INTRO: Kuki News, the online edition of the Kukmin Ilbo, ran a five-part special feature Friday on what it considers the “unfair” process Koreans must undergo to get a U.S. visa. Some of the criticism leveled appears completely reasonable; some of it less so. Regardless, the Kuki pieces might reflect how a great many Koreans feel about the U.S. visa process, so read the translations/summaries below and take what you will. The comments section awaits your commentary, criticism, helpful suggestions, etc.
‘I became anti-American after applying for a visa’
Kuki News is complaining about the “unfair” process Koreans must undergo when applying for a U.S. visa. It took 30 days for the reporter, applying himself rather than going through an agency, to receive a tourist visa. He complained of many difficulties, including a formal interview, long lines, and excessive document demands. And it cost about 140,000 to get things done. At no point, said the reporter, did the U.S. side show any consideration.
The visa application process began with the reporter applying to his company on Feb. 7 for a work certificate and a tax form. He also had to make a copy of his bank book for the last year, and on Feb. 13, he received certified copies of his family registry, his citizen registry and a paper verifying his income.
The first barrier to overcome was the photo. The reporter was going to use his left-over passport photos, but the U.S. embassy told him he had to take separate “U.S. visa-use photos” 5cm x 5cm with a white background. So off he had to go again to the photo studio for a U.S. visa-use photo.
Filling out the visa application forms, the reporter said, seemed like a “process to test the limits of ones patience.” One has to fill in all 41 articles on the DS-156, the application form (downloaded from the embassy homepage) for a nonimmigrant visa. The explanations are in both Korean and English, but you can answer only in English. It took even this Net-savvy reporter a full three hours to answer all 41 questions, including things like, “Have you ever participated in persecutions directed by the Nazi government of Germany?”
The next day, he had to spend more than an hour filling out an 18-question DS-157, an additional nonimmigrant visa form that applicants must complete. The questions included ones that had nothing to do with tourism, like “Do You Have Any Specialized Skills or Training, Including Firearms, Explosives, Nuclear, Biological, or Chemical Experience?” and “Have You Ever Been in an Armed Conflict, Either as a Participant or Victim?”
After that our Intrepid reporter could set a date (via Internet) for his interview only after shelling out the 12,000 won interview fee and going to a downtown bank to pay the 100 U.S. dollar visa charge. On the day of his interview, March 3, he went to the U.S. embassy, but despite the sub-zero weather, he had to wait an hour and a half in line before entering the embassy building. The people waiting on line complained among themselves, “Going to the United States is too hard.” Even after entering the embassy, he had to stand for 20 minutes before he was able to register his fingerprints.
The second floor, where the actual interview was conducted, was equally confusing. He had to take a number and wait for another hour before he could meet with the U.S. consul. Speaking through a class window, the consul complained, “Why don’t Koreans use the microphone?” When I answered that I didn’t see it, he tapped my passport and said angrily, “The microphone is big; how could you not see it?” The interview, coming at the end of a three-hour wait, took no more than a minute.
Finally, on March 8, the reporter got his visa through home delivery service. The thought occured to him that perhaps the complaints made by some that they’d become “anti-American” after applying for a U.S. visa were more than just hot air.
The graphic above, BTW, compares the documents and costs demanded for Koreans applying for U.S. tourist and student visas and Americans applying for Korean tourist and student visas. It goes without saying that Americans must fill out considerably less paperwork (see below).
‘Korean gov’t must protect the rights of its own citizens’
In another piece on the “unfair” visa application process, Jeon Jong-jung, an immigration attorney in the District of Columbia, complained, “For the Korean government to stand aside while its citizens undergo hardship in getting visas is to abandon the rights of its own people.” Jeon has worked to improve what he considers unfair visa practices for Koreans, even suing then-Secretary of State Colin Powell in a D.C. federal court in 2002, complaining that the U.S. consul was limiting visa issuances at his own discretion. As a result of his efforts, the U.S. government broke with its previous practice of denying tourist visas to people applying for U.S. residency when it issued a tourist visa to 43-year-old woman in 2003.
Jeon said, “Currently, the United States and Korea are not only trade allies, but military allies… The United States must improve its attitude of making it difficult to get visas because it considers the citizens of an allied nation to be potential illegal immigrants.”
He added, “It would be best to grant a visa waiver to Koreans, like it does to Japanese and Canadians… If the United States finds this difficult because Korea can’t keep its visa-refusal rate under 3 percent, it should improve procedures so that the citizens of an allied nation do not feel inconvenienced.”
He admonished the servile approach of the Korean government, too. He said, “The Korean government should strongly appeal against the stringent visa issuance proceedures… It should help make things more convenient for its citizens by openly demanding the simplification of procedures and documents and the effective allocation of interview times.”
In particular, he said, “The Korean government is avoiding touching the visa issue, calling it a matter of U.S. sovereignty… To improve unfair practices is not violating the sovereignty of another nation.”
Jeon said, “My inquiries made to U.S. embassies in several different regions around the world revealed that no other U.S. embassy operates visa policies like the one in Seoul… The U.S. government has for the last 20 years operated in a discriminatory manner against Koreans without any legal grounds.”
Tough visa process leading to increased crime
Meanwhile, in another piece on this issue, Kuki News claimed that the stringent U.S. visa process is, in fact, leading to more and more visa-related crimes like forgeries and illegal visa brokerage. The paper used the example of Mr. Lee, a visa broker the police have been following since Feb. 20. Lee recruited individuals both in Korea and abroad who wanted forged U.S. visas. For instance, after running an advertisement for “solving visa problems” in a Korean-language newspaper in the United States, he received the phone numbers of potential clients from brokers Stateside. He sent “touts” around the U.S. embassy and travel agencies, quietly recruiting clients.
Lee then sent their paperwork to visa-forgery specialists (who number no more than 10 nationwide), paying them 3-5 million won. Using the latest color printers, these specialists produced perfect forgeries of each kind of document. In this manner, applicants were able to cook their documents to make them better visa candidates. Stuff like magically becoming a doctor’s wife.
Where the reciprocity?
In another piece (much of it a description of the visa-application process, like the first one I summarized), Kuki News points out the lack of reciprocity in visa procedures. Most noticeable, of course, is that Americans don’t need visas to come to Korea if they are staying for less than 30 days. And the visa procedures are so complicated, it’s said that the process breeds anti-Americanism in visa applicants.
Koreans going to the United States must fill out eight times the paperwork and pay three times the costs as Americans coming to Korea. Americans need only a passport to stay in Korea for up to 30 days; to stay longer, they need fill out only one visa application form.
