Korean Job Discussion Forums

proustme · Joined: 13 Jun 2009 Location: Nowon-gu

If I as an American marry a Korean, and have a baby with my wife in Korea, will the baby hold American or Korean citizenship?

In my life, there's no baby or marriage on the way at the moment. I'm just curious.

jvalmer · Joined: 06 Jun 2003

As long one parent is American by birth (as in born in the USA) will have US citizenship. As for Korean citizenship, kid needs to get registered. If it's a male, maybe required to do military service after 18. For a girl, military service is not a problem.

Lolimahro · Joined: 19 May 2009

An American friend of mine is married to a Korean man and they just had their first child. After registering their child with the US embassy, he is officially a US citizen and has his own passport.

Not sure if it's possible to do it the other way around but I would think so.

proustme · Joined: 13 Jun 2009 Location: Nowon-gu

Thanks for the added information.

crossmr · Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul

korea currently allows dual citizenship until the kid is 21 and then they must choose, but with the recent talk about them finally allowing dual citizenship for adults, by the time most people's young children are adults they probably won't have to declare one (which sucks for the male children who may have wanted to take the foreign citizenship and stay here on an F4 to avoid military service)

Chokse · Joined: 22 May 2009

My wife and I (I'm American and she's Korean) just had our first baby 3 weeks ago (a boy). Yes, you can get both US and Korean citizenship for the baby, and the process is pretty simple (though you will have to pay $150 to the US Embassy for the passport and the paperwork). The hardest part was getting a passport quality photo of the baby as the rules stipulate it must show at least 70 percent of the front of the face and that the eyes must be open and facing forward. Try doing that with a newborn!

As for military service, we were also concerned about this. However, there are some provisions in place that should protect our son from having to do this (though you never know what will happen in 20 years). Right now in Korea, if a Korean citizen appears "caucasian" (the K governments words, not mine) or does not have a Korean name, he will not be conscripted into the army for fear of hazing. Our son has almost no Korean features and looks 95 percent caucasian (very slight Asian eye shape, but that's it) and we purposely gave him a non-Korean name. In fact, this did cause some problems when we tried to get his ID card and health insurance because their computers are only setup to use the 3 syllable Korean names. We came in with a 6 syllable first/middle/last name, which sent the Dong office workers into a mild panic as they tried to figure out what to do about this dilemma.

Anyway, it is my hope that those two things will be enough to keep him out of the army if he should choose to visit Korea as a young adult.

brier · Joined: 14 Dec 2009

When I registered my son with the US Embassy, I had to prove that I lived there for five years for my wife isn't an American. They wanted either my tax records or transcripts. I wonder what would be the case for a U.S citizen who lived under five years state side and tried to register his/her son/daughter, while the husban/wife wasn't a U.S citizen.

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

My Canadian daughter married a Korean & then they moved to the States where they had a baby. That child currently has triple citizenship, but I think decisions will have to be made.

CentralCali · Joined: 17 May 2007

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

I-am-me · Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Location: Hermit Kingdom

I am American and wife is filipina. Baby will be born here but it will have dual citizenship in US and Philippines. Sorry Korea!! Laughing

definitely maybe · Joined: 16 Feb 2008

As long as you meet the citizenship and past residency requirements, getting dual citizenship will be a cinch. If your college transcripts are like mine, they list where and when you completed high school and college, which more than satisfies the requirements. You can go to your dong or gu office and get your kid squared away as a Korean first, then take as much time as you need on the American side.

The embassy "officially" suggests that you get it done in the first month due to a possibly lengthy wait, but a friend of mine who works there told me there's no reason to rush. We went last summer at about two months and got his Certificate of Report of Birth Abroad and passport in exactly a week, and his social security card a few weeks later. Have everything you need in order when arrive, and everything else is a breeze.