Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
same visa category, if you're switching visa types, and sometimes even employers, you may
need to cancel your old visa, leave the country, and reenter after receiving a new visa from
a South Korean embassy or consulate overseas. The South Korean consulate in Fukuoka,
Japan, is a favorite for this purpose because it's a relatively inexpensive three-hour ferry
ride from the South Korean port of Busan.
If you're leaving one job in South Korea and planning to take another, immigration may
ask you to provide a letter of release from your original employer before formally canceling
your old visa and making you eligible to receive a new one. After a visa is canceled, you'll
have only a couple of weeks to leave the country.
Since late 2010, foreign nationals residing in South Korea on a long-term basis (generally
defined as 91 days or more) have been free to exit and reenter the country at will as long as
their visas remain valid, with no need for separate reentry permits.
Once you've got an alien registration card, it can be presented to immigration officials
at border checkpoints in lieu of the arrival/departure cards that arriving passengers usually
have to fill out, although you'll still have to line up in the “foreigners” line. Some visa
classes, including permanent residents (F5) and spouses of Korean nationals (F6), can sign
up for immigration's “Smart Entry Service,” which allows travelers at certain airports, in-
cluding Incheon International and Gimhae in Busan, to complete entry formalities via auto-
mated gantries—usually much quicker than a wait in the non-Korean queues.
REMEDIES FOR CULTURE SHOCK
Nearly every foreign resident has days in South Korea when almost everything about
the place seems to be conspiring to drive you crazy. These feelings can be triggered
by a wide range of things—getting bumped one time too many in a crowded subway
car, facing a plate of
kimchi
for the fourth time in a day, not being able to explain to a
taxi driver where you want to go. But these have the same root cause: culture shock.
Living in a place as all-around different as South Korea can be a challenge, and
it's sometimes perfectly natural to feel out of place or deeply frustrated with your en-
vironment. But before you race for the exit, remember that these emotions do pass,
and that you'd no doubt be having the odd bad day back home as well.
