application form and return envelope.

[l'il kim]

I don't know where you're from, but if you're from Canada, here's what you'll need on top of your passport:

-your parents' hojok dongboon (family register, preferably without your name on it)
-proof that your parents renounced their Korean citizenship (such as their certificate of Canadian citizenship - the card alone is not enough)
-your long form birth certificate (the one that states both your parents' names on it - available at a records office)
-an application form from the Korean consulate or embassy
-$75
-a blood sample that they dip into a saline solution that proves whether you're Korean or not (just kidding)

[rumibaer]

haha!!! you really had me going there with the last requirement!
i was like " WAT THE!!?? BLOOD TEST?!" T T

thank you for posting that- i'm actually in the u.s. citizen, but i did read on a site about those requirements. does that mean that one should only apply once getting to korea? ( since you need to get the hojuk dongboon)
or that you can apply from the U.S. too? i guess i will the korean embassy in nyc a call on monday.
^^

[giantyogurt]

I didnt go through the embassy simply becauase they told me it takes longer. Being short on time I decided to apply it in Korea, so I flew.
Phoned the immigration office to ask what I needed, and they told me to get 60,000 won, 6 joongmyoungsajin, proof of Canadian citizenship(the more the better, don't just go there with the citizenship certificate card. They won't think it's good enough for the proof), passport, and my family register. To get the family register(or hojokdungbon), I had to phone the dongsamooso(or Dong office) in my town and requested for a copy. They told me to wait three days because they have to pass it back to the dongsamooso in Busan where I was born. So three days later, I went to the office and pick it up, headed straight to the photostudio to take the photos, wait an hour, then set off to the immigration office in Mokdon, Seoul. After three hours of running up and down the stairs, I was told to wait 14 days to come pick up my passport with the visa on it. You also get a little card that has the resident registration number and the expiry date of your visa.

You'll have a little problem with getting a cell phone, or to be more precise, applying for any plans. Because your registration number is different from other Korean residents (the first number in the second part of the number sequence is 1 for males and 2 for females but we gyopos get 5 or 6), their computer system won't accept your number, thus can't be inputted to their system. Trust me, no Korean telecom companies are kind and responsive enough to change the code in their database so that gyopos can use their phones. So, what did I do? Bought a used cellphone that had no late payment charges on, and went with the advance payment option. The rates are much higher, but all incoming calls are free. So I only made calls with it when it was absolutely urgent and necessary. Otherwise, I just had others call me. That way, I only paid 20,000 won for the next two months. hehe

Anyhow, I started working at a local English hagwon in Suwon two days later and I got three adult classes. Having no experience in teaching, I tried many different things and asked for feedback from the students. A lot of them were coming from engineering background: many of them were from Samsung Electronics company like semiconductor division, wireless communications, IT and so on. Others were from a medical device manufacturer, GPS devices manufacturer, and just lots of engineers. So, being a comp.sci major student myself, we had some common interests and we were able to have very informative and fun discussions on various topics. Some of them included yellow dust(You guys are probably getting it by now. it was very painful last year.), transportation system in Korea, problems related to the manufacturing process of ultra tiny semiconductors, current encryption technology for wireless devices, etc. So, it was very informative. I got them so excited by bringing up questions that stimulated their expert knowledge and experience in the field, so they were never bored. I even had them prepare for small presentations for whatever they knew best about and I received a lot of positive comments from the students for my original ideas and encouraging attitude. In fact, all of my classes had very high attendance rate and the enrollment was increasing like I couldn't handle it anymore. So, I'm sure my boss was happy. I only used the textbook for correcting their pronunciations because grammar wasn't their immediate concern. After a few rigorous pronunciation practice sessions most of them showed noticeable improvement. A guy from Samsung Semiconductor even came to me in person and thanked me for helping out with his pronunciation, saying that it became much easier to communicate with the American engineer that he was working wit at his company. So, it was a very rewarding experience for me and I was glad that I had been some help to a lot of them. Perhaps it was because I knew from my heart their pain in learning English as a second language and was able to point out some of the key mistakes or misunderstanding that they had and correct them.

I wish I could go back there again and practice some more original teaching but I'm getting busier with my studies. I'm starting my 3rd year this May.

Anyway, that's how I got my F-4 and hope some of you gyopos looking for work in Korea find it helpful. All questions are welcome. So if you have any, just pm or email me.


ah... I miss those eager faces.

[l'il kim]

Actually, it's way faster to apply in your home country, at least it was for me in Toronto. Once you have all your materials and pay the C$75 fee, you get your passport back the very next day, en lieu of the two week deal in Korea.

[giantyogurt]

[jurassic5]

[giantyogurt]

Thanks for the great info dude. But isn't the activation fee a little too expensive still? hehe
I'd still rather go with the pay-as-you-go plan and only accept incoming calls. I know I'm too cheap. But I just don't like the idea of spending unknowable minutes of time or money over the cellphone usage.

Am I being a bit too meticulous?

Nonetheless, I'm sure others who have experienced the hassle would very well appreciate the information you provided!

Cheers,

[jurassic5]

[homer521]

I actually got one in the States, but it became obsolete when I left for vacation in Thailand before teaching.

Sorry, but I'm not totally sure what docs I needed in States because my mom had a hookup in the DC consulate that took care of it, but here's what I think we needed:
- passport
- copy of your parent(s) ho jeok deong bun (family registry), preferably without your name included because it might entitle you to RoK army service
- man, sorry, not sure what else cuz my memory sux, but I believe I also needed a copy of both my parent's US naturalization/citizenship certificate, and my birth certificate
- $$ ($40 I think)

Here's what I needed in Korea the 2nd time around:
- passport (of course)
- 60,000 won
- copies of both parent's US passports
- copies of both parent's ho jeok deoung bun
- copies of both parent's US naturalization
* if their computer database in Korea doesn't show that your parents gave up their Korean citizenship, you need to have a copy of the certificate showing that they did, or you need to renig it for them:
show them a copy of your birth certificate and provide original ho jeok's for the parent(s) that didn't give up their Korean citizenship.
* If you need originals of their ho jeok's, you can get them right across the street from the embassy in Korea for 1/2k won and the birth city of the parent(s)

The whole thing was process in one day in the US by just 1 person, but here it takes a week and about 5 different people.. it was a big pain in the ass here, so get it in the US if you can. I hope this helps, and feel free to pm me with any questions.

Good luck.