Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Whistleblower]

This is just a quick question. I am moving to Korea this Winter (with any luck) on an E2 visa and in a few years time I would be looking at applying for a residency visa. I used to have an F2-1 visa back in 2009 when I lived there but my wife has now got British citizenship and I suppose her Korean citizenship is no longer valid despite her still holding on to her Korean passport and ID card.

Anyhow, as I would be looking at getting an F5 visa or equivalent in a few years time, I need to know what sort of things would grant me in the right direction with the points based system. Would immigration look at my previous residency visa favourably? With regards to assets, I have a house in the UK and what sort of things would be appropriate to prove this with the Korean authorities? I suppose I would need to take the TOPIK as well and also do some voluntary work.

Any advice from other members would be greatly appreciated.

[raewon]

I will apologize in advance for not sounding more positive.

You are probably already aware of this, but the requirements for applying for a residency visa a few years from now, will probably be different (and not necessarily in a good way) from what they are now (whatever they may be).

I doubt that immigration would look favorably at any previous residency in Korea. Heck, they don't tend to look favorably at continuous residency in Korea unless it is under the same visa (for example, several continuous years on an E-2 visa without changing from an E-2 to a D-10 or from an E-2 to a tourist - to an E-2, etc). Immigration has an interesting way of looking at residency in Korea. Whenever your status changes, your clock shifts back to zero. Under the current rules, point based F2 visa holders need to have lived in Korea for more than 3 years (to the day) on THAT visa before they are even allowed to apply for the F5 visa. In their eyes, it doesn't matter if you have already lived in Korea for X number of years.

As for earning points - yes - get your Korean level as high as possible. Take immigration's "social integration" program for more points. Do volunteer work in Korea. However, make sure it's not just "any" volunteer work. It must be for an organization that has registered with www.vms.or.kr. You will need to sign up on this site and get a volunteer number BEFORE you start doing volunteer work. The organization you volunteer for will then log your volunteer hours through this site and after that you can print out an official record of your volunteer work (which immigration requires to issue points).

I hope this has helped a bit.

[Lazio]

Don't quote me on this but why would your wife lose her Korean citizenship?

Did she need to renounce her Korean citizenship in order to get a UK one?

Korea recongizes dual citizenship since 2011.

[Whistleblower]

[Fallacy]

[Lazio]

[Whistleblower]

[Fallacy]