F6 Marriage Migrant Visa Process in South Korea

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Applying for any type of visa is a daunting process. The regulations and required documents for many visas change without updates to the resources most easily accessible by expats in Korea. The F6 marriage migrant visa is no exception. I was approved for my F6 visa at the beginning of July, but as I was going through the process, I had trouble finding up-to-date information, especially in English. So, I have decided to make the process easier for future marriage migrant visa applicants in Korea by compiling all the information I learned and resources I used to successfully acquire my F6 marriage migrant visa in Korea. This includes eligibility, required documents, and a step-by-step guide to what needs to be done. Please keep in mind that I am American and will be giving information from that perspective, but most of the process should be the same for any nationality. Before Applying for the F6 Visa Note: I applied for my F6 marriage migrant visa while on an E2 visa, so this information reflects that process. To get an F6 marriage migrant visa, you must first be married to a Korean national and be able to provide evidence of financial support, joint housing (meaning your address and your spouse’s address are the same), and language ability. A Trip to the Embassy For Americans, the first step of the F6 visa process is visiting the U.S. Embassy to get an Affidavit of Eligibility for Marriage. This is a document stating you are not currently married or have been legally divorced and have the documents to prove so. You need to make an appointment and go in person to receive it. The address is available on the main page of the U.S. Embassy website. For your appointment, make sure to bring the following:

1. A valid U.S. passport

2. A printout of your appointment confirmation

3. Payment - $50 cash (USD is preferred, but they will accept KRW based on the exchange rate at the time) or credit card (in the name of the person who made the appointment)

DO NOT bring more than one mobile phone or any other electronics. You have to check your phone with security and will not be allowed to take any other electronics with you inside. For convenience, I suggest bringing a file folder with the documents you need and carrying a small wallet rather than a backpack or any other bag. Bring only what is essential: passport, wallet, and a file to hold your documents. An officer will call your number and give you the correct forms to fill out for requesting the affidavit. After filling out this paperwork and submitting your payment, another officer will call you to the side window and ask you to swear you are not married. Once they have signed and stamped the document, you are finished at the embassy. Registering at the -Gu Office You can choose to register your marriage before or after your wedding ceremony. I chose to do it before my wedding ceremony to get my F6 marriage migrant visa more quickly, allowing me more options for work outside of English academies. Before going to your local city hall, translate the Affidavit of Eligibility for Marriage into Korean. You do not need to get it professionally translated. Being fluent in Korean, I translated mine myself. Just make sure there is a signature and date on the bottom to show when it was translated. Your Korean spouse will need to go with you to the local city hall. You do not need to make an appointment, so just walk in and go to fill out the Marriage Registration Form (혼인신고서). Fill everything out in Korean. You need two witnesses to your registration. Depending on the area, this can be done without the witnesses physically present. Call ahead to find out if the office you’re going to requires your witnesses to be there with you in-person or not. DON’T forget your ARC and your spouse’s ID card. Once you’ve filled out the Marriage Registration form, the worker will make a copy of these. You will be notified of approval within a week of applying. My husband was notified by text message just a few days after we went together. Paperwork to Prepare for Immigration Note: Before you can apply for the F6 marriage migrant visa, your registered address must be the same as your spouse’s address. The documents you need to prepare for immigration can be found on the HiKorea website in Korean. If you want to search in English, you can change the language setting and click on “Application Form” from the main page, but since the immigration website has been updated, finding the documents is much easier in Korean. Some of the documents are only available in Korean because the Korean spouse needs to fill in the information. I will mark the documents the Korean spouse needs to fill out with three asterixis (***) in the list below. There are a few documents you need to prepare separately from immigration. Most of them need to be done by the Korean spouse and are very easy to acquire.

