Korean Job Discussion Forums

[doublepitch]

This is for my friend who is supposed to be going to Korea with me on 12/27.

She was born in Canada, but because of her parents she also holds a Korean citizenship. Therefore, she holds dual citizenship.

A couple months ago, she lost both of her passports, green card, etc.

It's been a long process, but she eventually got her Korean passport a couple of days ago.

Here's where it gets a little tricky..

When she visited the Atlanta Consulate, she forgot to mention to them that she was a dual citizen. Therefore, they issued her a Korean passport assuming that she was only a Korean citizenship since she applied with her Green Card.

Then, we found out from the internet that women need to pick a citizenship of one country or the Korean citizenship will be lost BY THE AGE OF 21.

She is currently 21, turning 22 on January 22, 2010.

After telling this to the Atlanta Consulate, they stated that if they had known she held two citizenship when she applied for a Korean passport she would have gotten her Korean passport but it would have had a different expiration date (1/21/2010) instead of the expiration date that it has currently of 2019.

SO, does that mean she's okay until she TURNS 22?

The website says by the age of 21. But people have been telling us different things.

We've called 3 different consulate all around the United States, and they seem to be confused themselves on whether it's by the age of 21 or 22. How are we supposed to have correct information if they don't even know the information themselves?

This is currently a problem because she is supposed to leave for Korea this coming Sunday (12/27) to teach English for a year.

She won't have her Canadian passport in time since she has yet to renew it. She was relying on her Korean passport to get her there and let her stay there for a year. The school doesn't mind that she's a Korean citizen.

If her Korean citizenship is not gone, she is still planning on going and applying for her Canadian passport before she leaves so that she can have it when she needs to return to the United States.

If someone could please clear up the age of when she needed to pick a citizenship that would be great.

Is it 21 or 22?

She's currently 21. Does that mean she's already lost her Korean citizenship?

Thank you in advance!

[Harpeau]

From the little that I recall, I believe that a person needs to choose one country when they're 21. She needs to let the two governments know her decision and go with it. Otherwise, she may get screwed by default. Encourage her to be proactive.

BTW, just a clarification, if she's Canadian, it would be a SIN card, not a Green Card.

Best of luck to her.