Koreans, on the other hand, must produce eight documents, including a DS-156 and DS-157.
And that’s just for a tourist visa.
For student visas, the inequality, says Kuki News, is even more severe. To get a student visa, Americans need produce only three documents: a visa application form, a school admittance certificate, and a financial statement. Koreans, on the other hand, need 11 documents, including a DS-156 and DS-157, a school admittance certificate, a transcript, TOEFL scores and other test results.
The paper also felt the differences in fees to be unreasonable. To get a visa, Americans need to pay only a 45-U.S dollars processing fee and mailing costs that come under a dollar. Koreans, meanwhile, need to pay a 100 U.S. dollar processing fee and a 12,000-28,000 won interview reservation fee. Further adding to the expense is a 6,000-10,-000 won home delivery cost, 15,000 won for the special U.S.-visa-use photos, and the costs associated with getting registered copies of ones family and citizen registries.
In all, Koreans have to pay something like 140,000 won (about 140 U.S. dollars) to get a visa. Which means last year, some 359,878 U.S. visa recipients (96.8 percent of recipients) paid up to 57 billion won to get visas.
Then there are the humiliating (Kuki News‘ words, not mine) interview and entry procedures. Since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the United States has strengthened its entry and departure procedures, adopting fingerprinting, biometric procedures and interviews, but Americans entering Korea do not have to undergo such procedures.
Since August 2004, Koreans applying for a U.S. visa must provide fingerprints of both thumbs, and when they enter or leave the U.S., they must undergo fingerprint scans. This is unfair, said the paper, when one considers how citizens of the 27 EU nations are exempt from such measures when visiting the U.S. as tourists.
Moreover, all Koreans going to the United States, with the exception of children under 13, people over 80 and those carrying diplomatic passports, must undergo interviews. Older people in their 60s and 70s are giving up on going to the States because of this extra pain-in-the-ass. Americans, meanwhile, do not undergo interviews when they come to Korea.
Naju Mayor Shin Jeong-hun, who was informed by the U.S. embassy in February 2005 that his visa had been canceled, said, “The embassy demanded that I return my visa, making an issue of [my involvement in] the 1985 occupation of the USIS building in Seoul, for which I was pardoned… There are a lot of problems in the U.S. visa issuance process, such as viewing the head of a local government as a potential criminal.”
About this, the U.S. embassy said, “The fees are appropriate, in step with the increasing processing costs due to the strengthening of security screening procedures… The documents, too, are at the level required for U.S. security.”
Keeping visa refusal rate under 3% key to visa waiver
Korea and the United States will discuss in May the addition of Korea to the U.S. visa-waiver program. The U.S. is demanding three conditions before such a move is made: the visa-rejection rate be kept under 3 percent for two consecutive years, the adoption by Korea of biometric passports, and cooperation with Korea with illegal Korean immigrants in the United States and smuggling prevention. The Korean government, should it satisfy these requirements, hopes to begin focused negotiations and bring Korea under the program from October 2007, the start of the next fiscal year. The government has from this year begun issuing biometric passports, and it sees little trouble in cooperating with the United States with illegal immigration. The key is keeping the visa refusal rate under 3 percent.
A Foreign Ministry official said, “From October of last year to February of this year, the visa refusal rate was under the 3 percent demanded by the United States… If this trend continues, the visa waiver will be possible.” From October 2004 to September 2005, the visa refusal rate was 3.2 percent. Particularly effective in getting the refusal rate under 3 percent is to have more good visa candidates applying for visas. The government is encouraging people who could get U.S. visas relatively easily, like major corporation employees, civil servants and educators, to apply for visas.
{ 74 comments… read them below or add one }
Somebody call the WAAAAAAAAAHHMBULANCE!
If I go to a bar and the doorman is an asshole, I don’t pay the cover and I go to a different bar. Easy solution Mr. Joe Kim….spend your money somewhere else. And have your kids educated somewhere else. And do business somewhere else. And give birth to your babies to avoid military service somewhere else. And find some other soldiers to protect you against your brothers.
Yankee go home! And then open the doors to your home and let us in! But don’t bother us while you’re opening the door! Or we’ll claim that our “rights” to enter your home are being violated!
I’d tell you to have some cheese with that wine…but you always tell me how stinky American cheese is….so I’ll just tell you to shut the fuck up and find some other evil empire to visit.
Like Canada.
I’ll have to agree with iheartblueballs. If you don’t like how you’re treated, then you are perfectly welcomed to stay home. If I go to a restaurant and I get bad service because they don’t want my money, I don’t patronize that restaurant. I go somewhere else. The last thing I would do is to beg the restaurant, complain, and cry my nuts off so that they would give me the honor of being their customer. I mean there’s a reason why all those Koreans are lining up outside the US embassy, in minus freezing temperature, and there’s a reason why they’d go through hoops to get a US visa. As long as there is that much demand for a US visa, the less willing the Americans to give Koreans their Visas.
The Cause of Anti-Americanism?
Is there anything in Korea that does not cause anti-Americanism? Yes, I can imagine that the US Embassy staff sometimes being arrogant assholes, but I can also remember meeting some arrogant assholes at Korea’s Immigration Offices. For example, I can remember my visa renewal application being turned down one time because the low-level Korean official handling it thought the Korean Ministry of Finance was paying me too much money. To Korea’s credit, things at Korea’s immigration offices have improved tremendously over the last several years, at least in regard to me and probably other Americans.
Reciprocity?
I wonder if Koreans who feel discriminated against when trying to get a US visa understand how Filipinos and other Southeast Asians feel when they try to get a Korean visa? Is there reciprocity between Korea and the Philippines? Also, I wonder if it is harder for Koreans to get permanent residence in the US than it is for Americans to get permanent residence in Korea. Is there reciprocity in that area?
Tough Visa Process Leads to Increased Crime?
Maybe it is the crime that leads to the tough visa process?
Getting the Visa Refusal Rate Under 3%?
Instead of waiting for the rate to come down naturally, the Korean government is trying to cheat the system by “encouraging people who could get U.S. visas relatively easily, like major corporation employees, civil servants and educators, to apply for visas?” Isn’t such cheating one of the reasons for the strict procedures at US Embassies in the first place?
Yes there is long lines at the US embassy because there is so many people trying to come in to the US. If the demand wasn’t so high the wait wouldn’t be as long plus it is probably the same people complaining about US Visas that also have been stopping the construction of a new US Embassy for the last decade that would be able to better handle the demand of all the Visa applicants. If construction of the new US embassy was allowed to proceed on time when it was first announced, maybe by now the Visa applicant process would be faster in the new facility.
