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ACQUISITION FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCY (F-5)
: Residency (F-2) status holders, who have been married and lived in Korea for over two years, can
apply for change of status to permanent residency (F-5) status while maintaining original nationality.
Requirements : Korean's foreign spouse who has resided in Korea over 2 years with Residency (F-2-1) status is eligible, on the condition that one of the followings is satisfied:
- 1. The person who has been married to and lived with a Korean spouse
- 2. The person whose Korean spouse died or was acknowledged to disappear by courts
- 3. The person, being under divorce or separation, who is able to prove that the blame of the separation
lies with the Korean spouse
- 4. Even if the marriage no longer continues, the person who rear child(ren) under 18, the offspring of
the marriage.
Documents required are as follows
(except when additional documents required by immigration officials):
- 1. Application (uniform form), Passport and alien registration card
- 2. Copies of spouse's family registration (indicating the fact of marriage) and resident registration
- 3. fees -￦50,000
- 4. Documents proving financial ability (Select one among the following documents indicating financial
ability equivalent to ￦30 million)
- 5. Certificate of bank account under the name of applicant or applicant's family members
5-a Copy of real estate registration
5-b. Copy of house lease contract
5-c. Certificate of employment of applicant or applicant's spouse. Japanese spouses who acquired F-2
status prior to Aug. 4. 2002, is immune from submitting documents showing financial ability and guar
antee letter.
Required on a case by case basis : Official documents upholding foreign spouse's argument in case of missing verdict of disappearance issued by court and in case of divorce or separation due to Korean side's fault.
- In case of rearing child under 17 who was born during their marriage: a family registration of the
child, resident registration, court's decision(divorce report and confirmation), and confirmation letter
written by a relative of Korean spouse or a head of village ( tong jang or ban jang).
Calculation of period of domestic residence : In principle, if you leave Korea before your sojourn period has expired, the sojourn period ends and the calculation of period begins all over again upon re-entry. However, if you return to Korea with a re-entry permit ( issued for trip overseas shorter than 3 month) and are recognized to have continuity in residency, the periods you have lived in Korea before and after departure will be summed up together.
Note: Those who violated Korean immigration law in the latest past 3 years are not qualified. However, those who already paid fine causing from breach of duty of reports or article 79 of immigration law can apply.
Privileges for permanent resident :
- a. Exempt from duty of extension of sojourn period
- b. No need to visit immigration office for extension of stay
- c. Re-entry permit is not needed for applicants who wishes to go abroad for shorter than 1 year.
However, when applicants wishes to go abroad for more than 1 year, re-entry permit is required
- d. Free economic activities are allowed
- e. Immune from compulsory deportation except for the following cases:
(1) Committing treason stipulated in chapter 2 of Criminal act
(2) Being sentenced imprisonment or confinement more than 5 years
(3) Organizing, instigating, or helping illegal immigration or emigration en masse
- f. In the case of 3 years' passing since obtaining permanent residency, applicants have the right to vote
in local elections. Hence, applicants may elect city mayor, province governor, local assembly man. The
first-ever exercise of voting by such foreigners was realized on May 31. 2006.
NATURALIZATION PROCEDURE
a) Preface : We investigate foreign spouses who applied naturalization, because disguised marriages sometimes cause social problems and bona fide Korean national falls victim to fake marriage. It takes long time for naturalization applicants to be given the final answer, because once the nationality is given, it can hardly be deprived. Therefore, it is handled with proper discretion.
b) The Process of naturalization by marriage : Application, field investigation → Local immigration Nationality & Refugee division of Justice Ministry → Screening N&R division → Decision of permit or reject → N&R division Informing the applicants → Announcement through official gazette → N&R division Ministry of Administration → Family registration → Applicant to Local Go'vt (district office) Abandonment of original nationality → Applicant, Embassy in Korea → applicant, Confirmation of abandonment of Original nationality → Applicant immigration → applicant Korean resident registration Card Issuance → Applicant town office → applicant, hand in alien registration card → Applicant → Immigration
“Simple naturalization” requisite, stipulated in the article 6 of Naturalization act
- 1. Foreign spouse must be married to a Korean spouse and live in Korea for over two years or be
married to a Korean spouse for over three years and stay in Korea continuously for over a year.
- 2. Foreigners must be an adult on the basis of Korean Civil law
- 3. Must act civil
- 4. Must be able to make a living by property or craft of one's own, or by help of other family members
who live under the same roof.
- 5. Must have essential knowledge such as Korean language, and Korean tradition.
In principle, the foreign spouse is exempt from taking the written test. If you apply for naturalization at the Ministry of Justice (Division of Nationality & Refugee), you will undergo an investigation by immigration officers about your actual condition of sojourning and eligibility inspection as well. And then you will be notified of approval or rejection.
Required documents (simple naturalization by marriage) :
- 1. Naturalization application form (available at the Ministry of Justice's Division of Nationality & Refugee or local immigration offices and immigration's web site(http://immigration.go.kr http://seoul.immigration.go.kr ). Application should be submitted only at the following local offices: Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon, Masan, Chuncheon and Jeju immigration.
- 2. Statement
- 3. Passport, alien registration card
- 4. Fees and 3 color photos
- 5. Copies of spouse's family registration (indicating fact of marriage) and resident registration
- 6. Letter of guarantee
- 7. Documents proving financial ability (Select one among following documents
indicating financial ability equivalent to ￦30 million):
a. certificate of bank account under the name of applicant or applicant's family members
b. copy of real estate registration
c. copy of house lease contract
d. certificate of employment of applicant or applicant's spouse
e. If the above-mentioned documents of finance are not available, financial guaranty by a Korean national can be submitted instead
- 8. Other materials such as pictures, letters, which could be of help in supporting the evidence of real
marriage and additional documents could be required by Immigration without prior notice.
