The site Korea4Expats says the following re: reporting a change in passport:
All foreign residents must report changes in the particulars of their Alien Registration Card (ARC) within fourteen (14) days of the [occurrence] of such changes, including:
- Passport changes, including passport number, date of issuance, or expiration date changes
- Address change (even if only change of unit in same building)
- Name, civil status, nationality changes
- Detail changes (including name change) of organisation for D1, D2 and D4 visa holders
You can go to your Gu-office or to your local immigration office. D8 visa holders can also go to KOTRA or to the Seoul Global Center (where there are immigration officials).
Failure to report can result in the imposition of a fine, the amount of which is determined on a 'case-by-case' basis.
I don't know how authoritative Korea4Expats is, but it's been a helpful site in the past, so I probably shouldn't ignore its wisdom in this instance.
The good news is that I don't have to go to the dreaded Mokdong Immigration to take care of this: I can just visit the local Gangnam District Office (gu-cheong) to take care of everything. The lady at the foreigners' desk already knows me (and likely dreads me; I visited her three times to deal with my previous problem), and I've never seen that many foreigners lined up there at 9AM. So: quick service, in and out. I hit the local office tomorrow morning.
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Renewed my passport twice in Korea thus far. Both times I did not visit immigration to report the change. I also did not leave the country during the duration between change and renewal of visa. When it came time to renew my visa, I had no troubles or even a question. All that said, I probably will not lapse the next time I renew my passport.
ReplyDeleteI gather you've been in Korea a long time. Passports are normally renewed—what?—every ten years? You're a lifer!
ReplyDeleteI know people who have been fined and people who have got away with it. Better to be safe than sorry!
ReplyDeleteThe threat of monetary loss and deportation has always been enough for me to keep Immigration up-to-date on my address and documents.
ReplyDeleteI have found out the hard way to take pictures of all your important documents (including visas and alien registration card) and email them to yourself while also making a couple of paper copies just in case of an emergency.
John makes a very good point here--we always scan our important documents before traveling, just in case. So far we have not needed it, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.
ReplyDeleteI concur with John and Charles on the scanning and emailing the PDFs of the passport images to yourself (to an email that is accessible via the web), just in case. We travel pretty much every six months and do this for a bit of "peace of mind."
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