The article appears to me to say that Korea deserves special treatment from the US. The Koreans mostly have themselves to blame for the current Visa problems. Meet the US’s Visa requirements and they can enter the Visa waiver program.
If the reporter wants to complain about how easy getting a Korean Visa is for foreigners how about the reporter talk to some of the English teachers in Korea who instead of waiting in a line for an hour and half to get a Visa have to travel to a different country, usually Japan, to get a Visa. Plus if the Korean government wants to finger print me and ask me questions the next time I enter Korea, I really couldn’t care less.
It seems like the Korean media trying to play to nationalism again to piss people off at the US to sell newspapers.
I loved this part :
“Naju Mayor Shin Jeong-hun, who was informed by the U.S. embassy in February 2005 that his visa had been canceled, said, “The embassy demanded that I return my visa, making an issue of [my involvement in] the 1985 occupation of the USIS building in Seoul, for which I was pardoned…”
Yeah, you were pardoned by Korea, numbnuts, the country that pardons anyone in a case involving foreigners! The arrogance, he spends his youth promoting hatred of America and now he feels slighted that America would rather he not visit. Koreans: WTF?
I for one would love to see the US do more of this, namely getting the name of anyone connected to inciting hatred of the US and foreigners in general in Korea and putting them and their immediate families names on a permanent Never Can Come list. For example, not only every Hanchonnyun dick who invades amcham offices or bases, but EVERYONE in their immediate family. Yes, you get to explain to the family why your day of flag-burning has resulted in your brother and sister being unable to go to America FOREVER. Everyone working for SBS and their families after their hate-mongering “documentaries” last spring would be next. And so on.
Nulji, when people say that Koreans reason and act as children, things like this are why.
This unwillingness must be why 96 % of Korean applicants are issued U.S. visas.
Great logic there.
Ah, the usual expat Commentariat with huge chips on their shoulders. You guys have some serious issues. Does Korea really give you guys such a hard time? I mean seriously is it so? If so, then why dont you follow your own advice and take your business elsewehere too then. Some other nation where there is no anti-Americanism (good luck with that, btw). Yeah, and Koreans can take their business elsewhere also. Samsung, Hyundai and Kia can go build their billion dollar plants elsewhere.
Back in the mid-90s a consular officer told me that if Koreans were 100% honest in the application process that the 3% rule would’ve been met years ago. He said most of the ones rejected would’ve passed had they simply told the truth. But, hey, it’s more fun and gratifying to blame others for your own faults, plus it sells more newspapers..
I would say that until they get the “baby run” thing sorted out, it is fully reasonable for visa process to be somewhat difficult.
Oh, and one more thing I forgot to write I do believe that there is a policy in place where a Japan run is not necessary to renew the visa when changing jobs. On the downside, not many people from either side of the visa know about it or how it works.
My wife works for an airline at a major west coast airport, and is regularly asked to translate for immigration officials when Korean nationals are being interviewed. The first few weeks of her job, she complained that the American immigration officials treated Koreans poorly, didn’t respect them, and treated them all as suspicious and as liars.
A year later, she longer complains about the immigration officials, in fact she sympathizes with them. She’s seen a flood of Koreans routinely lying to immigration and trying to cheat the system. Usually, it’s using tourist visas to have their kids attend schools. Or bringing well over $10,000 into the country without declaring it, and then lying about what they’re bringing it in for. Or pregnant women lying about their condition and their reasons for entering America.
They regularly ask her to lie to the immigration officials for them “because they are both Korean.” They ask her to tell the whiteys “anything to get me in the country.” They try to bribe her if she’ll lie for them, telling her that they’ll “help her family if she helps theirs.” The most common request is for her to tell them the “right answer that the American wants to hear.”
They all believe that because she’s an ethnic Korean, that she’ll lie, cheat, or steal for them. Then when she tells them that she’s an American citizen, and that she will translate everything they tell her, word for word, even the pleas to lie for them…they mutter curse words at her under their breath, and call her a traitor. She no longer wonders why the immigration officials treat Koreans worse than others. It’s because they deserve it.
Perhaps those Korean journalists looking for the reasons why the visa process is “humiliating” to them, ought to spend a few weeks inside an immigration office at SFO or LAX observing their brothers and sisters. It should become crystal clear.
I’d say the same thing to a Mexican national who complained about being treated with suspicion. You’ll continue being painted with that brush as long as your compatriots continue to be among the worst offenders breaking American immigration laws. Deal with it.
Right, that’s not possible, because people like you have even brought anti-Americanism to America.
I know it swells your ethnic pride when such things happen, but the fact is that America was a great country before any of those three companies existed and America will continue to be a great country whether they build their plants in the U.S. or Uzbekistan.
Don’t pretend you’re doing us a favor.
Didn’t you see the graphic? All I need is a passport to get into Korea, so the answer is no, Korea doesn’t give us a hard time. Then again, we’re not the ones complaining, so it’s not the issue.
No it’s not. There’s no flood of American women trying to get Korean citizenship for their babies. No flood of American parents sending their kids to Korean schools. No long line of Americans at Korean embassies begging for immigrant visas to Korea.
The beauty is, we don’t need to. We can do business relatively easily in Korea, in part because our citizens aren’t breaking Korean immigration laws on a regular basis. It’s a kind of reward for good behavior. We don’t give you problems when we visit your country, so you have no reason for giving us any.
Unfortunately, you do give us significant problems when you visit ours, so we can’t reward you for good behavior. Instead, we need to give extra scrutiny to all Koreans, including the honest ones, with more paperwork and fees to pay for the significant time, money, and effort we expend dealing with the large numbers of dishonest ones.
You go girl! Go build them in China. Those 1.4 billion Chinese with their $800 per capita income will be more than willing to pay $30,000 for a new Hyundai Azera. Sure they will!
You don’t have an alternative because America is the biggest market with the most disposable income in the world. So we’ll continue to put up plenty of hoops in the visa process for Koreans, and you’ll continue jumping through them, because you have no other choice.
I’d like to see a “Boycott America” movement arise out of this outrage over the visa process. They may as well hold the rally near the American embassy…because all the protesters will end up line there to get their visas anyway.
I was under the impression that the U.S. visa application process was difficult until I read this reporter’s account and looked over the forms one must fill out. Now I know that it’s time consuming, yes – but not that difficult. I’m glad he brought this to my attention.
