Exactly. No expiration date. I’m not sure about the residency requirements, but basically you have it forever..even if you get divorced.

Could be, though both the F-5 stamp in my passport and Alien Reg. Card are seemingly open ended, with no expiry date indicated. (The visa has “영구” written in the Period of Sojourn box.) As for being polite and not causing an Immigration officer to lose face, always good advice.

One of best places for info is G4F (Government 4 Foreigners) http://www.g4f.go.kr

(they actually slipped up by even having the F5 info when they started but quickly removed it again)

Nonetheless, as can be seen from commenters, the fact that you have the list of requirement doesn’t mean the official in front of you will not add some more. We didn’t have 30million but our apartment land register sufficed instead. Also they wanted letters from my employers (previously on a D8) even though the sponsor is the wife.

As is typical the time taken for F2 will vary arbitrarily. If you are clean, smart have a job etc, and are from a country not seen as economic migrant, will likely be given the nod on the day. It generally then needs formalising by the bosses behind the counters, and the Alien Registration takes 7 days, so typically you can collect you passport, visa, and alien registration one week later.

Typically the first visa will be 6months, the first renewal 12 months, second and subsequent renewals 24 months.

In any case after two years on F2-1 you can now apply for F-5 which although “permanent” I’ve heard will be renewed at 5 year intervals.

Like it or not philipina, indonesians, etc will get a more rigorous going over, and obstacles may be added…

Its best to research everything 200%, get someone to phone and ask in korean at least three times (each time answer will be different, but over three call should cover everything). Know the requirement beforehand, e.g they tried to charge me 50,000 for visa and 50,000 for multiple entry which is correct for US, but not for UK where the fee is waived (under a co-operation agreement).
I knew this so was politely able to suggest checking the rule book / supervisor as I “thought” there might be a special rule for UK.

The overriding rule with korean bureaucracy is to be polite and suggestive that there may be alternative applicable rules, if you’re rude or tell them outright they’re wrong the shutters come crashing down.

about your website comment…i’ve been making the same complaint for years and i know we’re not along. interestingly, a chosun ilbo reporter recently interviewed me for one of those seemingly inevitable pieces where they ask foreigners about how their lives are difficult in korea. so, i started to tell her about the ID number problem and we walked through the process of getting an ID on naver. that’s when i found that they now accept foreign IDs and even people from outside the country (!). wonders never cease in this land of miracles.

I had an easy time getting my F2-1, a friend had to wait 6 months! And they only gave him a 6 month F2-1, it was a very stressful thing for him and they kept his passport the whole time.

Two things that I can’t get a consistent answer on:

1. They told me it might take up to 4 months to get the F2-1 visa.

2. They will hold my passport the entire time.

A lot of my friends said it took about 2 weeks to get it. Hmmm….

Only two things?

Nobody can get a consistent answer out of Korean Immigration on anything. That’s why it’s my least favorite practice area — clients perceive immigration to be simply check-the-box administrative/clerical work (so they don’t want to pay a lot for that muffler) and get highly critical of the lawyer (read: me) whenever we get our pants pulled down by some incompetent/mean Immigration asshole official making up “rules” at a whim.

I’ve got an F-2-1 and intend to obtain the F-5 this winter. (I only got around to it in 2006, after seven years on an E-7 visa. In my case, we only had to establish the fact of marriage. Nothing about income, nothing about savings in an account, nothing about property. If anyone had asked, we would have met any test, but there were no such questions.) After getting the F-5, I would hope never to have to deal with those fools again. Yet, as a lawyer with an FDI/employment practice, I can’t avoid it.

I wish Immigration would issue me a foreigners’ ID number that works on even one Korean website. In 1999 or 2000 they put me through some rigamarole to trade in my then-current ID number to obtain a “new” ID number, one supposedly selected to allow me to participate in Korea’s amazing Internet culture, but that one never worked and the Ministry of Justice denies any involvement or responsibility.