From Marriage to F6 in South Korea

As it states above this piece will document my journey from being a single guy to a married one with a spousal visa (f6) in the space of two weeks.

On the whole it was fairly easy and there were no obstacles as such. The hardest piece of the jigsaw

It wasn't anything like this.

was probably the first, meeting somebody you'd want to spend the rest of your life with. 

Once you and you significant other have decided to take the giant leap into the unknown, then as an expat here in Korea you need to visit your respective Embassy. In my case it was the British Embassy in Seoul which is a little way down from all the other Embassies. If you're marrying a Korean like me then this part could be a solo visit but I took her along so she could walk on hallowed British soil for the first time. Sadly I didn't spy any pictures of The Queen whilst in there, so no bowing or saluting was needed on my part. 

The Affidavit of Eligibility to Marry is a tricky but not difficult process. The lady at the Embassy was very good and talked us through the whole process. We both had to provide proof of identity and any information on previous marriages. If you're marrying a Korean then they'll need to provide their Family Relationship Certificate (가족관계증명서) and Marriage Status Certificate (혼인관계증명서). Both of these forms need translating to English and notarising. There are tons of places in Seoul near the Consular District that provide both of these services but if you need an address then drop me a line. 

Once done at the Embassy then you need to head to Jongno-Gu-Cheong 종로구청 where they have an international marriage counter. We were told that as they were familar with international marriages then they would only require to see the stamp of the British Embassy saying that we are free to marry. However the lady there was ultra keen on her job and made my good lady wife rewrite everything into Korean that we had already translated into English.  You also need two witnesses and we didn't have a single soul with us. The lady informed us that anyone could be our witness, not just friends or family, so the games began. We asked some random Korean guy who pretended he was deaf and mute. I then thought to myself 'bollocks' and nonchantanly approached two soldiers of the US Army, a man and wife as it happened and they were happy to stand witness for us. God Bless America I say. 

After more talk in Korean between my wife and the counter jockey it seemed like the latter was finally satisfied everything was in order. That was it, no bells, confetti or bouquet throwing into a desperate mob of spinsters. As I walked out of the office feeling very underwhelmed, I turned to my wife and had to ask 'are we married now or what? '. We were but it would take a few days for the system to be updated and the paperwork to be ready.

As it happened the paperwork took about four days and could be dispensed at any time day or night from a certificate dispensing machine in Jinju City Hall.  Then we had pretty much everything we needed in order to apply for my F6 visa from my current E2 visa. We gorged on all information we found online and took along everything we could lay our hands on to prove that:

*We were married
* We had our own place to live
* We both have stable well paying jobs
* Have money in the bank
* My family in the UK knew about my marriage
* We spoke a common language

We took reams of paper, documents and copies of work contracts along to Masan Immigration office but most of it wasn't needed. In fact, the head of the office who is the only one dealing with F6 visas wasn't particularly interested in me at all. All he wanted was proof of the marriage, proof that my wife was financially viable and some photos documenting our relationship from day 1. The photos were tricky but after a trip to emart and some wifi printing from my iphone that issue was solved. I then coughed up 100K Won to pay for my new visa and application process. The guy said it could take up to three months but could be as little as three weeks.

Move forward a week and I was on a roll calling Korean call centres and asking why my cell provider hadn't taken a penny off me for three months. I then thought that I'd chance my arm and call immigration to see where my application was. They kindly informed that my application was complete and I was now F6 !

So, it took exactly one week which is unheard of from everything that I'd digested previously. In total in took me 14 and a half days to complete the entire process of marriage and a change onto spousal visa.

Who do I have to thank for this timely transition? I'd like to say that that fact that I take in information and digest like Rain Man was a help. However, Korea is ultra efficient in almost everything and they do here is with the upmost speed.