As far as the reporter becoming anti-American, que sera sera, whatever will be, will be. Congratulations to him for finding his personal justification.
dog
tell that to the state government of alabama
Pushing to become the Detroit of the south, Alabama is handing a $252.8m incentive package to Hyundai Motor Co (HMC) to create the biggest economic development project in the state’s history. The $1bn US automotive assembly operation will encompass two million sqft upon completion, produce 300,000 cars and trucks annually and generate up to $250m a year in wages for its 5000 direct and indirect employees. The first cars are due to be produced in 2005.
iheartblueballs spake thusly:
“Our” citizens (presumably by this you mean United States and Canada) certainly are breaking Korea’s immigration law all the time. Tons of English teachers are here on so-called tourist visas. Of course, Koreans break their own laws routinely — they’ve been socialized that way, by their parents, society, and corrupt government — and have a hard time understanding why “we” take law so seriously. Most of the English teachers are encouraged to ignore the immigration law by hagwon owners, who are those poor fools’ primary interface with the Korean officialdom.
My own bride has had this same experience as both a Korean-Japanese translator and as a Korean-English translator. And as an attorney, from time to time I am asked to assist Koreans with nonimmigrant and immigrant visa applications. I find visa work for Koreans so distasteful (the clients are all such fucking liars!) that I don’t seek those clients any more. Maybe it’s a function of nobody calls a lawyer when things have gone well (i.e. when the lie was not detected), but in my experience and the experience of my wife, Koreans of all social classes (but probably especially the upper classes) have an extremely high propensity to lie. Nice, seemingly-decent people — who are otherwise unable to tell the truth.
Mr. Carr has replaced Mizar5 as my idol.
Hmmm…maybe Koreans could simply make Korea a better society, and maybe not so many people would be desperate to leave the country.
Gerry Bevers is my hero. I also understand he used to work at NSGA Pyongtaek.
The Kuki News (according to the hangul, pronounced — of course! — “kooky news”) reporter also went pretty far out of his way to make the visa-application process appear to be much more drawn out than it actually was. He crafted a one-month timeline graphic to show how gol-durn unfair it all was. Yet anyone with half a brain — which apparently this reporter assumes includes none of the readers of the Kuki News — can recognize that his U.S. visa was received just two weeks after application, and three working days(!) from the date of his required interview.
Let’s take another look at that timeline:
On the 7th of February he requested official copies of his tax returns.
On the 9th those documents were issued by the Korean government.
On the 10th he made copies of his bank statements.
On the 13th the Korean government delivered a copy of the reporter’s family register.
On the 15th he got his visa photos taken.
On the 21st he filled out his visa application form DS-156.
On the 22d he filled out supplemental questionnaire DS-157.
On the 23d he paid his visa application fee.
Of course, in this Kuki News motherfucker’s world, the time from the 7th to the 23d — that’s all on Uncle Sam! For the rest of us, we would be able to make the application on the 13th when the family register was delivered, because there’s nothing keeping us from parallel-tasking on completing preparatory steps like getting photos taken or filling out forms. Wonder what happened after Uncle Sam got hold of his application? Did our government handle things as slothfully as the Kuki News reporter? Let’s see:
On Friday the 24th — the day after he filed his application — the US Embassy scheduled his visa interview and notified him of the date.
On Friday the 3d of March — the fifth working day after the interview was scheduled — the Kuki News reporter got his visa interview. He stood in line and waited for 2-1/2 hours only to undergo a one-minute interview.
On Wednesday the 8th of March his visa “arrived.” (For those not aware of the visa application process, applicants receive their passports by pre-paid return courier service, so that they do not have to stand in line all day a second time. Courier service takes two or three extra days from the time the Embassy tosses the passport into the courier box.)
I think part of the anger in this story is the inefficiency of the system. Korea is developing a very efficient e-government system and part of the anger of these applicants is how can first world countries have such an antiquated system.
Personally I know what to expect at immigration in Korea. Go there 11.45 am, get waiting ticket, go have lunch come back; and every time I only wait 10 minutes. What ticked me off though last time is the city hall service run by Korean Immigration. When I went there at 4.45 pm the guy had 0 applicants that day. I was annoyed because this was terrible waste of resources. I don’t mind waiting because I know what to do and what to expect but I do hate inefficiency.
PS> I do remember the good old days crossing the Fargo USA – Canada border. All I needed was a driver’s license. Please none of you Americans complain. We in Canada have a new prime minister and we will pony up on policing our borders.
Where’s the inefficiency? This Kuki News clown dicked the dog for a couple of weeks gathering up his required papers and filling out the forms. (It took three hours to answer 40 yes-or-no questions in the Korean language about Nazi party, Al Qaeda and war-criminal affiliations?) Then he submitted his application and the very next day was notified of the next available interview spot, five days later. He went to the interview, and although it took a few hours to get face time with the visa officer (and in this regard one may imagine things certainly could be improved — except that it’s hard to schedule exactly when some interviews take a minute, and others take ten), after a one-minute interview the visa was approved. A couple days later the courier service delivered the thing to him. Again, I ask, where is the inefficiency?
The anger in this story, and in the widely-held Korean anger about all relations with the United States, stems from a deep-seated inferiority complex that prompts a relentless search for insults and affronts where none exist. The reporter was already angry and went looking for “proof” of why he was angry. It’s unfortunate for mutual relations that Americans generally despise this sort of character (which is why we describe it as “despicable”), and a testament to American tolerance and goodwill that we have put up with this kind of bullshit for so long. But perhaps Korea has just been lucky that the only interest groups in America that take any notice of the place at all are its Tangun myth co-religionists (i.e. immigrant dry-cleaners and their hard-studying children in the aZ!aN students associations) and those poor deluded fools in the US military who misguidedly cling to the “alliance forged in blood” mythology.
Brendon, my comparison was focusing more on the problems posed by illegals on each side (from the perspective of the host country), so I suppose I should have said that Americans don’t break any Korean immigration laws that the Koreans themselves care about and/or enforce. If illegal English teachers were in fact a significant problem that Koreans cared about, they would address it, perhaps by forcing Americans to get tourists visas and jump through similar hoops as Koreans do to enter the U.S. But they aren’t, so they don’t. Illegal Koreans are a problem for the U.S., and it’s part of the reason for the “humiliation” Koreans suffer while applying for visas. It’s a one-way street and the respective immigration policies of each country reflect that fact.
I would also guess that the number of illegal English teachers in Korea is at most 1% of the number of illegal Koreans in America (2k vs 200k?). Let’s not pretend that the problems are anywhere close to the same scale. To say nothing of the fact that roughly 100% of illegal English teachers are staying a few months or maybe a year and then going back to their home countries, while probably 90% of Korean illegals going to the U.S. are staying long-term and making their homes there under the radar.
I quit reading 2/3rds of the way true.
