Korean Job Discussion Forums

[merrypr4nkster]

I've tried the search engine and google and it seems like a nightmare, so I'm asking for helpfrom you pros.

I am a US citizen and am marrying my korean girlfriend and hoping to take her to america.

My questions: What is the easiest way to get her there. visa wise?

Thanks!

[soomin]

I believe it would be to marry her here and do the necessary paperwork to bring her over... If not, you'll have to go to the States alone, do the paperwork, and wait for 8+months for her fiancee visa to be accepted so she can come over.

Here is the official word from the US Embassy on the procedure of getting married, getting it recognized in the States, and getting her a visa~

http://seoul.usembassy.gov/acs_getting_married.html

Congratulations and good luck!

[PBRstreetgang21]

There is no easy way.

Since you mentioned getting married and taking her to the US, Ill address that first.

Disregarding the wedding event day itself and focusing simply on the paperwork, here is what you must do:

If you go on the embassy website (the US) you can download a certificate of marriage eligibility. This is simply certifying that you have never been married before and are of legal age to do so, or that if have been married in the past that your divorce has been completed, etc. Take that down to the embassy in Seoul and get that notarized. Then go to the backstreet behind the embassy and pay a translator to translate it into Korea and notarize it.

After that, you can go to your local 구청 (with your passport and green card) and get a marriage license.

Now you are married!

Next, to get your wifes visa, you have to go to the embassy website and download the petition for an immigrant visa form (I-130) and follow those instructions. Now, I should say that I am over simplflying things a bit. The form itself is quite long, and the instructions for the form even longer. Also, the intial petition is the easy part. Once the petition is approved is when things get tricky. The embassy is usually pretty good about telling you exactly what you need, its just that you need a lot. Also, Korea doesnt have a marriage certificate per se; rather they have two forms that you will need to get from 구청, which are the 수리증명서 and 가족관계증명서. I tell you this because the law changed recently and this led to problem for us that delayed the process for my wife and I. The old marriage license in Korea was called a 혼인관계증면서, but now that is no longer accepted by the embassy. However, many 구청 still use it. When we asked for a 수리중면서 our local office didnt know what it was, and we had to have a local office in Seoul explain to them what is was (we're from Jeonju) so make sure that you clarify with your particular office. Every document you get needs to be translated (almost always by a translator that is registered with the embassy, and those are all found on the street behind the embassy). Also, after the petition is approved and you are going through the document gathering process (which can take a while) you will need to find a support sponsor. One of the documents you need later in the process is an I-864. An I-864 is document that provides information as to who will be financially responsible for your wife should she need financial support. I assume you are an English teacher? Unless you have real estate or some form of income that is CURRENTLY providing you income at 120% of the poverty line, then you CANNOT be her sponsor. In my case, my parents sponsored my wife for me (it didnt matter that I had 20,000 in the bank or the money I was making from my uni in Korea; you need a suitable US income source). This form also requires provided at least one year (and in some cases up to three years) worth of tax returns. There are other forms and records that you will need at different points, and the embassy will tell you about those. There will also be an expensive hospital visit to an approved hospital as well. Im just letting you know about the couple things that gave us the biggest headaches.

All in all, it took about 10 months from start to finish to get the visa and Id say when you add together the various fees to embassy as well as translation and notarization, bus tickets and the like, that we spent almost 2,000 dollars to get the visa.

Its not difficult per se so much as it is time consuming and expensive.

Good Luck