The HiKorea website is a government(!) resource that's relevant to me pretty much only when it's time for me to renew my F-4 visa, which I got in 2015. Thus far, I've renewed the visa every three years. The English section of the HiKorea website is confusingly worded; I probably should've used the Korean side of the site, but I read Korean at a toddler's speed.
For the past week and a half, I've tried to submit an e-application to get my visa renewed. I had originally tried to reserve a physical visit to Immigration in the Mokdong part of Seoul (out west, not too far west of Yeouido, and near Omokgyo Station), but the calendar for November was full, which meant I was screwed. Every time I clicked on the reason for applying though, a little flag would come up, telling me that I could do an e-application. In the States, this would normally be a straightforward process, but this is Korea, so of course I ended up paddling around in circles as I tried to figure out what to do.
For me, it's gone like this:
- Learn that I'm eligible to do an e-application.
- Start clicking through the questionnaire about the reasons for e-applying.
- Discover that my specific reason, "extension of sojourn period for overseas Korean (F4)," is not one of the menu items I can click.
- Move on to the next page and discover my e-application has already failed.
Again and again, over and over—my own little samsara. I tried the options shown on that menu—change in passport, changing student status (this was grayed out for me), changing jobs—and all of the options led to my being told the application had failed, and I wasn't eligible for e-applications. What the fuck? So why tell me, at the beginning, that I'm eligible for e-applications? As is typical with Korean websites, this didn't make sense.
So I tried reserving a physical visit to the Immigration Office. You have to reserve a date, but they needed some information first. Unfortunately, I didn't know which of the following to click. Look at the language, and you'll understand:
○ Foreigner Residence Control(1F, All countries)(2023.10.14.~, AFTER 09:36)○ Foreigner Residence Control(1F, All countries)(2023.10.14.~)
○ Foreigner Residence Control(3F, All countries)
○ Scheduling Appointment for Naturalization, Recovery of Nationality etc.
I didn't know whether "1F" meant "first floor" or some sort of status, and the first three choices otherwise looked and meant pretty much the same thing to me. Christ. So I clicked the first radio button, filled out everything else, then got down to the calendar button, which you press in order to select a date, just like using the Kayak.com website when reserving plane tickets. The calendar appeared... and for the past week and a half, the only available day has been tomorrow, i.e., November 14. So I've been clicking on the 14th for the past week and a half, and all of the slots remain taken except for two at the very beginning during the 9 o'clock hour. And when I've tried clicking on either of those seemingly free 9 a.m.-ish slots, another fucking flag comes up and says the office will be opening at 10 a.m. tomorrow because of college testing. South Korea shuts down for the sake of its students on this vitally important test day. Planes will stop flying through Korean airspace to allow the students to concentrate. This is the test—kind of like an SAT—that students will commit suicide over if they score poorly. It's the ultimate gatekeeper, and the source of major psychological trauma for the fat part, and the tail-end part, of the intellectual bell curve.
Upshot: no available slots in November, or so it seemed. Fuck.
Then today, while trying again, I had an idea: let's not click that first radio button: we'll click the second one.
Poof. Just like that, the calendar reappeared, but with open dates and time slots! Not many left in November, but I grabbed the 25th at 2:48 p.m. Why such an odd time? Because another part of the HiKorea website tells you the average time spent per applicant is something around 12 minutes. So all of the time slots look weird like that.
When you have to renew your visa, you're not supposed to go too early or too late. My F4, last renewed three years ago, expires on November 30 this year, after which I'm either here illegally or here for 90 days as a tourist. That's why I waited until November to apply for renewal. People with the itch to renew early can do so within a 60-day window. Hell, maybe I should've applied early.
Anyway, I have now successfully obtained a reservation (but I'm still unsure whether it's for the right purpose... I'll check), so I'll be visiting Immigration on the afternoon of the 25th with all of my papers, and my fee, in hand. I'll probably call the 1345 Immigration Consultation Services number just to make sure zee peypahs ahr oll een awdah, but the website says regular applicants for renewal only need their passport, their alien-registration card, a 35 × 45 mm passport photo (you saw that picture earlier today; it was taken this past Monday), the application form, and a W50,000 fee. The application form is known as Form 34, but I'll be damned if "34" is written anywhere on the form. The file name for the PDF certainly didn't say that. I had to look up the form's Korean name to make sure I had the right one.
I guess we can conclude that South Korea is a normal country given how fucked its bureaucracy is. But I least now seem to be on my way to a smooth renewal. Alas, my US passport needs to be renewed next year (I think I can do that by mail, but not online), and my US driver's license (which has been worthless to me since I don't own a car in Korea) expires on my birthday next year as well. I may have to visit the States sooner than fall next year to get the license done (I can't renew that one online since I no longer have a Virginia address), but we still don't know our status here at work: I may be jobless; I may be back to university work (at a huge pay cut); or I may be doing something else, like going into business for myself or teaching in France.
Sorry to drag you through all of that, but I wanted you to experience, with me, my slog through Korean red tape. Maybe I should apply for a permanent-residence visa. That would involve taking a Korean-proficiency test (from what I understand, they don't test your speaking ability). I'd probably get a 4 or a 5 (assuming the highest is a 6*), but while I can navigate the language and culture, I'm by no means fluent. It's not like with French: in French, I can be half-asleep in a Paris cab, and I won't be able to turn off the flood of information coming through the cabbie's radio. I can casually read French websites, subtitles, newspapers, etc., but these are all still difficult for me in Korean. Korean requires concentration; French doesn't.
One obstacle at a time. I'll get through this. At least I'm alive to get through it, eh?
__________
*The leveling generally works like this unless they changed it:
3-4 = intermediate (low, high)
5-6 = advanced (low, high)
Sartre said that hell is other people. But we really know that hell is bureaucrats and their procedure.
ReplyDelete"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe."
ReplyDelete—Dr. Leonard McCoy, Star Trek IV
A lot of the time, it is easier to get appointments in smaller cities and rural towns.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you should be able to find a service that provides you with a physical address with mail forwarding in Virginia. It may be pricey, and I'd do it sooner rather than later. I know Texas gives you the preceding 365 days to apply online or in person.
Good luck.
Yeah, back when I lived in the Ilsan/Goyang area, that was one thing I noticed right away: the Immigration Office wasn't busy at all, and I had to go there several times in a row, on different days of the week, as I was feeling my way through the process of getting my F4 visa. Part of me kind of wishes I were still living up there despite the general lack of local mountains (what mountains there are have generally been taken over by the military). The neighborhoods, I recall, were a lot more peaceful than Seoul's even if the restaurant scene up north was kind of lame.
DeleteAs for having a Virginia address... I've got a couple of leads I can try. I also see there's something called a "virtual mailbox" specifically aimed at expats who need to retain a US address. I wonder how that works, and whether a virtual mailbox can be used validly as an address on my driver's license. More research needed.
Ah—I see that a virtual mailbox is no good for US driver's licenses: there has to be proof of physical residence. As I said, more research needed. As a last resort, I might be able to arrange something with my best buddy Mike, who lives in Fredericksburg, VA.
(To be clear: since I live in Gangnam, I have no choice but to go to the Mokdong office; because I'd lived in Ilsan/Goyang back in 2015, I had to go to a different immigration office.)
Damn, reminds me of all the fun I had going through the Green Card process for Jee Yeun. Bureaucrats are experts at making what should be simple and straightforward incredibly difficult. Good luck with the visa extension.
ReplyDeleteI renewed my passport here in the Philippines. I used a travel agency who handled the logistics, so that made it easy. They delivered my old passport to the Embassy in Manila and I had a new one issued in less than a month and delivered to my door.