Visa renewal for one week?

[bfontaine]

Hi,

I'm sure this has been covered somewhere on this forum, but I couldn't find a thread with this exact situation. Basically my Visa expires on August 18th and my contract is up August 25th. I plan on flying out on August 25th, I asked my school about this and they said they talked to immigration. They told me that my Visa would "Automatically update" but I am skeptical of this, they also said the visa doesn't matter after it expires because I am an American. Also I will leave the country from August 14-20th to go to Taiwan and I am worried that I won't be allow to re enter Korea. I know it's possible to get a Tourist Visa, would this be the best approach?

[beccaraella]

I'm not sure about the advice they gave you...I'm in the same situation and last week went to my local immigration office and got my visa extended for approx a week. They just made a copy of my contract, entered some stuff in the system (I'm assuming) and wrote the extenson date in pen on my ARC. All sorted, and it didn't cost me anything either. If you're worried I suggest going to your immigration office too.

[ftm]

No!  You must extend your visa until the 25th!  If you stay longer than the 18th (which of course you must...) you will be fined.  If you work after the 18th it's illegal.  You will definitely have problems getting back in on the 20th, and if you come in on a tourist visa you will be an illegal worker for the last 4 days of your contract.

It's a simple process.  Call immigration yourself.  Don't rely on others.

[bfontaine]

Thank you for response Beccaraella, I will go down to Immigration hopefully next week. Just a quick question, did they also stamp your Visa? Or just write the info on your ARC?

[Sergio_Vendetta]

Last year my ARC expired on the 23nd August, and I left on the 25th. I went to the airport to fly home and they made me go to the immigration office in the airport to extend my visa, even though the two days in question had already passed. They just put a stamp on the visa page.
I'm from the UK though, so I don't know if/how it differs.

[marlon julius]

Hi,

As far as I know, immigration will give you an extension to your visa for up to 30 days. There is no cost involved and you only need to show your exit ticket. They will update their system and write on the back of your ARC to show the changes.

A friend of mine stayed 2days longer than his visa stated and were fined on his way out. Be safe and phone immigration.

Good luck

[nardthefox]

Your school is definitely mistaken. You must get an extension. Just to second the advice you've already been given, go to your immigration office and get it extended for free. If you pass 10 days without leaving the country after it expires, you can't come back (or it gets damned hard to do so). And if you go to the airport and the line runs long for baggage check in, you may miss your flight as you'll have to leave the line, go to immigration and then return to baggage check in (been there, done that...thanks to my old hagwon for the same advice your school gave to you).

[Jhennes]

My school phoned immigration and immigration said I can either go there in person and pay 30k for a renewal, or I can just apply online for a visa extension (basically you'll get a tourist visa for up to 30 days more without having to leave the country).  It's super easy its hikorea.go.kr.  You just have to sign up and then submit the application for "extension of stay permit" for registered aliens.  It got approved in like a day and all you have to do is print out the e-certificate and stick it in your passport to show at the airport.  The only catch with the online extension is that since its a tourist visa you're not allowed to work those days. 

[justanotherwaygook]

We need to know when your ARC expires.  What your visa stamp says doesn't matter now that you have an ARC. 

If the date on your ARC should match the end date on your contract; this should have been done as a matter of procedure when your ARC was issued.

[bfontaine]

Went down to the immigration office in Masan last week with a copy of my contract. I paid 30,000 for a Visa extension, the whole process took maybe 15-20 minutes at the immigration office. All they did was enter the information into the computer and wrote a new date on the back of my ARC. Really easy to get the extension, the form was in English and Korean. The only issue was that it took me 2 1/2 hours each way to get to the Masan immigration office.

[caitievic]

Does anyone know if it's possible to get a 30-day visa extension without a plane ticket out of Korea?
Also, I plan on staying about a month longer (after the 30-day extension)... is the only way to do this to leave the country and come back on a tourist visa?