* Notice: When applying for naturalization in the immigration office, you need to accompany a Korean spouse to show that you are in normal state of marriage. However, if there is any inevitable reasons, you could visit alone with an ID card of the spouse. The burden of proof of the inevitable situation lies with applicant (e.g. certificate of hospitalization).
Subsequent procedure : After application is submitted, if changed occur, such as address, phone number, etc, you must inform those to the Justice Ministry's naturalization and refugee department (tel: 031-478-5027~8. location: Pyeongchon-dong in Anyang city). Otherwise it will cause serious harm to the process.
In ordinary cases, immigration officers visit the applicant's home or surroundings. But in the case that there are child(ren) between the applicant and spouse, the field inspection can be omitted. Following the field inspection, the applicants will be given the message from the Justice Ministry's naturalization and refugee department to undergo interview procedure. Interview is done in the naturalization and refugee department (Pyeongchon-dong in Anyang city).
After acquiring permission of naturalization : Even if you are given a notification of permit to naturalization, the procedure is not yet finished. Nor is Korean resident card automatically issued. Therefore, in order to exercise rights to the fullest as a Korean, you should undergo the procedures as below:
- a. Report of family registration: Within a month of receiving notification of permission to naturalization,
you must hand in the 5 copies of the notification to family registration department of local government
office (city, district office).
- b. Renunciation of foreigner's original nationality: You should immediately notify the foreign embassy in
Korea on renunciation of your original nationality, and be issued a "foreign nationality renunciation
certificate. If you do not perform renunciation of nationality within six months after the date of notifi
cation of naturalization, you will automatically lose your newly-gained Korean nationality.
- c. Confirmation of renunciation of foreign nationality: You must visit the local immigration office and
submit your "foreign nationality renunciation certificate", copy of family registration, and naturalization
permission notification. You will then be issued by immigration office of a written confirmation of
foreign nationality renunciation. However, if you do not give up your original nationality within six
months due to unavoidable circumstances, you must be issued by immigration office of a written
confirmation on reserve about foreign nationality renunciation. In such a case, reservation period is
given shorter than 2 years.
- d. Application for Korean resident registration card (i.e. Korean ID card): You must bring naturalization
permission notification, a copy of family registration and written confirmation of your foreign national
ity renunciation to your local town office (i.e. Dong-samuso), report resident registration and apply for
issuance of Korean resident registration card.
- e. Return alien registration card: The alien registration card should be returned to the local immigration
office. When you visit immigration, you need to bring your naturalization permission notification, a
copy of family registration, Korean resident registration card and alien registration card. This is the
final step of the entire procedure. Until you finally return your alien registration card to immigration
office as a sign of completing the whole process, you should extend your visa in the immigration like
ordinary foreigners.
DIVORCE AND SOJOURN
On the question of foreign spouses who run away from home are illegal residents? In order to protect foreign spouses harmed by domestic violence, foreign spouses do not become illegal residents automatically even if the Korean spouse reports the foreign spouse to have run away from home.
Expiration and extension of sojourn period during divorce proceeding : If your sojourn period ends while you are still in the legal process of settling your divorce, you can apply for extension of stay by submitting documents that could verified the fact that you are in the middle of legal proceedings. Residency (F-2) status will be granted, however visa must be extended every three months until the lawsuit ends.
Documents required are as follows:
- 1. Passport, alien registration card
- 2. Application for Extension of Sojourn Period (fixed form)
- 3. Proof of filing of lawsuit (issued by the court in which the lawsuit was initiated)
- 4. Letter of guarantee
- 5. Fees (￦20,000)
Divorce by agreement and application for naturalization : In the case of divorce by agreement, it is impossible to apply for “naturalization by marriage,” but you may apply for naturalization if you reside legally in Korea for over five years under the conditions of “general naturalization.”
Nationality acquisition after marriage ends : When the marriage comes to an end in the event of the Korean spouse’s death, disappearance, or any other reasons in which the foreign spouse is legally free of blame, or if the foreign spouse is raising (or will raise) underage children born from the said marriage, the foreign spouse can acquire Korean nationality.
Nationality acquisition after divorce by settlement : If the settlement includes content specifying that the Korean spouse will pay a certain amount of money in compensation, it can be used when applying for nationality acquisition (naturalization approval) as proof that verifies the Korean spouse’s fault.
Korean spouse initiates a lawsuit filing for divorce from a foreign spouse that has run away from home due to domestic violence
A Korean spouse may file for a divorce lawsuit citing the fact that the foreign spouse has run away or other faults. In principle, the foreign spouse must be notified of the lawsuit, but in the case that the foreign spouse’s whereabouts are unknown as the person has run away, “service by public notice” is allowed. The facts submitted by the Korean spouse will be referred to and a divorce ruling will be brought out. The foreign spouse can initiate a lawsuit (subsequent appeal) within two weeks after knowing of the divorce ruling through service by public notice, with evidential data that can overturn the reasons attributable or prove a basis for compensation.
Status after getting divorced through a lawsuit : When a foreign nationals have been divorced from their Korean spouse without their faults or if the foreigner must raise a child born as a result from the marriage with the Korean spouse regardless of reasons attributable for the divorce, the foreigner is allowed to stay and work in Korea under residency (F-2) status.
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