Not to jump into bluejives usual ethnic protectionism — but to add my contrary answer to someone who said “no” to the question about whether Korea bothers us arrogant white folk — yes. Bunches.
Those connected to the military in Korea might not see it nearly as much, but the Korea Times letter to the editor about how aweful it was the US Embassy won’t touch ESL instructors with a ten foot pole regardless of how much they are dicked around or how desperate their situation when they have found their contract isn’t worth using as toilet paper and — in a worse case situation — which happens a fair amount of time — they end up in a failing hakwon that only pays them a fraction of their salary — Yes, Korea does have a fairly large and highly visible habit of abusing expats.
Now to the white folk vs Korean folk thing —- the “don’t complain about The Other” stuff — My first year in Korea teaching adults, I was fresh out of college and still had that multi-cultural thing going —- and when we’d talk about our respective socieites and problems in them, my Korean students would often say, “Koreans lie too much.” I would try to soften the statement by saying maybe they meant Koreans saved face or didn’t like to be blunt. But after a year or so, I realized they meant, “Koreans lie too much.”
As for the reporter, I think Brendan wrote well about it. Getting a visa might take paper work and some effort……so?
I had to go through the stuff with my wife and it was a headache, but it should be. Especially to a place like the US, it should take some effort and checking to get in.
As for the rudeness — I thought that was mandatory to be an embassy worker anywhere. I didn’t exactly come away from my trips to the Korean consulates or the French consulate thinking what a wonder bunch of friendly people they were — for sure. And I have also heard Korean adults complain the problem in the US Embassy is sometimes (or often) with the Korean local employees. I’ve heard that a few times from different Koreans who experienced both sides of the embassy —- the tourist and immigrant section and the one for American citizens (where they have less of a Korean staff).
As for the long line —– articles have pointed out every so often —- if the Korean government had ever gone through with relocating the embassy as planned way back in the late 1980s —- some of that would have been taken care of.
And any idiot that walks away from the red tape of getting a visa to another country saying, “They have made me anti-whoever” was a jackass when he went into the place.
Oh. My croissant was not fresh enough. Gosh that makes me hate the French. Oh. My taxi driver over charged me in Paris!! Gosh I hate the French…..
…….big sigh…..
Got to say that I have some sympathy for Koreans and the US visa process. Having said that I also have a lot of sympathy with the US too.
In my various experiences with the US visa and immigration process (I used to work in Silicone Valley) I found that it was mostly mindlessly bureaucratic and utterly lacking in common sense. My first experience – when I was working in Finland in 1991 and wished to make a long and complex US/Canada visit that didn’t quite fit the visa waiver program – was a good example. To begin with the forms sent to me were in Finnish only but given that the person I talked to knew perfectly well that I was English (we had a long conversation about what changes I could make to my itinerary that would make it possible to use the visa waiver program) this seemed rather stupid. The fact that some of the documents they required (National ID card was one IIRC) were things that English people don’t have didn’t help and then there were various other assumptions that meant that the form simply couldn’t be filled in accurately. IIRC the entire form was predicated on Finnish address formats and neither Japanese nor English addresses fit that format well. Admittedly my personal situation was complicated because I was changing jobs and countries (neither country being the UK) and visiting the US on holiday between jobs but the application process didn’t make it at all easy to explain this. Oh and I had a prescheduled 2 week visit to Russia which was taking place just a few days before my US trip which meant that I had two embassies insisiting that they grab hold of my passport simultaneusly for an unspecified time.
However becoming anti-American based on the visa process is damn stupid and shows a lack of sense of proportion.
Ah, the usual expat Commentariat with huge chips on their shoulders. You guys have some serious issues.
Obviously, you’d like to believe that foreigners take Korea seriously enough to have chips on their shoulders. But truthfully, these expats are merely snickering at us because we deserve it for such juvenile, insecure, girlish whining. They have no issues at all but simply get a kick out of watching ourselves act like clowns for them.
Does Korea really give you guys such a hard time? I mean seriously is it so?
Korea does nothing for expats. It does not accord them the least bit of human dignity or respect and always treats them as though they were from some alien race.
If so, then why dont you follow your own advice and take your business elsewehere too then. Some other nation where there is no anti-Americanism (good luck with that, btw).
Americanism, anti-Americanism, what’s the difference? The world has become what America envisioned years ago, and continues to evolve into America’s World Order. America engineered the end of Communism and destroyed the Soviet Union, has spread democracy throughout the globe, most recently here in Korea, has turned China into a center of capitalist enterprise and has established a conspicuous presence in the Middle East that any new Capitalist entrant will need to deal with. There’s a reason so many are lining up for American visas. They rule the economic and global order because they have more to offer than any other nation.
Yeah, and Koreans can take their business elsewhere also. Samsung, Hyundai and Kia can go build their billion dollar plants elsewhere.
Well if that were really true, how could you explain the really long lines for visas? Korea builds their plants there because they are attempting to gain wider access to the most profitable markets in the world. You see, Korea cannot afford to write off the US; this is baseless posturing.
“Korea does nothing for expats. It does not accord them the least bit of human dignity or respect and always treats them as though they were from some alien race.”
That strikes me as a teensy bit harsh. I was recently among a group of about eight foreigners who taught voluntarily for a couple of weeks at an English camp for underprivileged kids. I’ve lost the name cards of the organizers, but it was a joint effort between the education department, and the government body that is responsible for the foreigners’ help center near City Hall. After the program was finished, a woman from England – who had been all over the place – said she’d never been aware of programs like this in the other countries she’d lived in. Anyway, the organizers were very nice, and often rattled on about how eager they were to initiate more programs and activities involving foreigners (and they didn’t just mean free English lessons). Though this is a minor example,it seems to me that there are a lot of good intentions around, but they are weighed down by a widespread and deep-rooted ambivalence about foreigners, and bureacractic bullshit and arbitrariness.
Perhaps it was “a teensy bit harsh” to say that Korea does not accord expats the least bit of human dignity or respect. Let me revise that to read that it does indeed accord them a modicum of human dignity and respect – a teensy bit.
USinK was referring to this letter to the editor:
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200603/kt2006031716054754060.htm
I’m not a teacher, so I can’t attest to every claim the guy makes, but I’ve heard a few horror stories from people who come here to teach English. Ironically, the hakwon system is a stopgap to mitigate the failings of the public school system, but seems to be run short-sidedly out of profit motivations at the expense of the students, who recieve a subpar education from it because there is no gov’t oversight or standard hiring criteria. Also, the apparently rampant contractual abuse of foreigners brought here to teach gives Korea and Koreans very poor reputation.
