good for another three years

I got just back from a trip out to the Mokdong-based Seoul Immigration Office, where I was pleasantly surprised to get my F-4 visa quickly renewed (well, they say "extended") for another three years—all without having to leave my residence card and come back for it days or weeks later. I was doubly surprised that the office didn't print me out a whole new card: instead, the staff merely printed the new validity dates on the current card's back.

Having the F-4 is a liberating thing: I have most of the rights of a Korean citizen. I consider it my mother's final gift to me because the F-4 is specifically a visa for people of provably Korean heritage. A little plastic card shouldn't mean so much, but it does. Thanks, Mom.