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About Sojourn

Foreigner Registration

Foreigners can stay in Korea within the limit of status and duration that the visa allows.

Alien Registration

• Foreigners who stay for more than 90 days after their arrival in the Republic of Korea must get registered.
• Exceptions : Foreigners with Diplomacy (A-1), Government Affair (A-2), Pact Treaty (A-3), Culture and Arts (D-1), Religion (D-6), Visiting and Cohabitation with Relatives (F-1), Family Dependency (F-3) or other (G-1) visa for Canadian citizens who will stay less than 6 months in Korea.

Alien registration period

• Foreigners who intend to stay for more than 90 days in the Republic of Korea : within 90 days after the date of their arrival in Korea.
• Foreigners who became eligible to stay or foreigners who changed their status of stay : immediately

Method of alien registration

• Submit the required documents to the immigration offices or branch offices
• Documents to be submitted : Certificate of Alien Registration application form, Passport, 1 color photograph, Documents required for individual staying status, Application fee

Alien Registration Rules

• Foreigners who stay in Korea should carry a passport or his/her alien registration card.
• Foreigner who stay in Korea should present a passport or his/her alien registration card when requested by an immigration officer or an government officer who has authority to do so.

Permanent Residence Application

Residence Application of Married Immigrant Women www.aic.go.kr

Eligibility

• You can apply for permanent residency if you are maintaining a married status with a Korean spouse; if your Korean spouse has died or is pronounced as missing by the court; if you are divorced or separated from your Korean spouse for reasons pertaining to your spouse; or if you are raising a minor who is your offspring with your Korean spouse although your marital status has been suspended.

Calculation of Length of Stay

• You must continue to stay in the country without a record of complete departure. A period under three (3) months that you were out of the country with re-entry approval will, however, be recognized as a stay in the Republic of Korea.

The following cannot apply for a permanent resident permit:

• Submit the required documents to the immigration offices or branch offices
• Documents to be submitted : Certificate of Alien Registration application form, Passport, 1 color photograph, Documents required for individual staying status, Application fee

Marriage and Nationality

Acquisition of foreign spouse’s nationality

• The following must receive naturalization approval from the Minister of Justice:
• 1) a foreigner whose marital status to his/her Korean spouse lasted for two (2) years or more while staying in the Republic of Korea; and
• 2) a foreigner whose marital status to his/her Korean spouse lasted for more than three (3) years while staying in the Republic of Korea for more than a year.

Acquisition of nationality in the case of living together without marriage registration

• The foreign spouse who submitted the marriage registration in the Korean spouse’s family register public office and whose marriage registration appears in the copy of the Korean spouse’s family register can apply for simple naturalization (naturalization by marriage). In the case of being in a common-law relationship, the person must have lived in the Republic of Korea for more than five (5) years before applying for general naturalization.

Sojourn period suspension in the case of departure from the country within the domestic-stay period

• As a general rule, the domestic sojourn period (calculated from the arrival date) will be suspended if the person leaves the country during such period, and the two-(2)-year sojourn period starts again on the day of re-entry. In the case, however, where the continuity of domestic sojourn and the maintenance of livelihood before and after the departure are recognized as similar to the case of entering the country again after departing with re-entry permission, it will be deemed that the person has stayed in the country, and as such, the sojourn periods before and after the departure will be combined.

Childbirth and acquisition of the child’s nationality

• Even after a child is born, acquisition of nationality can be applied for only if the parent’s sojourn stay in the Republic of Korea has been more than two (2) years under legal married status. If a child is born, however, the sojourn status inspection will be cancelled, and the period required for naturalization permission review will be shortened.

Procedure of RRN issuance after acquiring naturalization permission

• 1) Family registration report
• 2) Renunciation of foreign nationality
• 3) Verification of foreign nationality renunciation
• 4) Application for RRN issuance
• 5) Return of foreign registration card

Loss of nationality in the case of the Korean spouse’s passing after naturalization and registration to the spouse’s family register

• A foreign woman who obtained her Korean nationality after getting married to a Korean man will not lose her Korean nationality even after the death of her Korean spouse or remarriage.

Acquisition of nationality of a child born prior to the naturalization of the foreign parent

• Adoption by a Korean
  • The adopting person shall submit the accomplished Special Naturalization application form to the Nationality and Refugee Division of the Ministry of Justice after submitting the adoption report document to the place of the Korean spouse’s family register, and the adoption (under 20 years of age only) appears in the family register. In the case of adopting an adult child, the concerned party must have stayed in the Republic of Korea for a period of up to three (3) years before applying for acquisition of nationality.
• applying for acquisition of nationality (accompanying acquisition)
  • In the case where it is the foreign spouse who is submitting the accomplished naturalization permission application form, if the person ticks the “Accompanying Acquisition” box, the person’s child under 20 years of age can acquire Korean nationality along with him/her. At this time, the person must attach the supporting document or the document that proves the parent-child relationship.

About Foreigner’s Stay

The procedure of domestic departure and entry of foreign workers will be subject to the Immigration Control Law. Therefore, foreign workers who want to find employment in the Republic of Korea must implement the procedure in accordance with the Immigration Control Law, such as registering as a foreigner after entering the country following the issuance of a work visa, reporting any change of residence or workplace, and receiving approval for such change.