|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
piyopayo
Joined: 13 Sep 2010
|
 Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 1:19 am Post subject: Registering an English name on the Korean Birth Certificate |
 |
|
Just a bit of background information about me. I am a Canadian and am currently 39 weeks pregnant with my first child. My husband is Korean.
I have read a lot about registering my to-be-born daughter as a Canadian citizen on the Canadian Embassy website and have obtained all the forms required to do so, but I am still not sure about the entire process of registering birth so hopefully someone can shed some light on this for me.
I want to give my daughter an English first name followed by a Korean middle name and the last name. For example: the name would be something like Angela (First) Su-Min (Middle) Kim (Last). Is it possible to have all of that on the Korean birth certificate (KBC)? Also, I read somewhere on this forum that you can have an English version of the birth certificate. Is that correct? I know that the Canadian Embassy is really particular with having the name on the KBC match exactly on the application and I don't want her to only have her Korean name on it.
Or did anyone have a separate English name of the English version of the birth certificate and the Korean name on the KBC. For example, my daughter would have Angela Kim on her English BC and Su-Min Kim on her KBC. Wouldn't that just complicate things even more?
Any advice or help would be truly appreciated. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Lazio
Joined: 15 Dec 2010
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 2:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
Some hard headed officers might insist that the name on the Korean Birth Certificate can’t be longer than 4 syllables. But I know people who were able to register 6 and even 8. If you are in Seoul or some other big city than it would go smoother I assume. Just don’t accept it when they say no. It’s your child’s name and you can choose it whatever way you want.
The hospital where you give birth will give you an English birth certificate upon request. Well, small private ones might not but big university hospitals for sure. You can have a different name on this. Just make sure to have it sealed and signed by a doctor.
I’m not sure about the Canadian embassy but some countries accept this English one as long as it has the name of both parents, birth place, time of birth and the name of the child. You may need to get an apostille on this. While other embassies want the child to be registered at the Korean authorities at first and than you can get a birth certificate from the Gu office which you will need for the foreign registration.
If you want two different names in Korea and Canada but your embassy needs the proper birth certificate from the Gu office there is still a way around it: just go through with it and later change the name. I guess changing the Korean name would be easier if you are in Korea so that’s something to consider if you have to go down this route. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
denverdeath
Joined: 21 May 2005
Location: Boo-sahn
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:48 am Post subject: Re: Registering an English name on the Korean Birth Certific |
|
|
| piyopayo wrote: |
| For example, my daughter would have Angela Kim on her English BC and Su-Min Kim on her KBC. Wouldn't that just complicate things even more? |
I am quite sure you CANNOT do this now as I went through it not long ago...unless they flipped, then flopped, and flipped again. Canada now insists that the names must match, which does make sense, I guess. Maybe for me as a man it was more difficult, as most of us, like the Kims, prefer to have our kids with our last names - I also wanted them to have less difficulty in Korea by not having some freaky names with 20 syllables. And, our first born has two different names registered; the other two do not. Anyway, Canada would accept Kim Angela Sumin on the cert of citizenship. Not sure what the gu office might do with it though. Pretty sure you can get Kim Angela on there at least. Make sure the hospital spells the name correctly on the record of birth, and also make sure the gu office gets it the way you want it. Best of luck.
| Quote: |
If the other parent is a Korean citizen: The following additional documents will be required:
1. Official hospital birth certificate indicating the child and both parents' names and their date of birth (must be accompanied by a translation into English or French and an affidavit from the person who completed the translation)
2. Government issued birth certificate (i.e. Family Relations Certificate – Ga-jok-gwan-gye –Jeung-myeong-seo- 가족관계증명서) indicating the child and both parents’ names (must be accompanied by a translation into English or French and an affidavit from the person who completed the translation)
3. Proof of Canadian citizenship from the Canadian parent: Original Canadian birth certificate or Canadian citizenship certificate
4. Canadian parent's passport
5. Other parent’s identification document confirming his/her personal details and signature (i.e. passport) |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
drydell
Joined: 01 Oct 2009
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:11 am Post subject: |
|
|
| My son has a 6 syllable name registered on the Korean family register system.. But his 1 syllable korean ( middle) name comes last there.- on his English certificate issued by the hospital it is correct.. So I'd imagine that you need to check with the hospital that they can issue the name as you want it to be.. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Lazio
Joined: 15 Dec 2010
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:21 am Post subject: Re: Registering an English name on the Korean Birth Certific |
|
|
| denverdeath wrote: |
| piyopayo wrote: |
| For example, my daughter would have Angela Kim on her English BC and Su-Min Kim on her KBC. Wouldn't that just complicate things even more? |
I am quite sure you CANNOT do this now as I went through it not long ago...unless they flipped, then flopped, and flipped again. Canada now insists that the names must match, which does make sense |
You could register the same name as the Canadian embassy requires but you could change one later. When you request a name change, I don’t think that the embassy would need the Korean document from the Gu office to check if the name had been changed there as well. But even if they do, I’m certain that you can change the Korean name and they won’t care about what name you registered in Canada or you can just simply say you haven’t done it yet.
So in theory it would go like this: You want your child’s name to be XYZ in Canada but would prefer XZ in Korea.
1., Register the child at the Gu office as XYZ
2., Go to the embassy and register the child as XYZ based on the Korean document
3., Request a name change at the Gu office from XYZ to XZ. I doubt if they would ask for any Canadian document but if they did just say you haven’t registered the birth yet.
