Immigration office. After making an appoinment online on May 6th, I came in today on May 12th, so that's four business days later. The online arrangement eliminates a crowded waiting room and a long wait.
I had filled out a brief form, and written a letter, which I had translated into Korean, just in case there's any confusion. My slot was 16:20 to 16:30, and sure enough, my number was called during it. It took maybe five minutes for the man to look over my case before he extended my visa for another month, until June 28th.
Koreans sure know how to be efficient.
I'm counting on travel restrictions being lifted before June 28th, so I can fly to Vietnam, Cambodia or Thailand, or take a ferry to Japan.
In the office, I noticed flyers in Vietnamese and Russian urging those nationalities to bring their children to school, even if these kids don't speak Korean. They'll be taught the language at school, the flyer said.
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7 comments:
In what language was all of this transacted? -- is there any estimate of how many foreigners are currently trapped in S Korea like you?
I would not be surprised if restrictions were still in place at the end of June -- shocked by the ongoing stupidity of it all, but not surprised -- if that makes sense.
Hi eahilf,
It was done in English. At my guesthouse, there's a Brazilian who went to the same office, for the same purpose, but the officer who dealt with him had very poor English skill. Luckily, the Brazilian, Gustavo, had enough Korean to communicate with this lady. Gustavo had studied Korean in Brazil before coming to Korea, partly to improve his Korean language skill.
At my guesthouse, there's a Spanish guy who's stuck, because he needs to go back to Thailand, where he lives. The other day, I talked to a Mexican who's also stuck.
A month ago, I talked to a Belorussian couple who were stuck, but they left soon after. I have no idea where.
Lots of foreigners are stuck here.
When I first got to Busan two months ago, I went to the ferry terminal and see if the ferries were still going to Japan, and they were, but a week or so later Japan stopped that traffic.
Linh
P.S. The whites I see in my neighborhood are mostly Russians. Many of the women work as hostesses in these shady bars. There are also many Filipina hostesses.
In every Korean city or town I've visited, I've run into Vietnamese restaurants. Vietnamese come here as workers, students or brides.
There are many Chinese in Korea, and the largest number of illegals are Chinese.
P.S.S. There's a great Uzbek restaurant in my neighborhood, so the Uzbeks are here too. There was a fire at a Korean construction site last week, and two of the workers who died were Uzbeks.
... and the largest number of illegals are Chinese.
This may be true of a good many countries around the world.
Whereas in 1980 Chinese immigrants did not appear among the ten largest foreign-born groups in the United States, China in 2018 replaced Mexico as the top sending country. After immigrants from Mexico and India, the Chinese represented the third largest group in the U.S. foreign-born population of nearly 45 million in 2018.
LA Times (2016) -- California sees surge in Chinese illegally crossing border from Mexico
The number of Chinese immigrants illegally crossing the Mexican border into California has skyrocketed in recent years, the result of a lucrative smuggling industry, mass migration from China and a diversifying pool of migrants settling in the United States.
When I lived in Italy during 2002-04, the most visible illegals were Chinese and Albanians, and there was a Tuscan town, Prato, that had a huge number of Chinese. Legals and illegals, they now make up about 25% of Prato's population.
In Philly, a Chinese friend told me Chinese would set up schools in the US to enable Chinese in China to come over on student visas. The organizers would make a lot of money, and their clients would pay to become illegals eventually, but hey, "No man is illegal!" according to George Soros!
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