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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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 Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:00 am Post subject: "Mr. Guru Goes To Immigration" |
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(apologies to F. Capra)
A few personal observations on the riveting subject of the Seoul Immigration Office Sejongno Branch, which recently moved from Gyeongbok Palace Subway Stn (Orange No. 3 Line) to the Anguk-dong Subway Stn (Orange No. 3 Line) area, and a comment or two on the new(ish) D-8 (foreign investor) visa requirement changes.
I recall seeing other threads about this historic relocation months ago, but this was the first time I had to visit the office. You see, I recently received that kind and thoughtful mailed reminder from Immigration Man: "Please note that overstaying, which means violating the Immigration Law, will not enable you to escape any punishment".  That line, which has remained unedited, untouched since the 1990s, always conjures up WWII P.O.W. torture scenes. Me: captured whitey. Them: snarling Korean prison camp guards. *shudders*
I remembered reading the branch had moved. And here's where to:
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Seoul Immigration Office Sejongno Branch Office
SK Hub Bldg. 2F, 89-4,
Gyeongundong, Jongno-gu, Seoul
82-2-732-6214 |
(That phone number is typically busy for hours on end, and it's the only one they publish.)
There is absolutely nothing to distinguish the SK Hub Bldg. from any other largish office building in Seoul. It's not some grand architectural wonder; really quite dowdy, drab and nondescript for a building they call "Hub".
Guru Likes:
-- The fact that the Sejongno Branch now seems to handle everything you might need, whereas in their previous location, it was limited to issuing re-entry permits and sometimes odd documents I need for my business.
-- It's maybe 5~6 times larger. More seats if you need one.
-- Another plus for me is that they now handle D-8 (foreign investor) visa holders and our renewal applications. When I started out, it was the Black Hole of Calcutta (Mok-dong Immi.) or nothing. Later, the KOTRA Bldg in deep, dark, southern Yoksam-dong opened a Big-nose Biznizman Sub-office. That was heaven compared to Mok-dong, but still a serious hike from northern Seoul. Being able to do everything (and "everything" means several trips) without having to travel to the very ends of the city, and to be able to get there in a 15-minute death-defying motorbike trip -- I couldn't be happier.
Guru Dislikes:
-- As you'd expect, the increased service range has brought a flood of customers, and damn them, they're all trying to renew, extend, whatever at the same time I have to. They completely clogged the place. There's an Information window, which was unattended for the entire hour I was there. Got simple questions? Fine. Just grab a number, pack a lunch, and go camp out with the industrial workers lining the outer hallway. 
-- They're asking for more documents to extend D-8 visas. The woman said the new list of required documents is not available online (surprise, surprise  ) though she had a printed list that she handed me, to which she scribbled a few additional items by pen in that "making-it-up-as-we-go-along" fashion we're all so familiar with.
Neutral -- I'll probably get flak for saying this. When we on Dave's talk about "us foreigners" vs. Koreans, or about Koreans' views & treatment of "foreigners", we aren't referring to the people I encountered at the Sejongno Branch today. Other than myself and two or three other Westerners, the other 99% (200+) were short, small, dark Asian, African, Chinese, or gyopo. And I swear about half of them had very noticeable acne problems. WUWT?
-- Here on Dave's, people like to say that as foreigners in Korea, we ought to dress well "respectfully" so as to make a polite, positive impression on the Korean authority types we deal with, esp. at Immigration. Well, I guess that other 99% never got the memo. I can't say they were dressed like hobos exactly, and the gyopos were certainly dressed for life in the big city, but the rest... Okay, maybe that IS dressing up for them. Just wondering why it is that so many (apparent) 3-D workers are renewing/extending up here in Sejongno. Don't most of them live & work a serious distance from the capital?
A trip to Korean Immigration ain't nothing like it used to be.