Done! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
denverdeath
Joined: 21 May 2005
Location: Boo-sahn
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:41 am Post subject: Re: Registering an English name on the Korean Birth Certific |
|
|
| Lazio wrote: |
| denverdeath wrote: |
| piyopayo wrote: |
| For example, my daughter would have Angela Kim on her English BC and Su-Min Kim on her KBC. Wouldn't that just complicate things even more? |
I am quite sure you CANNOT do this now as I went through it not long ago...unless they flipped, then flopped, and flipped again. Canada now insists that the names must match, which does make sense |
You could register the same name as the Canadian embassy requires but you could change one later. When you request a name change, I don’t think that the embassy would need the Korean document from the Gu office to check if the name had been changed there as well. But even if they do, I’m certain that you can change the Korean name and they won’t care about what name you registered in Canada or you can just simply say you haven’t done it yet.
So in theory it would go like this: You want your child’s name to be XYZ in Canada but would prefer XZ in Korea.
1., Register the child at the Gu office as XYZ
2., Go to the embassy and register the child as XYZ based on the Korean document
3., Request a name change at the Gu office from XYZ to XZ. I doubt if they would ask for any Canadian document but if they did just say you haven’t registered the birth yet.
Done! |
Might just work. The person at the embassy told me to do the name change in Canada as it's supposed to be easy(probably expensive too). Not sure about Korea though. I know you can change names here as I've had students who have done it. Don't like how they changed things, is all. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jake_Kim
Joined: 27 Aug 2005
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Lazio wrote: |
Some hard headed officers might insist that the name on the Korean Birth Certificate can’t be longer than 4 syllables. But I know people who were able to register 6 and even 8. If you are in Seoul or some other big city than it would go smoother I assume. Just don’t accept it when they say no. It’s your child’s name and you can choose it whatever way you want.
The hospital where you give birth will give you an English birth certificate upon request. Well, small private ones might not but big university hospitals for sure. You can have a different name on this. Just make sure to have it sealed and signed by a doctor.
I’m not sure about the Canadian embassy but some countries accept this English one as long as it has the name of both parents, birth place, time of birth and the name of the child. You may need to get an apostille on this. While other embassies want the child to be registered at the Korean authorities at first and than you can get a birth certificate from the Gu office which you will need for the foreign registration.
If you want two different names in Korea and Canada but your embassy needs the proper birth certificate from the Gu office there is still a way around it: just go through with it and later change the name. I guess changing the Korean name would be easier if you are in Korea so that’s something to consider if you have to go down this route. |
It's not about some officers being 'hard-headed', but there is a standing rule by the Supreme Court, Rule 109 (가족관계등록예규 제109호 이름의 기재문자와 관련된 가족관계등록사무), in support of Supreme Court Regulation 2470 (대법원규칙 제2470호 가족관계의 등록 등에 관한 규칙), which stipulates in Section 4 that the Court will not accept a given name in excess of 5 characters/syllables into the registry in consideration of the public nature of person's names and the potential difficulty an excessively long name can cause in interpersonal relations. Surnames are excluded from such limitation, and persons whose father is a foreigner or who become registered through naturalization are also exempt from such limitation.
Now, you could complain that the rule by itself is old-fashioned or rigid, or that such a ban should be lifted, and it might constitute a valid opinion of yours. But it is a whole different matter to think that those local administrative officers who were simply delegated by the Supreme Court to do the paperwork were subjective and arbitrary in rejecting long names beyond set threshold, while in fact such names were prohibited by current rules and regulations. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
alongway
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:29 pm Post subject: Re: Registering an English name on the Korean Birth Certific |
|
|
| Lazio wrote: |
| denverdeath wrote: |
| piyopayo wrote: |
| For example, my daughter would have Angela Kim on her English BC and Su-Min Kim on her KBC. Wouldn't that just complicate things even more? |
I am quite sure you CANNOT do this now as I went through it not long ago...unless they flipped, then flopped, and flipped again. Canada now insists that the names must match, which does make sense |
You could register the same name as the Canadian embassy requires but you could change one later. When you request a name change, I don’t think that the embassy would need the Korean document from the Gu office to check if the name had been changed there as well. But even if they do, I’m certain that you can change the Korean name and they won’t care about what name you registered in Canada or you can just simply say you haven’t done it yet.
So in theory it would go like this: You want your child’s name to be XYZ in Canada but would prefer XZ in Korea.
1., Register the child at the Gu office as XYZ
2., Go to the embassy and register the child as XYZ based on the Korean document
3., Request a name change at the Gu office from XYZ to XZ. I doubt if they would ask for any Canadian document but if they did just say you haven’t registered the birth yet.
Done! |
In Canada you can't willy nilly change your name, at least according to the embassy. It's much easier to change the Korean name. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
piyopayo
Joined: 13 Sep 2010
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks for all the input! I really appreciate your valuable advice.
From what I got out of all these comments, I think it is best if I go with the following steps:
1. Register my baby's name as Angela Su-Min Kim (as an example) on the KBC
2. Make sure that the hospital spells, capitalizes and spaces out the above name correctly. Given that the first and middle name add up to 5 syllables, this should be fine.
3. Take that KBC along with other necessary documents to the Canadian Embassy and apply for her citizenship certificate and passport.
4. Wait for the approval of the citizenship cert. and passport.
5. Go to the gu-office to have the name change to only Su Min Kim to make her life easier in Korea.
Can someone tell me if I am heading to the right direction? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jake_Kim
Joined: 27 Aug 2005
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| There's a process called '국민처우 신고' you might wanna pay attention to. If your child is a girl, she is exempt from conscription-related rules and free to retain dual citizenship with Korean National ID number issued. She must use only her Korean passport upon exiting/entering Korea. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
