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Visiting S. Korea (military service question)
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billy5000
United States865 Posts
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Golgotha
Korea (South)8418 Posts
 (22 here). But I never had problems visiting South Korea (went there about 4 months ago) since I had all my paperwork and since I am a legal resident of the U.S. I also never heard of denouncing your citizenship. Don't you have to be a citizen of another nation (like the U.S.) before you can denounce? Otherwise you wouldn't be a citizen of any country. Well, once you become a U.S. citizen you are pretty much are free from serving in the SK military since you have to denounce your SK citizenship (hard to keep both I hear nowadays). They can't stop you. You got your Green Card right? You go to a university here? You are a legal resident of the U.S....they can't touch you, yet. Only problem might be when you are at nearing the end of your military exemption period (27ish I think), and you visit South Korea as a South Korean citizen. | ||
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billy5000
United States865 Posts
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Golgotha
Korea (South)8418 Posts
trust me, once you become a u.s. citizen and you denounce your sk, you are free as a bird. unless there is something about this new law that prohibits dropping your SK Cit.... but anyways dont listen to me or your friends and talk to a korean visa/immigration lawyer to set you straight. my friends told me not to go to korea due to the horror stories that they heard (kids getting dragged from the airport to dig for the SK military). idiots :D | ||
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don_kyuhote
3007 Posts
It's only 22 months I heard | ||
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Golgotha
Korea (South)8418 Posts
On March 14 2012 16:39 don_kyuhote wrote: Just tank army. It's only 22 months I heard everyone in sk hates the 2 year service. well not everyone but damn nearly everyone knows it is a waste of time. even a kr gov official i spoke to told me never to go | ||
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ktimekiller
United States690 Posts
I am currently visint Korea, and I will inform you if they attempt to detain me at the airport and ship me off to the barracks. GL to me | ||
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don_kyuhote
3007 Posts
I was being sarcastic.  If you are on your way to becoming US citizen, you would be an idiot to go to Korean army. | ||
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Golgotha
Korea (South)8418 Posts
On March 14 2012 16:46 ktimekiller wrote: Indeed I too am in a similar situation of dual citizenship of US and Korea I am currently visint Korea, and I will inform you if they attempt to detain me at the airport and ship me off to the barracks. GL to me hey if you get to become a Marine and get a gauss rifle I want to go! | ||
MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
I don't follow it much anymore because I'm old now and they changed the law that affected me so I didn't need to go to the army, but, as I recall, You should be fine if you're in Korea less than 3 months, but past that, I'd seriously urge you to go to the consulate and find out what is going on nowadays. There was a Korean, about 8 years ago (there have been many changes since there) and he had his landed residence status in Australia, was only allowed to stay here 6 months, he over stayed by a day, because he miscalcuated it, was detained at the airport and sent to the army. His family and his wife +1 kid protested etc, but by the time they got a formal hearing it was already 3 months in. I don't know what happened as a conclusion, he probably served the entire term, but it's not something you just speculate on. Find out exactly what is the situation nowadays. Cheers. | ||
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esReveR
United States568 Posts
On March 14 2012 17:37 MightyAtom wrote: I'd seriously urge you to go to the consulate and find out what is going on nowadays. That's what I was going to suggest. Definitely better safe than sorry. | ||
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Chaggi
Korea (South)1936 Posts
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OpticalShot
Canada6330 Posts
The laws are unclear to me as well, I've heard all sorts of different stories from so many different people. The general consensus seem to be that you're fine as long as you don't stay over 6 months, and that you don't do taxable work (payroll-kind) as a visitor. You can still work in Korea with a foreigner-worker visa even if you are Korean-born - I have (Korean-Canadian) friends that worked in Korea for over 1 year of continuous stay without going to the army. | ||
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acrylicjoker
United Kingdom74 Posts