However, I wouldn’t go so far as Mizar5, it’s not like we expats are interred in Dachau…if it were as bad as he described, we would simply hop on a plane and leave.
This part of the letter made me laugh out loud:
“Here’s my solution: A fully staffed fulltime bureau within the National Human Rights Commission of Korea to investigate all, and I mean all, complaints made by native-speaking English teachers against employers.” Good luck getting that to happen–the commission is too busy decrying human rights “abuses” in the U.S. (and avoiding comment on North Korea).
If Koreans put a fraction of the energy they use in obssessing over the U.S. and “competing” in trivialities like short track skating to prove god knows what, if they invested that energy into making their own society better for themselves, maybe the visa process at the U.S. Embassy would not matter enough to comment on it.
Does anybody have any real numbers concerning the percentage of Korean overstayers in America? 200,000 Korean illegals seems to be a lot, but we also should take into consideration the number of Koreans visiting America versus overstayers versus who go home at the end of their visits.
I think the percentage is more important than just numbers. I can’t believe that the US is even considering no visa for Koreans when such high percentage of them are becoming illegals. As for Koreans lieing in immigration interviews, it’s usually the problem ones that probably get to be interviewed with translators – so obviously the problem seems more pronounced to the immigration translators. So that really doesn’t give us an accurate picture – especially in light of the fact that the number of visitors from Korea is probably one of the top 5 in the world. So what are the numbers?
dogbertt : “America will continue to be a great country”
I’m not so sure after the mess in Iraq, the poor handling of hurricane Katrina, and ever increasing current account deficit for which America doesn’t seem to know what to do about.
the anchor babies are what get under my skin. the interpretation of the fourteenth amendment needs revision. britain, australia and ireland have all put a stop to this practice in their respective countries. unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like anyone on the hill has enough balls to get traction on it. it’s companies like http://www.birthinusa.com that need to be shut down. if anyone does have info on getting some traction on this issue i’d be more than happy to put in some time on it.
The next time there is a anti-American protest, just shut down embassy and stop issuing visas. I think there may be one in Pyengtag pretty soon. All Korean Commies are congregating there and waiting for student vacation time so that they can raise hell.
Whenever Korean Commies act up, stop issuing visas! Also, curtail Korean Air and Asiana flight over continental USA. These airlines may be carrying some student activists/terrorists who may attack US cities. Fight Korean Commies by applying the measures commensurate to their activities.
This “harsh” measures will stop Korean Communism, which is so outdated. Korea does not need it anymore, but some old folks and ignorant young ‘uns think Communism is a nationalism. Fock ‘em.
These measures when applied correctly will wipe out Korean Communists. When there is no Communists, the report who wrote this garbage will have no audience. And, Lee MyungBak will be the president and educate his own countrymen to be close to the US more than ever.
Korea has been changing in the last four years under this pro-North anti-American government and people are seeing the lies spread by student activists and Kim “showme the money” DaeJung and his lieutenant, Rho.
Korea will reform.
When those Commies burn the US flag and Bush effigy, just shut down the embassy. Stop issuing visas.
The non-Commie Koreans has been somewhat wishwashy whenever these ignorant garbages (being paid by North Korea and China) attack the US military installations. They were reminicing their student days when they fought against Korean dictators.
See how they react when they cannot come to the US and sell their stuff. When they have close their factory or lose their jobs.
These Koreans will run to Pyengtag and beat those Korean Commies on the head with shovels.
When they cannot feed their family, men get vicious.
‘as if an expat would take korea seriously enough to have a chip on his shoulder…’ mizar jackson
well, you pretend to be korean. that’s a sure sign that you took korea seriously enough to have a chip on YOUR shoulder. what a frickin joke you are, michael.
‘the korean does not afford the expat an ounce of human dignity!’ mizar jackson
the above is why you pretend to be korean.
‘@#%$^&*($%^ koreans are liars.’ brenden carr
and you like to sleep with us, don’t you, adipose guy? quite a contradiction, wouldn’t you say?
‘nulji….’ doggy
you think about me quite a bit, don’t you?
hey judge judy, i don’t mean to interrupt your hating yourself and all, but how is it you’re from the states? maybe you’re an anchor baby too??????
Not really. The habit of lying means I get told I’m handsome a lot. Who can resist that?
Mizar, I would suggest a little less Francis Fukuyama and and a bit more Sam Huntington.
Some of the most ardent proponents of Western universalism are intellectual migrants to the West, such as yourself, because the concept provides a highly satisfying answer to the question: Who am I?, caused by a shame of native heritage and the inability to forge a satisfactory alternative framework of beliefs, values, and worldview based upon one’s own original self-actualization without denying oneself to fill the void.
It’s ok to love America. But it’s not ok to despise Korea. Dont be a white man’s mindless ventriloquist.
…ventriloquist dummy, that is.
Why is it not ok to despise Korea? Koreans quite enthusiastically despise so many other cultures. Many of them seem to despise their own. And a lot of Americans seem to despise America. What makes Korea so special to be above reproach?
“Dont be a white man’s mindless ventriloquist.”
And don’t be fooled by the mindless Korean notion of “white man”.
And here’s another thing: you guys need to stop forever comparing things to WW2 and facism in Germany. That goes for Josh’s at Korea Lib comparing Kaesong to Arbeit Macht Frei. Last time I checked, Kaesong didnt seem to have any gas ovens for extinguishing human lives. Or comparing a failed dog farm to Aushwitz. Or asking Korean visa seekers if they sympathize with the Nazi party. You’ve been brainwashed by watching too many movies from the 50s starring Lee Marvin, Henry Fonda, or John Wayne. Germans tire easily of Americans who lack the moral perspective to distinguish the difference between a real Nazi concentration camp and a bunch of North Koreans making widgets in South Korean factories or even a failed dog farm. They think its ironic when US conservatives love to dwell in past glories of the greatest generation while their own gov is toying with proto-fascist experiments like wire-tapping, patriot act (why is it that nationalism in Korea is called anti-americanism while nationalism in the US is called “patriotism” and not racism in disguise or anti-worldism?), homeland security, and poking into google’s database. It’s getting old.
Any time I read someone writing about “the Man” (or in this case the “white man”) I realize I’m talking to a naive conspiricy theorist. I understand reality is sometimes prozaic but the need to wallow in self-pity because of conspiracy is really high drama.
Bluejives just suffers from a racial inferiority complex but is at least thoughtful. As for pawikirogi, he is beyond redemption and therefore beyond reproach.
