Today, I am going to post about the F-1 visa that I received with great difficulty.
The client was a mother who acquired Korean nationality through marriage immigration from Thailand to Korea, living in Jeonbuk Jangsu-gun. She had a daughter who was born in Thailand before immigrating to Korea.
The mother desperately wanted to live with her only daughter in Korea.
So, she first invited her daughter on a C-3 visa and applied for special naturalization that could be applied under the qualification of "Child of a Korean citizen." She received a naturalization application receipt, issued an F-1 visa, and became eligible for legal residence.
Older people living in rural areas and farming may have difficulty understanding explanations over the phone or via text messages and may not be able to convey documents properly due to their age and the fact that they were not born in Korea, even though they have acquired Korean citizenship.
This case was no different.
I became anxious and impatient while dealing with the immigration agency, as the issue of whether the daughter could live in Korea was at stake. I had a lot to learn from the client's carefree and optimistic attitude, but I couldn't help but feel tense.
The day after tomorrow was the daughter's visa expiration date, and tomorrow was the day to apply at the immigration office, but there were hardly any prepared documents.
So, around 11 pm, I decided I had to drive from Seoul to Jeonbuk Jangsu-gun and stay overnight at a motel near the client's house. Early in the morning, I visited the client's house, had her fill out each of the documents I had prepared, went together to the community center to issue the necessary documents, visited the only photo studio in town to print a photo of her daughter taken with her phone, and took passport photos.However, the problem was that there were no documents issued from her home country that she had to bring with her.
All documents issued abroad, if they are not from an Apostille Convention country, must go through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs certification and consulate authentication before coming to Korea. This is the case for all Southeast Asian countries, including China, except for the Philippines.
Only then can the application be accepted. Otherwise, it will not be accepted.
However, the problem was that there were no documents issued from her home country that she had to bring with her.
All documents issued abroad, if they are not from an Apostille Convention country, must go through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs certification and consulate authentication before coming to Korea. This is the case for all Southeast Asian countries, including China, except for the Philippines.
Only then can the application be accepted. Otherwise, it will not be accepted.
However, since the visa expiration date was tomorrow, I submitted a Thai document that had not received any notarization to the immigration officer in charge of nationality and earnestly asked if she could accept the application first since the required documents had not arrived in Korea yet, and the visa expiration date was tomorrow. I promised to supplement all the documents within the month.
In the end, the immigration officer accepted the application and told me to bring all the documents by that time. With the naturalization application receipt in hand, I was able to issue the F-1 visa without any problems. Now, all that remains is to pick up the foreigner registration card on the specified date.
The nationality window and the residence status change window are separate.
So, when making reservations, you need to make two reservations and prepare the necessary documents separately for nationality and residence status change.
In my case, I made a reservation for the nationality window first and then made a reservation for the residence status change window an hour later.
This is because the F-1 qualification change application is possible only with a naturalization application receipt.
In particular, in this case, although the foreigner registration card has not been issued yet, the foreigner registration number was issued on the same day, so the daughter was able to apply for the social integration program immediately and prepare for the Korean language study, nationality interview, and comprehensive evaluation of the social integration program.
※ Among those who have completed the social integration program, those who pass the comprehensive evaluation are exempt from the nationality interview.
The mother, daughter, and father thanked me several times and said goodbye.
I also bowed deeply at 90 degrees and expressed my gratitude and relief.
They watched me until I got in my car and drove away, not leaving their spot until they could no longer see me.
Although I have issued various types of visas, this case will be one I'll never forget.
Beyond the money, this case has been a valuable opportunity for me to feel a sense of pride and fulfillment in my work, reminding me once again of the importance of what I do.