I'm currently here in Korea and I had to renew my passport which was due to expire in June. I had to come in person this time due to my age. The whole process went very smoothly, not a single question asked. Just filled in paperwork and got my new passport in 3 days. However, this is where the complications start I believe. The new passport is only valid for two years. After that I need to provide paperwork and etc to prove that I'm not dodging military service every time I enter/leave Korea in person. Plus if you have a nationality in a different country I don't think forfeiting your korean citizenship would be hard at all. I think that Korea itself does not recognize dual citizenship, so I heard they kind of give you an ultimatum of which nationality to choose if they find out. Should you choose to ditch your korean nationality, I think that it might be problematic should you choose to live in korea later or such. | ||
rotinegg
United States1719 Posts
On March 14 2012 16:03 billy5000 wrote: Hey, so I have been planning to go to South Korea in a few years, but there seems to be this new law that was passed last year, which says that I cannot denounce my S. Korean citizenship until I serve in the military. Both of my parents have Korean citizenship, including me (we came here to the states when I was around 7), and we are all residents of the US. The problem I have is that I've only heard about this from friends, and it's a bit unclear to me. I was hoping there was someone here in TL who could possibly explain what this recent law does as far as just visiting South Korea for about 3 months. I should note that I'm of age to serve in the Korean military. I just don't want to be in a difficult position when all I want to do is visit my home country for a few months. Thanks in advance. how old are you? If you hold a dual citizenship and are a student, your military duty is auto-pushed back until december 31st of the year you turn 24 in non-Korean age, and you can stay for up to 6 months a year without being hassled. I'm not 100% sure how green cards work but I can't imagine them giving you trouble. Check on naver 지식인: I found them to be the best source of information regarding this issue as actual lawyers give you answers. edit: I should add that I am a dual Korean-Amercian citizen so I've looked into this matter a lot | ||
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MaRiNe23
United States747 Posts
edit: Oh, but I'm dual citizeship though..I'm not sure about residents of the U.S. | ||
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rotinegg
United States1719 Posts
On March 15 2012 03:19 MaRiNe23 wrote: Just delay your service for two years. That's what I did and I had no issue at all and I was there just last summer. My mom was also scared so I couldnt go to korea for 5-6 years cuz of this same issue but all u have to do is delay. And after the 2 years are done and u wanna go again just delay for 2 years again. edit: Oh, but I'm dual citizeship though..I'm not sure about residents of the U.S. you can only delay until you are 24... after that you need proof of grad school to delay: a masters program gets you delayed til 26 and Ph.D. til 28. After that there is no way to delay any more, you either go or don't go back to korea til you're 37 | ||
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MaRiNe23
United States747 Posts
On March 15 2012 03:41 rotinegg wrote: you can only delay until you are 24... after that you need proof of grad school to delay: a masters program gets you delayed til 26 and Ph.D. til 28. After that there is no way to delay any more, you either go or don't go back to korea til you're 37 wow..this is the first time I heard this. While I was in korea all my relatives made it seem like I can keep on delaying. So this holds true even if I denounce my korean citizenship? | ||
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Golgotha
Korea (South)8418 Posts
On March 15 2012 03:41 rotinegg wrote: you can only delay until you are 24... after that you need proof of grad school to delay: a masters program gets you delayed til 26 and Ph.D. til 28. After that there is no way to delay any more, you either go or don't go back to korea til you're 37 yeah but what if your are a u.s. citizen and not a SK citizen anymore. then you can go to korea anytime you want. | ||
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Ack1027
United States7873 Posts
You will hear different shit from different people all the time, and the rules are always changing. The best thing to do is go straight to your consulate but even then rules change almost every year. Both my parents were born South Korean citizens that immigrated to the US. They never formally did paperwork to give up their citizenship, but became US citizens eventually. I was born in America. Even with a basic situation like that my consulate said that if I don't have my parents fill out the paperwork to denounce their citizenship, and for me to NOT BE LISTED on my family's hojuk [ family register in korea ] I could be arrested at the airport. You can imagine how stupid I thought this shit was....I was born in America, raised here all my life yet somehow I could still be serving in the Korean military lol....... Calling my relatives to see if I was listed on the hojuk was probably the dumbest unnecessarily nerve-wracking situation ever. | ||
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