Because this false patriotism the U.S. currently suffers from is not racism or disguise or anti-worldism. We have the “Patriot” Act, which was written by a Vietnamese, and John Yu rationalizing torture as being a legal punishment.
Why can’t you and bluejives be more like baduk?
While Brendon has done a fairly thorough job of explaining this jackass’ distortion of time, he has missed one opportunity to poke even more holes in the timeline.
The writer would like us to believe that he applied for an interview, and was later notified that it would be a few days later.
When one goes online, they can select the day and time bracket for their interview, and their reservation is confirmed immediately. This shmuck could have been at immigration later that afternoon if he had gotten online in time.
I walked through the entire process last week for a deaf/mute couple. From filling out forms, scheduling interviews, and walking them through the process of fingerprinting and interviewing- and I got no hassles about being an American and not a relative; no one at the embassy told me that I couldn’t interview for them- it took a total of about 3 hours spaced over 2 days. Not too shabby. Congrats to Kisoo and Hyesun- you should get your passports back on Tues.
One thing that was interesting were the Koreans OUTSIDE the embassy checking applications and telling people NOT to apply- ostensibly in order to cut down on the number of rejections.
Yes, we’ve never faced and overcome crises like those before.
The USCIS (no more INS, as of 2003, it is now HOMELAND SECURITY) has some pretty fucking ridculous requirements. Take a look at this gem I found
Give USCIS a passport-style color photograph of yourself and a passport-style color photograph of your fiance(e), with both photos taken within 30 days of the date of filing this petition. The photos must have a white background, be glossy, un-retouched and not mounted. The dimension of the full frontal facial image of you and your fiance(e) in separate photos should be about one inch from your chin to the top of your hair in 3/4 frontal view (WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS MEAN?) Using a pencil or felt pen, lightly print the name (and Alien Registration Number, if known) on the back of each photograph.
Whoever wrote this badly needs to take the anal plug outta their ass. Also, the rest of the world uses metric, not inches, morons.
Or what about this:
Translations. Any foreign language document must be accompanied by a full English translation that the translator has certified as complete and correct, and by the translator’s certification that he or she is competent to translate the foreign language into English.
How about a translation from maddening bureacratese into proper English?
Then there’s this:
Answer all questions fully and accurately. State that an item is not applicable with “N/A”. If the answer is “none, write none.
Why isn’t a simple blank not good enough? There are many fields with a conditional if-then-or structure where a N/A or a “none” doesnt make any sense.
The cost of this F-1 visa application: a whopping $170. That’s not including hidden costs like translations of foreign documents. If you make any silly mistake and the application is rejected, you dont get your money back.
Bluejives, then the answer is very simple. Don’t apply. If Koreans find this to be a chore, why go through hell to get a US visa? Nobody is forcing you to do it. Nobody is forcing you to line up a mile long line outside. Do everybody a favor, stay home. Nobody needs you and your type of people. US can get along with Koreans just fine, thank you.
I find it amusing how everyone’s wife is suddenly an insider expert on the korea visa issue. How convenient that since they are married to an American citizen they dont have to endure the indignity of arrogant American policy and can thumb their noses at all the poor sobs that do. Disgraceful.
CM, and what the heck are you? Identify yourself, mystery meat. Korea extends a courtesy to America that America doesnt for Korea. It’s a matter of diplomatic reciprocity. How is a Korean supposed to react to that? Tell me, how?
A few years ago, my father had to quickly extract my paternal grandmother, who was disabled and had no one to take care of her, and bring her to the states using “expedited means”. If he went through the normal channels, then she would have surely died during the wait. If the US had included Korea in the visa-waiver, that would have been completely unnecessary. I think the grievances are legitimate. If you are just a parrot of disgruntled angry expat and are unable to add anything worthwhile, I suggest you cease and desist.
If Korea feels that grieved, she can reciprocate. Americans didn’t force Koreans to do whatever. Just bar Americnas, simple. I don’t understand why you think the US should be bullied into what Koreans want. If you think it’s not fair for Koreans in the US, then I suggest you talk to the immigration law breakers of Korean decent who are causing all the problems for the majority of Koreans who are not breaking the rules. They’re the real reason why the things are the way it is now. So tell me, bluejives, if America is so bad, why do so many Koreans want to give an arm and a leg to get in? Again, stay home, simple. Americans don’t need Koreans turning American streets into prostituting massage parlors.
I’m sure many Americans and quite a few of the expats wouldn’t mind at all if more Koreans set up prostituting massage parlors.
I wouldn’t mind, as long as they accepted whitey.
I find it amusing how bluejives is suddenly an insider expert on the korea visa issue. How convenient that since he IS an American citizen he doesn’t have to endure the indignity of arrogant American policy and can express fake sympathy with Korean nationals while he reaps the rewards of his blue American passport. Disgraceful.
If your grandmother would have “died during the wait” for a US visa, then your beef is with the Korean health care system, not immigration.
All this hatred for the moronic Americans with their arrogant foreign policy, and yet you still cling to your American citizenship like a child with a teddy bear.
How about having the courage of your convictions and put your money where your mouth is? Turn that blue American passport in for a nice, shiny green Korean one. Serve your 2 years in the Korean military and then fight the good fight with your Korean brothers and sisters against the “arrogant morons” populating America.
No need to answer there BJ. We all know that when push comes to shove, you wouldn’t turn that blue passport into a green one if there were a .44 pointed at your head. You like to bitch and moan, and at the end of the day, you’ll take shelter under the umbrella of the arrogant morons because they offer you a better life and better opportunities than Korea ever could.
Your choice to remain a member of the arrogant moron clan speaks louder than any faux-nationalistic Korean abandonment guilt you spew here.
Can’t speak for the rest of ‘em, but since my wife is neither an American citizen nor a permanent resident (anymore; we failed to return to the U.S. one year and she no longer qualified for the green card) she has to apply for a tourist visa like the rest of the slobs.
Hey, at least they’d be providing society with a valuable service, which is more than I can say for myself when I was teaching English.
Bluejives, some of my best friends are German
Actually, two friends are German and one is Korean German. And all of them have a sense of humor….
What a tangent you went on–of course WWII is a touchstone in our culture, and I was saying that Koreans treat expats well, or at least not badly, to counter what Mizar5 wrote.
Where have I said the N.K. gulag is like a Nazi concentration camp?
Look, I sometimes get tired of Koreans going on about the colonial period 60 years ago, but that’s the culture, man. We all have our cultural touchstones.
Also, I’m hardly wallowing in the past while my “gov is toying with proto-fascist experiments.” I didn’t vote for Bush and I remember many, many battles with civil liberties, which is why I used to donate to the ACLU, despite flaws in that organization.