Last edited by JongnoGuru on Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:30 am; edited 1 time in total |
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djsmnc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
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| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:28 am Post subject: Re: "Mr. Guru Goes To Immigration" |
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| JongnoGuru wrote: |
I recall seeing other threads about this historic relocation months ago, but this was the first time I had to visit the office. |
Man, that place opened almost 2 years ago! How long did you overstay your visa? Did you think that it would enable you to escape punishment? |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:57 am Post subject: Re: "Mr. Guru Goes To Immigration" |
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| djsmnc wrote: |
| JongnoGuru wrote: |
I recall seeing other threads about this historic relocation months ago, but this was the first time I had to visit the office. |
Man, that place opened almost 2 years ago! How long did you overstay your visa? Did you think that it would enable you to escape punishment? |
No, I'm still current, still enjoying my "period of sojourn", though it will be coming to an end in the next two weeks. My visa just goes on for eons and eons, so it's not unusual that I wouldn't have seen the inside of a Korean immigration office during the entire time since the Seoul Immigration Annex moved to Anguk-dong (and was renamed "Sejongno Branch").
Has it really been two years since they moved, though? I can almost believe it from the look and smell of the "new" office. It's like a smaller version of the Mok-dong swamp office, but actually funkier and dirtier. |
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Thunndarr
Joined: 30 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:55 am Post subject: |
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| The little note they gave me said they moved something like June of this year. I am positive it wasn't two years ago because I did my F-2 visa at the old branch in Sept. of 2005. |
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djsmnc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
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| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:53 am Post subject: |
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| I went in February of 2005 to renew my visa there, then I ate Bori-bap at a restaurant near the Sejong center. I remember it like the time I lost the big V at age 7 |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:17 am Post subject: |
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| Thunndarr wrote: |
| The little note they gave me said they moved something like June of this year. I am positive it wasn't two years ago because I did my F-2 visa at the old branch in Sept. of 2005. |
Right. There was a huge sign on the wall at (Anguk-dong) Sejongno Branch with a map of Seoul and surrounding bits of Gyeonggi-do on it. It showed some sort of division (North/South) of the city, along with what seemed to be newly created "immigration zones", as it were. (NORTH Office covers such & such gu's, SOUTH Office covers such & such gu's, and you must go to the office that covers your gu...sort of thing?)
On the map there was the (new) Sejongno Branch in the north and something in southern Gangnam. I just passed by without really reading it, but I did note that it stated in big bold letters: "As of 6.6.15 (2006/June/15?) blah blah..." Of course almost none of the posted information around there is in English for the convenience of its intended audience, hell no. It's in that up-and-coming world language, Korean.
What struck me as odd about the map was that it showed nothing at all -- not even the big immi office in Mok-dong -- in western Seoul. As though there is no (or will be no) immigration presence at all out there. Weird. I'll stop and read it, take a snapshot, next time I'm there. |
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djsmnc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
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| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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I think the Gangnam one is new, so they must have said something like "As of June (or whatever), there are new immigration offices" because I remember that when I went to the Anguk-dong office, the only other one was the Mok-dong hole.
When I went, the Anguk one was clean and nice. I'm sure it wasn't long before it turned into a hole as well. All those foreigners in there....
Sarcasm |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:26 am Post subject: |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:46 am Post subject: |
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| Guru, you could have made an appointment online prior to visiting the office - then you didn't have to wait so long. |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:51 am Post subject: |
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Perhaps in theory. Not at Sejongno. They'll deport you just for trying. They're like that. Seriously, who can be arsed to do that? Certainly not me.
Last edited by JongnoGuru on Thu Dec 28, 2006 8:07 am; edited 1 time in total |
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djsmnc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
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| Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:59 am Post subject: |
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Golly. I must have walked to the Sejongro branch building in 2005, entered another dimension in which the Sejongro branch was already there, then left and re-entered 2005. When I used the Visa to travel and such throughout that year, the immigration workers accepted it, regardless of the fact that it would have indicated that it was from the Sejongro branch. That would mean that the immigration workers are all from...another dimension...
Well, that shouldn't come as any surprise. |
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poet13
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
Location: Just over there....throwing lemons.
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| Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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"I went in February of 2005 to renew my visa there, then I ate Bori-bap at a restaurant near the Sejong center. I remember it like the time I lost the big V at age 7"..
Thats a line from a movie right?
Regarding documents online. I went to the immi website but couldnt find the application for changing to a multiple entry visa. Does anybody know the form number? |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 4:52 am Post subject: |
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"Please note that overstaying, which means violating the Immigration Law, will not enable you to escape any punishment"
Yes that is a creepy statement. I believe it resembles something said in the PRC around the time of Chairman Mao and that wonderful Cultural Revolution that hurt and killed MILLIONS:
"Where there is the will to condemn, there is evidence." |
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