1. As always, you will need a valid passport and ARC (Alien Registration Card)

2. One passport photo (3.5cm x 4.5cm) with a white background

3. Application (통합신청서)

4. Payment fee (130,000 KRW)

5. Spouse’s Personal Guarantee*** (신원보증서) -- this is a character reference

6. Invitation Form*** (외국인 배우자 초청장)

7. Marriage Detail Form (외국인 배우자의 결혼배경 진술서)

8. Family Relation Certificate*** (가족관계증명서)

9. Proof of Marriage Certificate*** (혼인관계증명서)

10. Basic Certificate*** (기본증명서)

11. Resident Registration*** (주민등록등본)

12. Statement of Income Statute*** (외국인 배우자 초청인의 가족소득현황 진술서) -- this is needed ONLY if yours and your spouse’s combined income does not meet the minimum requirement

13. Proof of Paid Taxes (원천징수 영수증) -- both yours and your spouse’s; ask your employer for this document

14. Proof of Employment (재직증명서) -- both yours and your spouse’s; ask your employer for this document and make sure the dates match your contract dates

15. Credit Information*** (소득금액증명) -- found on the national tax service website

16. Housing Documents*** (임대차계약서) -- in yours or your spouse’s name; if it’s not, there is an extra document you can get from immigration to go along with the housing document

17. Language Proficiency Document -- TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) Level 1 or KIIP Level 1

Note: Language Proficiency Documents can be waived if you demonstrate your spouse communicates with you in your mother tongue. You can print screenshots of your KakaoTalk or other SNS conversations for this. Additional Materials You need to provide evidence of your relationship. This can be a photo album of your time dating or Facebook and other SNS interactions with dates. I put together a small photo album of various activities and wrote the location and date of each. We also provided screenshots of Facebook posts where we were tagged together. This already has the date, so it’s very easy. We included ten to fifteen posts printed on normal A4 paper. Immigration will keep this with your paperwork, so I wouldn’t suggest printing anything fancy. Immigration only kept our printed Facebook posts, but it’s better to be overprepared just in case. Now, we have a nice photo album to keep in our new apartment. Immigration Visit First, you need to sign up for an appointment through the HiKorea website. As with most websites in South Korea, it works best if you use Internet Explorer. Visit the website here and create an account if you don’t already have one. Then, apply to reserve a visit and follow the instructions on the next page. The process is pretty simple. Choose a convenient day and time for you and your spouse. We booked our appointment six weeks in advance. Luckily, I work in the afternoon, so I didn’t have to take a full day off of work, but keep that in mind when making the appointment. Next, choose your task: change of visa status. You can add additional information about the purpose of your visit at the bottom of the application page. We wrote the exact details of switching from an E2 visa to an F6 marriage migrant visa. After applying for the appointment, make sure you print your reservation confirmation. Get all of your documents together and go on the day of your appointment. Just to be safe, I suggest arriving twenty to thirty minutes early, especially if you’re applying in Seoul. The officer will give you a document (체류 허가신청 확인서) confirming that you have applied for the F6 visa and tell you it takes at least two months, sometimes longer. They will take your ARC, but you can get an official paper to use as identification in the meantime. Keep both of these papers until you receive your new ARC. It took exactly one month before I got a text message from the immigration office telling me when to pick up my new ARC. You don’t need an appointment to pick up your new card, so you can go anytime it’s convenient for you. Make sure you bring the confirmation paper (체류 허가신청 확인서) you received during your appointment and your passport to pick up your new ARC. There wasn’t much of a line, so it took me only fifteen minutes to get mine and be on my way. Additional Information and Benefits Your new ARC will be for a period of twelve months from the day of your appointment. When you go to renew it, they will give you a longer period of stay. This is just one more step to prevent green card marriages. They want to make sure you’re going to stay married to your partner. The biggest benefit of the F6 marriage migrant visa is that your sponsor is your spouse, not your employer. So, you have basically the same rights as a Korean national to work. This opens up work outside of English academies and school, along with part-time and freelance positions. You can change jobs or take on additional work without your employer’s approval without having to worry about your immigration status being affected.

Source Credit: https://expatguidekorea.com/article/f6-marriage-migrant-visa-process-in-south-korea.html