Not every expat who comments here is the Archie Bunker (uh-oh, cultural reference!) caricature in your mind.
About the WWII tangent, just to clarify, it was the Korean media (a couple of sources, actually) that compared the failed dog farm to Aushwitz. Or at least they were the first to. I don’t remember off hand if any of the commenters continued it further (although I do recall a lot of other nonsensical comparisons being made in that thread).
Now back to our regularly scheduled program…
“Yes, we’ve never faced and overcome crises like those before. ”
America of today is very different from America of 40-50 years ago. I haven’t seen much of its respectable ability to handle crises in recent years.
Somebody commented about the overpaid American baseball stars the other day. I think those overpaid sports stars are just part of overvalued America in general. The bubble may not burst tomorrow or next month, but it will one day in the coming years when the American dollar will start falling.
America’s been through a civil war, the Depression, two World Wars, the civil rights struggle, and so on and so on. It will even survive Bush.
Your diagnosis is fairly shallow.
What part of America is “overvalued,” gaemee?
Perhaps this process may seem unfair to some; it is certainly an added task which Korean visitors are obliged to perform. Yet one wonders what the reporter would make of these regulations regarding E2-visa holders and applicants in Korea:
* Current visa-holders as well as applicants for new visas are required by Korean Immigration to complete a document regarding their educational background. This includes: institution names and addresses; dates – calendar, not semester – of attendance (both start and finish); degrees/certificates obtained; and phone/fax contact numbers of registrar’s office. This document is logged in as accepted by Korean Immigration, by the veracity of the data is not confirmed. It is simply logged and filed.
* When leaving a job, even in cases where the contract has been completed and the employee simply wishes to depart the country and go elsewhere, a Korean administrative employee of the educational institution for which the employee works must go with the employee to Korean Immigration, in order to confirm that that the employee is leaving and the institution is aware of that fact. New employees are likewise brought to Immigration, and the administrative employee must confirm that the visa-holder will begin to work at the institution.
In the first case, this seems to provide an appearance of dealing with the problem of fake diplomas, yet clearly falls short due to failure to investigate. In the second case, a layer of bureaucracy has increased the volume of superfluous work which both employer and Immigration must perform, while providing no solution to the problem of illegal teaching.
Are other visa holders subjected to these requirements? Even though they could easily commit the same crimes, it seems doubtful that the ROK also restricts them in this manner. And, of course, you don’t see anything about this issue at all in the Korean media.
-IHBB to bluejives
don’t be too hard on bluejives, he really is still a child.
“Your diagnosis is fairly shallow. What part of America is “overvalued,” gaemee?”
Nations change: Britain is not what it was 100 years ago; Argentina is not what it was 100 years ago; Russia is not what it was 20 years ago.
America just cannot keep on spending by borrowing money from foreign lenders while its earning power hasn’t been rising at the same rate, but that is what has been happening for quite some time now, and the warning sign is getting clearer as the years go by.
The current account deficit has been rising from a modest 1.5 percent of GDP in 1996 to 6.4% last year, and it’s likely it’ll approach almost 7% this year, and could hit 10% in another 3-5 years if the dollar keeps on staying at where it is. It’s not the matter of if the lenders will pull the plug, but of when.
Yes, and the big difference is in the rapid demographic change since.
Forty to fifty years ago, America was governed by people who knew how to govern a livable society and did not feel compelled to bow down to political correctness and pander to every sort of minority.
In other words what dogbird is trying to say is that 50 years ago, America was governed by white people but all these minorities who came after, ruined it all. It’s more code word for damn those ignorant trash people like Asians, Latinos, Blacks and others – they’re ruining the country. I’ve heard those kinds of talks before, so not surprising, really. It would just be great if dogbird take his own advice – stop with his political correctness – and say what’s really on his mind. Ain’t that right, dogbird?
As white rich folks let go of the control, the US became freer and more vibrant. The status of the US in the eyes of the rest of the world has risen. Everybody wants to be an American!
So, let America be more diverse. Let all “minorities”, sum of which may exceed white Americans, have their voice and place in the US society.
America is on the right course. It is getting richer and more powerful every day.
Baduk, you are crazy. We can’t let those mud people control the government and open up the borders to all these poor ignorant illiterate retards.
Yes, let’s all go back 50 years ago. Put away the Japs in the concentration camps, put back the negroes where they really belong – back of the bus, drag the women back into kitchens where they belong, Chinks should stay in Chinatowns – we’ll burn them down if their population starts going out of control, seal the borders and shoot those Spicks if they violate our borders, weed out the fags and get rid of AIDS, and most of all, true Star Spangled Banner Americans are White European Christians! 1940′s and 1950′s — ahh.. those were the good old days, let’s go back in time!
Note: I’m just making fun of dogbird. I have too much time on my hands right now, and I’m not being really serious.
I have done more international travel than the average American (though less than I’d like) and I have not recieved as much hassle from any other nation’s Immigration or Customs as I’ve gotten here at US ports of entry. That Korea, a country founded on a ‘blood and soil’ conception of nationhood would have rather restrictive immigration policies is unfortunate but understandable, that American lawmakers would seek to pull up behind them the ladder that their own ancestors used is shameful.
Octaviuz, while I’m against turning the clock back 50 years, as Dogbird suggests, I do believe that the US needs to tighten up the borders and revamp the immigration system. US has every right to exercise their right to keep the borders. The country can’t let everyone in. I also think US government needs to rethink their decades old generous immigration policies which so many people have taken advantage of. The abuses are immigration frauds are just mind boggling. The country needs to stop bringing in more people whom it can’t support because the good things about traditional American values are being overwhelmed by immigration wave. America should learn from the Dutch. Bring in only those people who are honest and who can fit into American social fabric. For instance, I don’t think most Muslims are not good candidates, while immigrants from Europe and Asia, are. It’s the immigrants who should be the ones to adjust to America, not the other way around.
Ah, the wonders of diversity. France, the Netherlands, Denmark, the U.S. — everywhere things are becoming “freer” and “more vibrant”.
If I want a VISA to enter the US I have a 3 day drive to the interview.
Dunno what these fellows are whinging about.
peace.
so dogbert, you whine about racism but then you’re a racist yourself? i think you need to shut up.
‘he’s still a child…’ judge judy
and you’re still a b@#$%! korean man made you. don’t forget that while you’re busy trying to get good. k?
“Even after entering the embassy, he had to stand for 20 minutes before he was able to register his fingerprints.”
So it’s the embassy’s fault that he forgot to deep squat?
Do we have to remind Koreans that they are Korean?
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